Brussels, 09/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - At an invitation from the Committee of the Regions (CoR), the representatives of territorial authorities, regional parliaments, European and national associations of local and regional communities and officials of the European Commission (DG Press/Communication) will take part in a conference on Committee premises in Brussels on getting Europe across at local level. Chaired by Peter Straub, the conference will focus on the implementation of the Commission's Plan D (Democracy, Dialogue, Debate), presenting expectations when it comes to implementation of the plan launched after the European Constitution ratification process was suspended. The regional authorities and associations will be invited to put their projects forward on the best ways to put Europe across to citizens.
It will be remembered that, during their last plenary session of 2005, on 16 and 17 November, the members of the Committee had questioned Commission President José Manuel Barroso and the Commission vice-president responsible for communication policy, Margot Wallström, on the need to add a fourth concept to Plan D: decentralisation. The communication has become a priority for CoR. Mercedes Bresso of Italy, who was appointed on 12 December as rapporteur on the opinion relating to Plan D, already pointed out the Committee's wish that the EU should adopt a new “bottom up” approach allowing citizens to be involved and strengthening their feeling of belonging to Europe (see EUROPE 9090).