During the European Committee of the Regions February 2023 plenary our group will discuss the Digital Age with European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, debate on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals with Barry Andrews MEP (Renew Europe), discuss the European Year of Skills 2023 with Dragos Pislaru MEP (Renew Europe) and more.
— This overview/blog covers the European Committee of the Regions plenary of Wednesday 8 February and Thursday 9 February —
Thursday 9 February
Our President François Decoster attended Ukrainian President Zelensky’s address to the European Parliament:
- Debate on the European Year of Skills 2023 with Dragos Pislaru MEP (Renew Europe) and Michiel Rijsberman, Regional Minister for the Province of Flevoland
Debate on the European Commission 2023 priorities, focusing on the EU energy platform, critical raw materials and EU-UK relations, with European Commissioner Maros Sefcovic and Gunar Ansins
Wednesday 8 February
At the Adamowicz award ceremony, François Decoster praised the winner, the Polish city of Michalowo, and raised the issue of migration with European Commissioner
Debate on the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals with Barry Andrews MEP (Renew Europe) and Maria Elorza, Secretary-General for External Action, Basque Parliament.
from left to right: Gillian Coughlan, Maria Elorza, Barry Andrews MEP and François Decoster
Debate on local EU matters: increase of attacks by big carnivores on livestock in EU territories by Paula Fernandez Viana
Debate on LRA’s fit for the Digital Age with Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for a Europe fit for the Digital Age and Martijn Van Gruijthuijsen
Van Gruijthuijsen discussed digital resilience in his province of Noord-Brabant and about looking forward and cooperation:
“In my region of Noord-Brabant, we invest in the so-called “Datalab” where data is not only about monitoring but is also a predicting value. The goal is to get more out of data so that we can improve our regional policies. We are therefore looking forward to the upcoming European dataspaces”
“We need to keep working on the conscious awareness of cyber security. Related to upcoming acts like the A.I.-act for example, it is important to keep an eye on the target audience, to create real trust among people”
Other members also joined in the debate with Magali Altounian highlighting how her region reinforced its innovation poles and took measures to reduce the costs of digitalization.
Ahead of the CoR Plenary we had our group meeting, discussing the ALDE party manifesto with Svenja Hahn MEP, focusing on reskilling of workers, EU’s open Strategy autonomy, the future of youth, mental health and social policy, digitalization and education.
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