In an opinion drafted by Sören Herbst (EPP, Germany) that was adopted by the plenary session on Wednesday 4 July, the Committee of the Regions (CoR) proposed a local administration facility be set up to improve the territorial dimension and, more generally, the effectiveness of the Eastern Partnership to 2020.
This call echoes the one made in a CoR opinion of October 2016 on reviewing European neighbourhood policy. The Committee says that this proposal underlines the need for an instrument to be put in place specifically to assist local and regional authorities of external partners. In other words, full throttle for “city diplomacy”.
The CoR calls for a non-bureaucratic programme to be set up to initiate partnerships between local and regional authorities in the EU and in the Eastern Partnership countries. But here, worries appear. In the plenary session, CoR members regretted the “timidity” of the Commission’s proposals for the next budgetary cycle, which makes no provision for any increase in funding for eastern partnerships (see EUROPE 12041).
In general, CoR members fell that implementation of the goals of the Eastern Partnership to 2020, following the November summit, leaves room for improvement. They note that programmes planned as part of these partnerships are largely restricted to the capital cities. Worse, they point out that only three countries (Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus) out of six are taking part in the COSME programme, which supports SMEs. The absentees are Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Donbass. Interestingly, CoR members call for the establishment of European Union technical support for Ukrainian non-commercial local radio to provide the population of Donbass with independent information to counter Russian “propaganda”. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)