Brussels, 25/11/2008 (Agence Europe) - The Committee of the Regions (CoR) will meet in plenary session in Brussels on Wednesday 26 and Thursday 27 November, under the chairmanship of Luc Van den Brande. The meeting will focus on the need, in the regions and local authorities all over Europe, to encourage an attitude of readiness and determination to tackle and overcome the challenges of the year ahead. The economic situation in Europe will, then, feature in all the debates.
In a Question Time at 9.00am on Thursday 27 November, CoR members will exchange views with European Commission President José Manuel Barroso on the Commission's work and legislative programme for 2009. CoR members will set out in a resolution what Europe's regional and local authorities expect to be addressed by the European Commission over the next year, and what is needed to contain the financial crisis and to avoid major impacts on the job market. The session will also give the Commission president an opportunity to brief the 344 regional and local elected members on the recent financial summit in Washington and to present the upcoming meetings.
At 3.15pm on Wednesday 26 November, French Secretary of State with responsibility for Urban Policy Fadela Amara will take part in a debate on “Intercultural dialogue and the emerging European identity: a challenge for European cities and regions”. Jacques De Decker, a writer, member of the European Commission's Group of Intellectuals on linguistic diversity and European integration and Permanent Secretary of the Belgian Royal Academy of French Language and Literature, will introduce the debate. Among the speakers are Claire Guibault, MEP and conductor, Jan Micallef, head of the Congress of Local Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and CoR rapporteur on immigration policy, Milan Belica, President of the Nitra Self-governing Region (Slovakia) and rapporteur on the opinion on “Integration policy and intercultural dialogue: the role of local and regional authorities”, requested of the CoR by the French EU Presidency; Claudio Martini, President of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe (CPMR) and of the Region of Tuscany, and head of the CoR's constitutional affairs committee.
During our two-day plenary session, participants will concentrate on education, research and the Lisbon strategy post-2010, said Van den Brande in a press release. He noted too that, for the first time, an elected Welsh representative will be able to take the floor and follow a meeting of an official EU body in his own language. This is a new CoR initiative to bring Europe closer to citizens and to respect all our cultural and linguistic diversities.
The opinions to be debated in plenary will be dominated by four themes: (1) Immigration and integration: a) Werner Jostmeier, Member of North Rhine-Westphalia Landtag, (EPP-ED, Germany) will present the opinion on the development of a future immigration policy; b) Milan Belica will present the opinion on integration and intercultural dialogue; (2) Climate change and sustainable development: a) Kay Twitchen, Member of Essex County Council (EPP, UK) has called her outlook opinion “How regions contribute to achieving European climate change and energy goals, with a special focus on the covenant of mayors”; b) Risto Koivisto, President of Tampere Regional Council (PES, Finland) will deal with the issue of energy efficiency in an opinion which focuses on the potential of information and communication technologies; (3) Enlargement and external relations with, inter alia, opinions from Frantisek Knapik, Mayor of Košice (EPP, Slovakia), Helene Lund, Member of Furesø Town Council (PES, Denmark); (4) Education, research and job creation, with opinions from Rinda den Besten, Executive Member of Utrecht Council (PES, Netherlands), Helma Kuhn-Theis, Member of Saarland Landtag (EPP, Germany), Inaki Aguirre Vincenti Mayor of Genoa (PES, Italy) and Flavio Delbono, Regional councillor and Vice-president of the Emilia Romagna Region (ALDE, Italy). For further information, go to http://www.cor.europa.eu (G.B./transl.rt)