Stéphane PINTRE, President of UDiTE, visited Brussels on 9th and 10th February 2023, where he met with representatives of several European organisations and institutions. The first meeting was with European Social Network (ESN) - which brings together more than 150 public authorities from several European countries, active in the field of social services. Most of them are located at local and regional level. They deal with policies at the EU level affecting the elderly, the young, families and households, etc.  Meeting with President Christian Fillet, Director, Alfonso Lara Montero and Francesco Capuani, project manager, the meeting  exchanged views and looked to identify how UDiTE Aand ESN can reinforce their links and cooperate on future EU projects.

 

The UDiTE delegation met with representatives from our business partner Veolia, where the realisation of the joint programme was discussed, in particular the European Week for Sustainable Development and the European Week of Regions and Cities.

 

The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CCRE) brings together national and regional associations of local authorities of mayors and elected members from most European countries. The director of projects, Durmish Guri, who is the project coordinator for social dialogue, public services and digitisation explained that whilst the CEMR prioritises political action vis-à-vis the European institutions on EU policies with resource implications for local government, it also develops its own action through, for example, project cooperation on local finances and digitalisation.  The UDiTE delegation explained its current focus on studies, sustainability and good local self-government and it was agreed to explore areas where UDITE and CEMR can cooperate in future.
 

Contacts with the EU Committee of the Regions were initiated by Thomas Wobben, director of legislative works and projects. Thomas explained in detail the concerns that the CoR has with the European Commission’s current approach to the energy transition and the effects of the current policy on key regions (particularly those in the automobile construction industry) were discussed. The need to work more upstream, placing a greater emphasis on solidarity, rather than just economic activity, was discussed with him. A short meeting was then held with Petr Blizkovsky, Secretary General of the Committee of the Regions (CoR), and his team, to discuss in more detail the issues that concern the CoR, in particular building the resilience of the EU and local authorities, which are facing the major changes of our time. Petr raised several key issues for UDiTE, key amongst which was the opportunity for a secondee from the association and one of the local authority members to work on the territorial impacts issues. We will discuss this opportunity further during our executive committee in Bucharest.

The trip ended with Stephane being hosted by Greffier Marc Taquet Graziani on a unique visit to the 13th floor of the European Commission's iconic Berlaymont building to to view the European Commission's College meeting  room where President Von Der Leyen chairs the weekly meeting of the European Commission where all new legislative initiatives start out.