The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is a political assembly of the European Union with the aim of representing local and regional authorities in the EU, through its 329 members, who come from all the countries of the European Union .
The “institutional triangle” (European Commission, European Parliament and Council of the EU) must consult the Committee of the Regions when topics concerning regional and local authorities are under discussion (transport, education, employment, health, etc.).
The members are elected politicians, like mayors or presidents of a region, who speak for their local reality. Atlantic Cities therefore has members in common with the CoR, being present in 5 of its 6 internal committees.
This is the case for José Maria Costa, current mayor of Viana do Castelo (Portugal), President of Atlantic Cities and Vice president of the Portuguese delegation at the CoR. Costa participates in the Economic Policy (ECON) and Natural Resources (NAT) commissions.
The Mayor of Lisbon, Mr. Fernando Medina, is the president of the Portuguese delegation and participates in themes such as “Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy (COTER)” and “Commission for the Environment, Climate Change and ‘energy’ (ENVE) ‘in which he attended the United Nations Climate Action Summit. Under his mandate, Lisbon was elected European Green Capital 2020.
Mr Kieran McCarthy, Independent Councilor of Cork City Council, also participates in the CoR, within the “Social Policy, Education, Employment, Research and Culture” (SEDEC) and territorial cohesion policy (COTER) commissions, being also rapporteur on opinion documents, and on several topics, such as the Digitization of European Industry and the EU Urban Agenda.
Cork also counts with Councillor Deirdre Forde, within the territorial cohesion policy (COTER) and the Economic Policy (ECON) commissions
This presence reaffirms the communication channels of Atlantic Cities to the European institutions, an essential tool at the time of raising awareness and defending the needs of Atlantic cities.
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