Brussels, 15/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - At an extraordinary meeting in Valladolid (Spain) on 11 and 12 March, the Committee of the Regions' Bureau discussed the “competitive, connected and greener economic model” that was put forward following the recent Copenhagen summit. Debates covered the potential impact and contributions of the EU regions and local authorities as regards helping to achieve Europe's goals for climate change. They also reviewed the main challenges to the green economy faced with the need for new skills for new jobs, a Committee of the Regions (CoR) press release states.
At the meeting, CoR President Mercedes Bresso said: “Green growth was probably the objective which attracted most support in today's Europe. However, it was not the easiest thing to achieve after the economic and financial crisis. First of all we had to invest in new sectors and new goods and services to create green jobs, and then we had to enable current workers or the unemployed to acquire the necessary skills for such activities”. She went on to conclude that “green jobs were not something for the future. They had to become a reality right now. This was the mammoth task facing elected local and regional politicians”.
The president of the government of Castille and Léon, Juan Vicente Herrera, pointed out that “innovation was without doubt the way to maintain the position of Europe and each of its regions and countries in a world that had seen the emergence of some particularly powerful competitors”. He then stressed that the thing that was of particular interest to Castille and Léon was how to ensure that agriculture and cattle-raising were relevant to economic growth and sustainability. He went on to say that a great deal was expected from the new technologies involved in the electric car and that he trusted Europe would also provide support for local coal as part of the policy for ensuring energy supply security, albeit without ruling out the nuclear option. The CoR states in its press release that the electric car project developed by Renault with the collaboration of the Castille and Léon government and its central executive was presented during the Bureau's meeting, which was attended by Renault's head of institutional relations in Spain, Ernestos Salas. For further information: http://www.cor.europa.eu (G.B./transl.jl)