First meeting of High Level Group Congress / Committee of the Regions

From left to right: Jiří Buriánek, CoR Secretary General, Anders Knape, President of the Congress Chamber of Local Authorities, Karl-Heinz Lambertz, 1st CoR Vice-President, Gudrun Mosler-Törnström, President of the Congress Chamber of Regions, Markku Markkula, CoR President, Jean-Claude Frécon, Congress President, François Decoster, President of CIVEX, Andreas Kiefer, Congress Secretary General

Brussels, 09.02.2016 - The High Level Group “3+3” of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and the EU Committee of the Regions met for the first time on 9 February 2016 in Brussels. This meeting is part of the broader context of cooperation between the Council of Europe and the European Union, which has been significantly reinforced in recent few years, as can be seen from the regular meetings at political level between Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, the daily cooperation between the services of both organisations and the important contribution of the European Union to the funding of the cooperation programmes of the Council of Europe.

Chaired by Congress President Jean-Claude Frécon and Committee of the Regions President Markku Markkula, the participants exchanged views on the prevention of radicalisation and the integration of refugees and discussed their respective activities in this field. They also reviewed decentralisation in Ukraine and agreed that synergies and cooperation will be strengthened. The Congress will participate in the task force set up by the Committee of the Regions to support the reform process and reciprocally, members of the Committee of the Regions will be invited to participate in Congress cooperation activities.

The two bodies will also strengthen their collaboration through the Conference of Regional and Local Authorities for the Eastern Partnership (CORLEAP) and the Regional and Local Assembly Euro-Mediterranean (ARLEM). In this regard, the Congress drew attention to its partner status for local democracy, adopted in October 2014, for the benefit of neighbouring countries of Europe.

Finally, the two institutions made corruption prevention and ethics promotion at local and regional levels a shared priority, and will hold a joint conference on this topic in autumn 2016.