"We have to treat our values like democracy, rule of law and transparency very strictly and seriously. We can't allow these values to be used like slogans. Those who violate and abuse our values have to be punished." Olgierd Geblewicz, President of the EPP-CoR Group made these remarks when addressing the 9th European Summit of Regions and Cities in Marseille.
Referring to the situation in Ukraine, Geblewicz, who is President of the West Pomerania Region added "In one week our world has completely changed; in one week we realized how fragile democracy is. We are facing a humanitarian crises. 150,000 children from Ukraine are coming to my region and we will take care of them offering accommodation, food and health care. Local and Regional Authorities are once again on the front line. To have a stronger house we have to strengthen our foundations – the local and regional level."
Mark Speich, State Secretary of North Rhine-Westphalia and Chairman of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) CIVEX Commission said “The regions have put forward concrete proposals on how the EU can be closer to citizens. The CoR has adopted clear positions on how to strengthen the influence of regions on EU legislation. The homework has thus been done. Now, two aspects are of utmost importance: First, the positions of the regions and the CoR must find their way into the final report of the Conference on the Future of Europe. Secondly, we need a serious follow up process of the Conference, a process that actually implements our positions.” Speich added that Regions and cities are implementing EU law and so if we want to achieve a stronger Europe we need to take this experience on board. He called for a more flexible approach to facilitate participatory democracy.
Democracy in action: women in local politics
Discussing the need to increase the role of women in politics, Eva Maydell, MEP and President of European Movement International said "Women have been the backbone of communities and politics for decades. However, too often how hard they work or how much they contribute, is not reflected in the positions they hold. A political system that does not represent half its population can never fairly represent the people. We will have a society that fails to harness the full potential of towns and cities both economically and socially. Equality in politics is about giving women their fair share of opportunities, that for too long have been out of reach."