Elected today by the ALDE Group in the Committee of the Regions, Bart Somers (BE / Open VLD), Mayor of Mechelen and leader of the liberal group in the Flemish Parliament, will serve as President until the end of this mandate (2020).
I’m honoured to have been elected President of the ALDE group. As President, I believe cities and local authorities are often best placed to tackle challenging issues, more so in these times when our Union is under attack by forces who wish to weaken or even destroy it. I intend to work closely with all of those, regardless of their political colour, inside and outside the CoR who wish to strengthen Europe’s economy and democracy, and who believe in a strong role of cities and regions.
Watch our new President explain his views how local and regional authorities can make a difference on the European level:
Somers has been ALDE Second Vice-President and ALDE CIVEX Coordinator since 2015 and was most recently the CoR-rapporteur of the opinion on “Combatting Radicalisation and Violent Extremism: Prevention mechanisms at local and regional level’
