​On 4 December Mr Tadeusz Truskolaski, Mayor of Białystok, EA Member was appointed as Chair of the CoR Interregional Group on less developed Regions in Europe. The Members of the Group approved the work programme. Mr Truskolaski said "We wish to show that these regions have far bigger problems. We will also examine the effectiveness of cohesion policy, which does not exactly seem to be effective, since these regions over the years of its operation didn't diminish; the European Union has still over 70 regions less developed. Apart from Mazovia Regiont all Polish regions belong to this group. It also goes to show that many regions oppose the two-speed Europe. If the purpose of the EU is solidarity, this solidarity should lead to a decrease in the gap between the richest and the poorest. I'm not saying to abolish it, because it is impossible, but we must do everything to shrink this gap".

The group was founded last year at the initiative of the Spanish region of Extremadura to represent the region's less developed, that is, one whose GDP per capita is below 75 percent of the average level of the EU.

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