On Wednesday, November 29, 2023, the 158th Plenary Session of the Committee of the Regions took place.

The main opinions discussed ranged from Energy, Culture, to Social Justice and Inclusion topics. 

The opinion that Regions and cities call on the European Parliament to strengthen cross-border cooperation to speed-up the EU path of candidate countries was presented by Rapporteur Marie-Antoinette MAUPERTUIS (FR/EA) President of the Corsica Assembly, where emphasis was given to the need for strengthening cross-border cooperation to promote peace, cohesion and prosperity. 

Some of the remarks and recommendations included were: 

• Local and regional leaders call for an increase in fund allocation and towards cross-border cooperation programmes, 
• The CoR asks to set-up a mechanism to compensate EU border regions affected by the drop in access to funding due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
• Promotion of mutual understanding, shared capacity building, infrastructure development and joint projects across external borders in order to encourage cooperation and prevent conflict, aiming at speeding up the EU path of candidate countries.

Read the full opinion factsheet here!

Read CoR's press release!