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Minister John Cummins meets European Committee of the Regions Conference of Presidents
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The Conference of Presidents of the EU Committee of the Regions met with Minister of State for Planning and Local Government, John Cummins TD in Dublin’s Custom House today (Wednesday 23 September). This group consisted of President Kata Tüttő (Councillor, Budapest, Hungary), First Vice-President Juanma Moreno First Vice-President of the CoR (President of Andalucia, Spain) as well as the Presidents of all political groups of the Committee of the Regions.
Minister Cummins welcomed the opportunity to engage with representatives of local and regional democracy in Europe and gave an outline of Ireland’s recently agreed Local Democracy Taskforce and its implementation plan. He also provided an update on progress being made in Ireland on housing and discussed the challenges we face at home and across Europe.
He said:
“The implementation of our Local Democracy Taskforce will make significant changes for Ireland’s local government. The Taskforce model has already attracted the interest of a number of EU member and accession states as a case study in strengthening local democracy and how to ensure that local government has the powers and capacity it needs to respond effectively to the needs of its communities.”
Speaking about the meeting President Tüttő said,
‘We welcome the Irish Presidency putting housing high on Europe’s agenda. Now let’s see if the next EU budget follows that ambition. Housing is not simply about building more units; it is about creating functioning neighbourhoods, connecting homes to transport, jobs and public services. This requires Europe, national governments, cities and regions to work together. Affordable housing is no longer only a social question; it is economic infrastructure and a condition for Europe’s competitiveness and stability. That is why it needs a strong place in both cohesion and competitiveness policy.’
After their meeting the Conference of Presidents was brought on a tour of the Houses of the Oireachtas.
The Committee of the Regions (CoR) is an advisory body of the European Union The composed of locally and regionally elected representatives coming from all 27 Member States. Members share their opinions on EU legislation that directly impacts regions and cities. The CoR gives regions and cities a formal role in EU law-making ensuring that the position and needs of regional and local authorities are respected. The Committee’s Conference of Presidents brings together the Committee’s President, First Vice-President and the Presidents of each of the European political groups.