Says Nanette Maupertuis, President of the European Alliance Group

As the new negotiating box has been provided by the Cypriot Presidency, we call on all Member States to make sure that Regions have sufficient budget to allow for balanced territorial development and that these programmes must be designed and implemented by the regions themselves. Its imperative that the EU has a budget which is fit for purpose and can allow us deal with the current and future challenges.

We welcome the EU Islands strategy launched by Executive Vice President Rafaele Fitto a few weeks. Its something I have personally worked on for many years and it is a step forwards to addressing the specific challenges and opportunities facing Islands.

We are also looking forward to the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU and in particular our external meeting which will be in Galway hosted by Cllr Declan McDonnell. The focus will be Developing entrepreneurship while respecting culture, traditions and languages in coastal cities and communities.

Our CoR Plenary will hold a very important debate on housing in the EU. Its an area we need to do more on and we were delighted to have at our last group meeting Vicent Marzà Ibáñez, MEP, Vice-chair of the European Parliament’s Special Committee on the Housing Crisis (HOUS), for an exchange on the future of affordable housing policy in Europe. We will also hold a timely debate on Energy with Commissioner Ribera and on Fisheries & Maritime policy with Commissioner Kadis.

The agenda for regions is diverse, but we will ensure that your voice is integrated into the various debates via our members. Europe should always be built from the ‘bottom up’ with regions to the core of its policies.