On 22 May 2017, the Bureau of European Committee of the Regions' Conference of Regional and Local Authorities for the Eastern Partnership (CORLEAP) held its first meeting in Belarus since its launch in 2011.
The EA group was represented at the meeting by Mr Dariusz Wróbel, CORLEAP Bureau Member and Mayor of Opole Lubelskie, Poland.
The meeting, which gathered representatives of local and regional administrations from the European Union and Eastern Partnership countries (Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) this time focused on energy efficiency, job creation and the development of tourism. The CORLEAP Bureau members also discussed a report on obstacles to energy efficiency in the Eastern Partnership countries, such as limited authority, insufficient government support, inadequate funding, and a lack of private-sector involvement in municipal energy-efficiency programmes.
This meeting also provided an opportunity for a strategic debate on CORLEAP activities and recommendations to the 5th Eastern Partnership (EaP) Summit which will take place in November this year, against the background of developments which can bring a new impetus to the Eastern Dimension of the reviewed European Neighborhood policy.
At the end of the meeting, Mr Wróbel presented good practices from the town of Opole Lubelskie where the municipality installed 2000 rooftop photovoltaic panels. "Sharing good practices with the neighbors is very important and protecting the climate and energy efficiency is our duty now as we live in times when we have to protect environment and use energy in a modern way", he added.
Finally, members of the European Committee of the Regions also had an opportunity to meet representatives of Belarussian civil society.
During the meeting, Mr Wróbel welcomed the opportunity to have a discussion with the grassroots civil society organisations in EaP countries and highlighted that "it is very important to engage with all sectors of society and that future cooperation is based on the same values as more democracy can give more opportunities."
