Local and Regional leaders had a debate during the CoR Plenary Session on the Conference on the Future of Europe with Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Democracy and Demography. Elected representatives of villages, cities and regions highlighted their engagement in the Conference on the Future of Europe and the opportunity to strengthen European democracy through local and regional authorities (LRAs) as the closest link to citizens.
Vice-President of the EC for Democracy and Demography, Dubravka Šuica stated: "Without your engagement and dedication, the conference can't reach it's potential to reach out to every citizen, from mountains to islands. You are uniquely placed to obtain a broader audience."
Apostolos Tzitzikostas, President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) and Governor of the Region of Central Macedonia (Greece) said that "We want to set a network of local and regional representatives that goes beyond CoR members to reinforce citizens engagement in the CoFoE via the 1 million elected representatives. We believe that our common house needs to be further consolidated by reinforcing the trust of our people in a values based democracy that delivers results, promotes fundamental values and above all respects the rule of law."
The Mayor of Gdansk, Alexandra Dulkiewicz said: "Local and regional leaders know that the seeds of democracy are born at the foundations of society: in families, schools, cities. These communities develop based on mutual trust, free communication and care for the weak. The social capital is fundamental for building and understanding the fundamental values and democracy."
Mark Speich, Secretary of State for Federal, European and International Affairs of North Rhine-Westphalia and CIVEX Chair said that we need to have a further process that will clarify the conclusions of the Conference: "At the end of the Conference in spring 2022, we will have clarity about what citizens actually expect from the future EU. But then a further process must inevitably follow. It must be clarified which concrete reforms of the institutional architecture or the treaties are necessary for this. That is why I think it is necessary for us to agree on the structure of the follow-up process at an early stage. Under the French Council Presidency, the first part of the Conference must then be concluded and at the same time there must be a strong impulse and start to the subsequent reform process."
In his intervention, Emil Boc, Mayor of Cluj-Napoca said that the Conference is about having confidence in our common future. "The best politics is the politics of solving people's problems. As Jean Monnet said, it is better to work around the table than on a battlefield."
"The Conference needs to show how important the presence of regions and cities is in Europe. We also need to look at the representation of islands in Europe, which are still marginalised. The condition of insularity need to be further discussed in the context of the Conference in order to revise the treaties and to reinforce the role of the CoR." highlighted Gaetano Armao, Vice-President of the Region of Sicily.
József Berényi, Vice-Chairman of Trnava Self – Governing Region said that the Conference needs to find a reasonable balance between the values of tolerance and solidarity, and the functionality of Europe's institutions, while Carmen Kiefer, member of the municipality of Kuchl in Salzburg talked about the engagement of citizens in their communities: "For years in Austria, we have had citizens municipal councils to increase local representation. Such representation can be of great benefit to the future of Europe."
Bruno Hranić, Mayor of Vidovec spoke about the cross-border situation from his region: "The stability of the EU is very important for Croatia, because we are at the border between the EU and the countries of the Western Balkans. We need to engage citizens from the Western Balkans, especially young people, in our talks on the future of Europe. We need to give them the opportunity to join the debate right now because this is the only way they can initiate change."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG2qtNZgj0I&list=PLZkp86_2BA1gjDi6vCFbLOV_hAbnE8yJ4&index=6