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 innovative financial instruments which bring together the delivery of policy-driven investments at the local and regional level and the need to achieve cost-based returns and long-term sustainability. In his opinion, Mr Thomas particularly underlined the key role of the European Investment Bank (EIB) in supporting public-private partnerships but also called for greater awareness at the local and regional level about the potential opportunities for support from the EIB. In addition, he called on the European Commission to give greater clarity in the legislative and regulatory framework to reduce barriers for local and regional authorities in using such partnerships and instruments.

 

A particular curiosity is that Mr Thomas contributed to the promotion of Europe's regional linguistic diversity and minority languages by addressing the delegates and presenting the opinion in his native Welsh.