On 27 June, European Committee of the Regions (CoR) and Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe marked their 25th Anniversary with debate during the 135th Plenary session of the CoR.
Presidents of the two institutions Karl-Heinz Lambertz and Anders Knape, along with a number of members discussed the state of democracy at the local and regional level in Europe as well as cooperation between CoR and the Congress and possible future synergies to explore.
During the debate, Ms Mireia Borrell Porta, Director-General for External Relations in the Government of Catalonia said that the Catalan government will always fight for the transfer of powers to both EU and local-government level because the EU must not function as a "big states' club."
Cllr Tony Buchanan, from the East Renfrewshire Council (Scotland), said that, if BREXIT should happen, Scotland would remain keen on actively participating in the work of both the CoR and the Congress, hopefully as an independent country.
