EU Affairs Committee to meet Irish members of European Committee of the Regions

The European Committee of the Regions is a European Union advisory body composed of representatives of regional and local bodies that are politically accountable to an elected assembly across the 28-nation EU. Ireland nominates nine delegates and nine alternates from county and city councils nationwide.

“The Committee of the Regions builds solidarity among leaders working at the regional and local level across Europe. Their common goal is for each locality’s identity and specific needs to be fully recognised and accommodated within EU policy,” said Committee Chairman Michael Healy-Rae TD.

“Ireland’s representatives are at the forefront of these discussions with colleagues from hundreds of local and regional bodies across Europe,” Deputy Healy-Rae said. “The Committee looks forward to receiving an update on the current state of that dialogue and on the ways that the Committee of the Regions is preparing local and regional authorities across the EU for Brexit-related economic disruption.

“The European Commission has suggested that more ‘active subsidiarity’ is needed to give a stronger voice to local and regional authorities as well as national parliaments in the development of European policy and legislation,” Deputy Healy-Rae said. “To achieve this, members of the Committee of the Regions, Houses of the Oireachtas and MEPs all must continue to engage with each other.”

The meeting in Committee Room 1 can be viewed live here.