​On 25 and 26 June 2018, European Committee of the Regions' Commission for Social Policy, Education, Employment, Research and Culture (SEDEC) held a meeting and a conference in Logroño, capital of the La Rioja province, Spain.

During the first day of the meeting, SEDEC members discussed the role of sport in the EU agenda post-2020, establishment of the European Labour Authority and European Commission's Communication on the Digital Education Action Plan. It was also decided that member of the EA group, Cllr Gillian Ford from the London Borough of Havering will be appointed rapporteur on several initiatives launched by the European Commission aimed at establishing a common European Education Area by 2025. These include, among others, proposals on promoting automatic mutual recognition of diplomas, development of high quality childhood education and care systems, as well as a more comprehensive approach to the teaching and learning of languages.

On the second day, members participated in a conference on demographic change in Europe, together with Members of the European Parliament, presidents of several Spanish regions and representatives of the European Commission, civil society and academia. The participants agreed that the next budget of the European Union should include specific measures to help the regions most severely affected by demographic challenges.

EA Group coordinator for the SEDEC commission is Cllr Kieran McCarthy, from the Cork City Council, Ireland. During the conference, he said that local and regional authorities already use a myriad of tools to address demographic challenges on a daily basis, such as CAP, ETC, LEADER, ERDF or EGTC, but also added that demographic change shows a very real need for an even stronger EU Regional Policy in the next MFF. "We need more steps forwards than backwards", Mr McCarthy concluded.