Brussels, 29/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament and Committee of the Regions want to base their collaboration on winning the trust of their citizens. A meeting between the two respective presidents Martin Schulz and Michel Lebrun concluded on Wednesday 28 January, with a number of different possible areas for taking action.
The European Parliament and the Committee of the Regions (CoR) are part of an inter-institutional alliance and are seeking to draw from the regional and local roots of their delegates to promote European policy and a better dialogue with Europe's citizens. In a joint declaration at the end of their meeting, Schulz and Lebrun stated “In view of the multiple challenges that Europe faces, we only have one option: we must earn citizens' trust by involving them in decision-making processes and implementing projects that boost growth”.
To achieve this end, the two institutions are recommending that in order to relaunch growth, they have to focus on the implementation of projects in the education, culture, immigration, research and infrastructure fields, which can be financed through European Structural Funds or the European Fund for Strategic Investment. This will also involve focusing on projects that relate to the daily lives of European citizens. The “decentralised communication” is also expected to be sustained through continued dialogue with citizens, which has already taken place in the cities of Nantes and Liège, for example. (MD)