European Committee of the Regions to elect leadership as it enters next five-year term

On 12 February, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) will begin a new five-year term gathering its new members together in Brussels for the first time. During the constitutive plenary session, CoR members will also vote to elect their new President and First Vice-President.

Following a debate with the European Commission's First Vice-President, Frans Timmermans, the newly-formed CoR will adopt its position on the Commission's work programme for 2015 whilst identifying the main challenges and priorities for the coming year.

CoR Presidency elections

Three of the CoRs' political parties have selected candidates to take part in the Presidency election: the European Socialist Group (PES) has put forward Karl-Heinz Lambertz – President of the Parliament of the German-speaking community of Belgium; the European People's Party (EPP) has nominated Markku Markkula, member of Espoo City Council (Finland); and the Alliance for Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) candidate is the Mayor of the Dutch City of Delft, Bas Verkerk.

The election will take place at 9h on Thursday 12 February in Brussels and will be live-streamed. To be elected, a candidate must secure a simple majority (more than 50%) of the members taking part in the vote.

The new CoR President will hold a press conference at 13h in the European Parliament (room P1 A002) to present the political priorities for his new term of office. 

The CoRs' February plenary session will be the first time that the newly appointed members will gather as part of the CoR new term of office (2015-2020). In addition, 28 Vice-Presidents chosen by national delegations and members of the CoRs' governing body – the Bureau – will also be appointed.

Advertisement

Frans Timmermans to present Commission's priorities for 2015

On 12 February in the afternoon, the Commission's First Vice-President will engage in a debate with the new CoR members to discuss the way forward for enhanced cooperation between the two institutions, initiatives in the field of growth and jobs, better regulation, and the main priorities of the EU executive's work programme for 2015. CoR members are then due to adopt a resolution as a reaction to the Commission's political priorities from the perspective of local government.

Latvian EU Presidency debate

The Latvian Parliamentary State Secretary for EU Affairs, Zanda Kalnina-Lukaševica, will present and discuss the main priorities of the EU Latvian Presidency with the CoRs' members.

Also on the agenda:

The regional and local dimension of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will be debated by CoR members with EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström. TTIP's potential impact on public services, investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), geographical indications and other economic issues of regional interest will be at the heart of the discussion, which will be finalized with the adoption of an opinion drawn-up by Markus Töns, (PES/DE), Member of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia.

 

Mariana Gâju (PES/RO), Mayor of Cumpăna, will present her draft opinion on Towards a circular economy: review of EU waste legislation reacting to the European Commission's so-called circular economy package which proposes a 70% target for municipal waste recycling and an 80% target for recycling packaging by 2030. Ms Gâju would like to see an EU-wide definition of municipal waste introduced to ease national comparisons and the "polluter pays" principle applied - placing responsibility on producers for waste management. The rapporteur also calls for mandatory EU waste prevention targets to be legislated for.

Share this article: