Brussels, 20/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - At the first Enlargement Day conference in Brussels on Monday 16 November, the Committee of the Regions (CoR) met regional and local representatives from the candidate countries to discuss increasing cooperation with a view to their future accession to the European Union.
CoR President Markku Markkula held talks with regional representatives from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey on issues ranging from local and regional governments' development strategies to the powers and constraints on sub-national governments.
Simon Mordue, the European Commission's director for enlargement policy and strategy, said that cooperation with local and regional authorities is of the greatest importance in sharing best practice, for example, with regard to a culture of transparency and good governance, and in implementing the acquis communautaire.
The CoR is already involved in a range of initiatives and cooperation programmes of region-to-region and city diplomacy through ad hoc working group collaboration, which allows information to be shared on various issues with different members, and joint consultative commissions, which set out more structured programmes with clear objectives.
Turkey was, of course, discussed. The country is seeking currently to inject fresh impetus into its EU accession process, despite a less than encouraging progress report from the Commission (see EUROPE 11428). Keen to assist Turkey on its path to EU accession, the CoR has, since 2006, wanted to put in place a joint consultative commission. The proposal has stalled while awaiting a national-level decision from Ankara.
On 7 December, the first meeting of the joint consultative commission with Serbia will be held. Hitherto, meetings have taken place within the Western Balkans working group. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)