During the October COTER meeting, COR members discussed and adopted three opinions concerning the future development of the rail sector in Europe, support to metropolitan regions in the context of future cohesion policy and creation of Carpathian Macro-Region Strategy.
Cork City Council member Kieran McCarthy contributed to the debate on the rail sector by highlighting its role in delivering EU priorities, notably when it comes to the promotion of cultural heritage through, for example, the successful discoverEU program. Mr Pierluigi Marquis – Regional Councillor of the Autonomous Region of Valle d'Aosta, pointed to the necessity of ensuring public investment in order to connect rural and mountainous areas with the main transport corridors.
In regards to the opinion on the metropolitan regions, Mr McCarthy raised the issue of uneven funding availability for urban areas across the EU due to GDP-based qualification to cohesion policy objectives. At the same time, he emphasized that there is already a well-functioning system of support provided to metropolitan regions by DG Regio and programs such as Urban Innovative Actions and Urbact.
COTER meeting ended with a discussion on the ESPON targeted analysis on cross-border public services conducted with the support of the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR). Mr McCarthy took this opportunity to draw attention to the lack of progress in the Council's work on the European Cross-Border Mechanism.
