18/04/2017 (Agence Europe) – As far as Pawel Grzybowski (ECR, Poland), rapporteur for the Committee of the Regions (CoR) on the European Solidarity Corps is concerned, setting up such a European corps would be a good thing, but the initiative should have a strong territorial angel and recognise the role of local and regional authorities, as he explained in an intervention to a forum on the new corps on Wednesday 12 April. He pointed out that local and regional governments were the premier providers of public services on the ground and played an important role in managing the corps. The CoR president, Markku Markkula, stressed the need to ensure sufficient financial support for local and regional authorities. The CoR will be adopting an opinion on the question in its plenary of 11 and 12 May. (PH)