Brussels, 03/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 2 May, as Croatia continues along the road to reform, the president of the Committee of the Regions (CoR), Mercedes Bresso, went to the country to see for herself how the land lay. Speaking to Croatia's Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor, Bresso said that “EU accession cannot be successful unless it is anchored at local level”.
In the presence of the regional development minister, Bozidar Pankretic, the president invited the Croatian authorities to “continue their efforts and transfer the greatest possible number of competences to local and regional level, whilst guaranteeing the accompanying funding”. This kind of approach will contribute to the decentralised information and communication campaign at local and regional level that must, without fail, accompany any enlargement, the CoR president said, adding that she was ready to support the efforts of the local and regional authorities in this field “so that they will be ready for their future responsibilities and to facilitate cooperation with their partners in the European institutions, starting with the European Parliament”.
Mercedes Bresso also attended a ministerial conference on the Danube in Vukovar, a town that symbolises reconciliation in the Balkans, alongside the minister for foreign affairs and European integration, Gordan Jandokovic, and the commissioner for regional policy, Johannes Hahn, a CoR press release reports. “In the Danube basin, the Adriatic and the Ionian Sea, we can draw on the accomplishments of the EU to prepare the next stages of its enlargement”, Bresso said, adding: “The CoR hopes that the June Council will enable formal progress in pursuing macro-regional strategies”. On the sidelines of the conference, Mercedes Bresso announced that, on 23 May this year, in Brussels, the CoR would be hosting the annual meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Adriatic & Ionian Initiative. (G.B./transl.jl)