​One of the winning entries from the EA/CoR primary schools art competition My region, My Christmas 2010. © EA group
​On 18 December the EA president, Dr Uno Silberg participated in the Subsidiarity Assizes in the Bundesrat premises in Berlin. The conference provided with the occasion for taking stock of the Subsidiarity monitoring procedure since the entry into force of the Lisbon treaty.So far national parliaments have triggered two times the yellow card proce...
​On 17 December the COTER commission approved the opinion of the EA member and Clare County councillor, Brian Meaney on the Naiades II package, which sets the framework for the inland waterway transport policy and the revised action programme for the period 2014-2020 aiming at developing an efficient, innovative and low emission inland waterway tra...
​This year's last meeting of the CoR Commission for Natural Resources (NAT) took place on Thursday, 12 December in Brussels. Two main topics on the agenda were the European Commission's report on health inequalities in the EU and the Communication on a new EU strategy for forests and forest-based sector. Members of the Committee of the Regions wel...
​On Wednesday, 11 December, the Commission for Economic and Social Policy (ECOS) of the Committee of the Regions held its 21st meeting. The meeting saw adoption of three opinions: opinion on Commission's proposal for a regulation on European long-term investment funds, opinion on Commission's communication on strengthening the social dimension ...
​On the 9th December members of the European Alliance group bureau held a series of meetings in the National Assembly for Wales.  The meeting will focus on the work of the Assembly, its work in EU policies.  Members also met with representatives of Plaid Cymru and discussed the priorities of Plaid Cymru vis-à-vis the European Union. The ...
​On 9 December, the Council of Europe office in Paris hosted a regular annual meeting between representatives of the Committee of the Regions and the Council of Europe's Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. The exchange of experiences between the two assemblies of local and regional representatives is very important for both sides. The Cong...
​During the CoR Plenary session on 28 November, Jerzy Zajakała, EA Vice President and Major of Łubianka,  addressed Commissioner for regional policy Danuta Hubner on the new cohesion policy. He welcomed the closer cooperation with the European Parliament in this matter and pointed out at the same time that smooth and quick implementation is no...
​The CIVEX commission has debated on 25 October the proposal of the European Commission on the establishment of a European Public Prosecutor Office (EPPO), a controversial proposal which have raised some concerns among national parliaments thus triggering the yellow card procedure. The opinion of the CIVEX commission, which overall support the est...
​On 21 November the EA Vice President and Mayor of Lubianka, Jerzy Zajakala, participated in the meeting of the CoR Working group on relations with Turkey in Ankara.  The COR members discussed about the recently published  EU enlargement strategy report and on the progress of Turkey which acknowledges the importance of Turkey for the EU w...
​On Wednesday, 13 November, the EDUC commission of the Committee of the Regions held its 20th meeting.  Among the opinions discussed, of particular importance is the opinion on "European single market for electronic communications", the European Commission's proposal to enable citizens and businesses to access electronic communicatio...
​Dr Uno Silberg spoke at the major TEN-T days organised by the European Commission which was held in Tallinn on the 17th October.  He spoke replacing the CoR President in the round table "Innovative corridors: Breaking ground".  The discussions focussed on the prospects of trans-European transport networks, after the Parlia...
​Stewart Maxwell (UK/EA) has lauded the OPEN DAYS as a unique opportunity for regions and cities to exchange best practices and draw attention to their talents, leading to a beneficial cross-fertilistion of ideas. The member of the Scottish Parliament and Committee of the Regions (CoR) member speaks about his involvement in and experience with the ...
On 9 October, the delegates at the 103rd Plenary session of the Committee of the Regions adopted with a considerable majority the opinion on the "Green paper on the long-term financing of the EU economy" by EA group's president, Dr Uno Silberg.   After a fruitful discussion, the opinion was slightly adapted to better reflect concer...
​On 9 October, the Committee of the Regions' Plenary session, representatives of European local and regional authorities adopted unanimously Mr Jerzy Zajakala's own-initiative opinion on the sustainability of rural areas.The focus of the discussion revolved around the question whether the share of European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (E...
​At the opening session of Open Days where guest speakers included Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Regional Policy Commissioner Johannes Hahn, the EA group President called on the Commission to give more priority to Rural areas.  He said that rural areas have faced special development challenges for a long time. Population decline...
​The CoR Plenary session has adopted the opinion of the EA member Cllr Linda Gillham on the Green Paper on a European strategy on plastic waste in the environment. During the discussions CoR members spoke of the impact of plastic waste on the environment and the considerable harm it causes to the world's marine life. With recent reports estimating...
​Against the backdrop of an ever increasing awareness and anxiety among  citizens, communities and regions across the EU of the potential threats and opportunities presented by “Shale Gas”, the Committee of the Regions, has adopted the opinion of the EA member and Clare County Cllr. Brian Meaney which includes a series of strong recommendation...
​Prior to the opening session of OPEN DAYS 2013, the CoR Conference of Presidents, including Dr Uno Silberg met with the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso. They called on the European Council and Parliament to urgently finalise the adoption of the EU budget 2014-2020 as well as of the new rules for structural funds.  Dr Silberg called f...
​On 8 October, as part of this year's Open Days of Regions and Cities, the European Alliance group will organise a workshop "Creative tourism development: creating jobs across Europe's regions". The workshop will aim to explore how a creative and sustainable approach to tourism can boost economic growth and create jobs in Europe's reg...
​At its meeting on October 1, the NAT commission in the Committee of the Regions adopted the own-initiative opinion on State Aids to Fisheries and Aquaculture by Rhodri Glyn Thomas, Member of the National Assembly for Wales. Mr Thomas' opinion strongly argues for a sustainable approach to fishing and careful consideration of the environmental impa...
​On the 30th September in the town of Panevėžys Lithuania the European Alliance group held a very successful meeting which focussed on EU policy towards the sustainability of Rural Areas.  Guest speakers included former Minister of Agriculture Mr Kazys Starkevičius, Member of the Lithuanian Parliament, Ms Daiva Matonienė, vice Minister for Env...
​On September 26th the COTER commission will meet in Brussels to adopt a series of important opinions. Cllr Brian Meaney and EA coordinator regarded the future guidelines to state aid to airport and airlines and the future of ports as the hot topics of the meeting. Both proposals are extremely relevant to LRAs as regional airports and ports are es...
​On 24 September, the members of the CIVEX commission have adopted three opinions related to migrants mobility, in particular students and researchers, the EU smart border package and the new Schengen governance, and the 2013 EU citizenship report. Moreover, the EA coordinator  Mr Szwabski and the EA members took part in a lively debate with ...
​The Conference of the Regional and Local Authorities for the Eastern Partnership (CORLEAP) meeting in Vilnius on 3 September adopted some political recommendations in view of the Eastern partnership summit which will gather Heads of State and Governments from the EU and the Eastern Partners countries in the end of November. In that occasion free t...
​During the Committee of the Regions external Bureau held in Vilnius on the 03rd September the EA group President Dr Uno Silberg, in response to the intervention of Prime Minister of Lithuania, Algirdas Butkevičius called for a strong EU Cohesion policy while highlighting that 'we are united in a common purpose of promoting economic, social and ter...
On 2 September the ENVE commission meeting in Vilnius adopted the opinion of the EA member Cllr. Linda Gillham on the Green Paper "European Strategy on plastic waste in the Environment". After a lively debate the opinion was adopted by overwhelming majority. In the context of the EU2020 Resource Efficient Flagship initiative such document...
At the NAT commission meeting held in July in Kaunas, Lithuania, Mr Jerzy Zająkała's opinion on the sustainability of rural areas was adopted by a very large majority.  During the debate representatives of the European Commission and of the Lithuanian Presidency welcomed the opinion stressing that it "fits directly to the priorities embed...
​On the occasion of the external COTER commission meeting held on 12 July in Dunkirk, Mr Stanisław Szwabski moderated the first session of the conference "The contribution of European ports to the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy". The session highlighted the role of European ports as generators of growth and employment and und...
​Forty two students and teachers participated in the CoR plenary session as their prize for winning the latest EA group led Secondary Schools competition.  The students met members of the European Alliance group and presented their regions and schools.  They were welcomed to the plenary by the CoR President.  The European Alliance g...
​Mrs Saima Kalev's opinion on clean power for transport, developing an infrastructure for the alternative fuel, was approved by an overwhelming majority at the CoR plenary. This proposal is of crucial importance for the EU as it represents an opportunity for implementing the EU2020 Resource-efficient Europe flagship initiative.  The opinion po...
​On 4 July, Mr Dacian Cioloş, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development spoke at the 102nd plenary session of the Committee of the Regions where he presented the main results of the agreement on the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy reached last week in the European Council.  Addressing the Commissioner, CoR rapporteu...
​During the CoR Plenary debate on the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU with Mr Vytautas Leškevičius, Lithuanian Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Witold Krochmal called on the Lithuanian Presidency to focus on clear and concrete action towards young people and in particular fighting unemployment.  He highlighted the very success...
​The European Alliance group has hailed the EU membership of Croatia as a momentous and historic occasion for the European Union.  EA members expressed their delight and in particular Cllr. Mrs Linda Gillham, Member of Runnymede Borough Council who was the Co-President of the CoR-Croatia Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) and who followed Croa...
​The Committee of the Regions' commission for economic and social policy (ECOS) held its external meeting on Thursday 27 June in Graz, capital city of the Austrian state of Styria. The meeting was followed by a conference on the future of the European automotive industry, especially in the regional context.  The meeting saw the adoption of fo...
​On June 26, the city of Novi Sad, capital of Serbia's northern Vojvodina province was host to the 13th meeting of the Committee of the Region's Working Group on the Western Balkans. The meeting gathered CoR members and representatives of Serbian local authorities and civil society who discussed the impact of forthcoming Serbia's EU accession talks...
​On 19 June the ENVE commission has adopted the opinion of Brian Meaney on local and regional authorities perspective on Shale Gas. Although shale gas exploitation could help to reduce EU dependence on imported gas and contribute in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, many question that drilling have serious negative environmental and human health e...
​Cllr Linda Gillham, EA member and rapporteur on the Green paper on a European Strategy on Plastic Waste  met on 18 June with different stakeholders to discuss about  ways to improve the current legislative framework to address the specific issue of plastic waste.Representatives from municipalities, regions as well as from industries and ...
​The CoR ARLEM (SUDEV committee) met in Bethlehem on the 15th June discussion with local and regional representatives the problems of water and urban mobility.   The European Alliance group was represented by Cllr Brian Meaney and Mr Stanislaw Szwabski who heard first-hand the huge problems of water shortage which is facing the local popu...
​The Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) between the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and Montenegrin local authorities held its second meeting in Podgorica, Montenegro, on 4 June 2013. The meeting focused on two key issues faced by Montenegro's local authorities in the country's course towards EU integration: absorption capacity of EU Pre-Accessi...
​EA Group's first vice-president, Mr Jerzy Zajakala held a series of meetings in preparation on his own-initiative opinion Sustainability of rural areas. The meetings included exchange of views with representatives of the R.E.D. (Ruralité-Environnement-Développement) international association representing rural development sector, and consultation...
​On 30 May Mr.Stanisław Szwabski, EA member and president of Gdynia council, addressed Commissioner Hahn on the future of structural funds and the partnership agreements.   As former rapporteur on the European Code of Conduct on Partnerships, Szwabski praised the effort put in place by the Commission on this front and stressed that "Alm...
​Linda Gillham, Member of Runnymede Borough Council and Member of the EA group, presented during the conference on Fighting poverty and social exclusion the results of a survey organized by the CoR EU2020 Monitoring Platform which assessed the implementation of the poverty flagship initiative. Based on responses from regions and cities, the survey ...
​Cllr. Linda Gillham, EA member in ARLEM, joint assembly of the CoR and regional and local authorities around the Mediterranean, on the occasion of the ARLEM bureau which took place in Barcelona on 23 May, presented A position paper on the role of women in Euromed cooperation in view of the Ministerial Meeting to take place in September, and to whi...
​The COTER commission has adopted today by overwhelming majority the opinion on Clean Power for Transport drafted by the EA member Dr Saima Kalev. The opinion supports the proposal of the European Commission to set mandatory targets for recharging points for electric cars. However, the COTER commissions ask more time be given to Member States and ...
​The NAT commission meeting, held in Brussels on 30 April saw a fierce discussion over the highly controversial issue of manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco and related products. Acting as the group's political coordinator, Mr Jerzy Zajakala particularly strongly defended the position that no economic benefit should be put ahead of human ...
On 25 and 26 April, the city of Espoo, Finland, was host to the EDUC commission external meeting and a conference "Pioneering Europe 2020 Smart Regions". The European Alliance group was represented by Mrs Linda Gillham (who on this occasion acted as the group's political coordinator), Mr Povilas Žagunis and Mr Mirosław Lech. The conferen...
​The ENVE commission has been dealing recently with a number of important energy and environmental topics ranging from energy efficiency, climate change  to the internal energy market. However, focus is now on the future legislation on waste, in particular plastic waste, which is of particular relevance for LRAs.  After adopting in outlo...
​On April 23, the Committee of the Regions' Commission for Economic and Social Policy (ECOS) held its meeting in Brussels. On this occasion, Dr Uno Silberg was appointed Rapporteur for the opinion on Green Paper on long-term financing of the European economy, scheduled to be adopted in the ECOS commission meeting in June and the CoR Plenary session...
​Dr Saima Kalev, Member of Jõgeva Rural Municipality Council, and EA rapporteur on the Package “Clean Power for Transport: A European alternative fuels strategy”, held on 22 April 2013 a stakeholder consultation in the Committee of the Regions' premises. Dr Kalev and her expert exchanged their ideas with the representatives from local and regio...
​The EA member in the CIVEX commission, Mr Jan Brons  welcomes the adoption of the opinion on Regulatory fitness which supports actions and initiatives aimed at simplifying legislation and reducing the costs associated to transpositions. He believes that the implementation and the impact of new legislation on LRAs need to be duly taken into ac...
​At the opening of the Committee of Regions 100th plenary, Mr Uno Silberg addressed the President of the European Parliament Martin Shulz by focusing on two burning challenges the European decision-makers are currently facing: the negotiations on the new Multiannual Financial Framework and the issue of youth unemployment.   Mr Silberg ex...
​Delegates at the Committee of Regions 100th plenary adopted unanimously Rhodri Glyn Thomas' opinion on the Irish Presidency referral "Synergies between private investment and public funding at local and regional levels."   Public-private partnerships represent an increasingly attractive source of funding for projects and innovati...
​Mr Witold Krochmal, member of the EA group bureau and coordinator of the ECOS commission in the CoR has taken part in a panel discussion on the Industrial Policy flagship initiative on 10 April. Mr Krochmal pointed out in his speech that clusters could represent a successful growth enhancing solution if supported by effective cooperation between...
​On 9th April, the bureau members of the EA group have taken part in a study visit in Mechelen upon invitation of Mr. Marc Hendrickx, "schepen" of Mechelen and member of the N-VA political party. The study visit focussed on local governance structures, remits, competences and financing of local authorities in Flanders, also including its...
​On 21 March, the Dutch provinces of Overijssel, Drenthe and Flevoland hosted a seminar on the regional perspective of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on productivity and sustainability in agriculture. The seminar, followed by study visits which presented local best practices in the field, focused on examples of the role of local and regi...
​European Alliance group President participated in the Conference of Presidents meeting with the President of the European Council Mr Van Rompuy.  Points for discussion related to the MFF, competitiveness and Youth Employment with a view to the Spring European Summit to be held on the 14-15 March 2013.   Dr Silberg focussed on the issue...
​The newly-established Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) between the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and Icelandic local authorities held its inaugural meeting in Reykjavík, Iceland. The JCC, which brings together local and regional representatives from the EU Member States and Iceland, aims to ensure that Iceland's municipalities are fully engaged...
​During the Committee of the Regions bureau meeting and the forum on Skills and Jobs, European Alliance group president welcomed the EU agreement on the Youth Guarantee.  With youth unemployment reaching over 50% in some Member States clear and decisive action needed to be taken and this was a first step.  He also welcomed Commissioner Ge...
​At a joint meeting between the Conference of Presidents in both the European Parliament and the Committee of the Regions, European Alliance President Dr Uno Silberg said that there was a clear need to show that both institutions could work together, in particular in the lead up to the European elections in 2014.  He highlighted not only rappo...
The CoR Plenary on the 31st January 2013 adopted Mr Rhodri Glyn Thomas's own-initiative opinion on creating greater synergies between EU, Member State and sub-State budgets. Mr Thomas said: "Sub-national authorities across Europe play a key role in supporting public investments, accounting for over two thirds of the 7% of general governm...
​Member of Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region (PL), Mr Banaszak's opinion on the Blue Growth was unanimously  adopted during the CoR plenary session on the 01st February 2013. His opinion is based on the assumption that seas, coasts and oceans can play a key role in overcoming many current challenges and should be underpinned by "smart specializat...
​A visit of local and regional representatives from Estonia took place on the 21st January. They have visited the Committee of the Regions, where EA President, Dr. Uno Silberg, welcomed the group. Mr Silberg presented the Committee of the Regions, its activity and the role it plays in the European institutional spectrum.   The delegation...
​"Please keep in mind that not only technical aspects of sustainable tourism are important. It matters also to preserve cultural heritage of touristic regions – said Mr Stanislaw Szwabski, European Alliance member on 16 January 2013 during the fourth Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly's commission for sustainable development (SUDEV...