 Good morning dear colleagues, welcome to the second day of our plenary session. I hope you had a good night rest, and we're going to start this morning's meeting with a debate, point 14 of our agenda, with a debate on the state of the regions and cities and followed by the adoption of resolution concerning this issue. We have the honor and the pleasure to have with us two speakers that know exactly how challenging is the exercise of being at a subnational level of government, well, they both know too the challenges of being at a national level of government, but we have the great pleasure and honor to have with us the president of the Congress of Deputies of Spain, Francina Armingol, she's a former member of the COR, she will participate remotely in our debate, and also the great pleasure here with us to have the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Economy and Employment of Belgium, Pierre-Yves Dermain, they will both intervene in our session, in our debate, it will be followed by interventions from political groups, then from members, then to conclude with their remarks. So without further delay, I think Speaker Armingol is online, we have, we have, it's online already, right? Okay, we have previously two interventions will have the opportunity to watch a brief video, we have on one minute, so I ask, I ask the services to go on with the video and then we'll move. I feel European, and I think as many people across Europe that our societies need to be more inclusive and democratic. For that to happen, it's important our voices are heard. Thank you so much. I think now we can proceed to President Armingol. I want to thank President Vasco Cordeiro, who has thought of me to participate in this debate on the state of the cities and regions of the European Union, and which takes place during the Spanish presidency of the Union. First of all, I want to tell you that it is a great honour for me, as President of the Congress of the Deputies, to be here today with all of you. First of all, because I firmly believe in Europe, I am a convinced European, no matter how critical we are with the European institutions, no matter how much bureaucracy or lentitude is questioned, all of us can agree that if European construction, everything would be much worse. The second reason I am here today is because I don't understand Europe without all and each of its regions, its towns and its cities, because having all of them is having the engines of Europe, to take into account the administrations that better know citizens and citizens, because they are the ones who govern them from the very close. And I understand that the future of this common project, which is Europe, is going to advance faster and faster along this path. And the third reason I want to share this moment with you is because, as President of the Vallejo Islands, which I have been for eight years, I have had the immense pleasure of being a member of the European Committee of the Regions, and I want you to know that I have believed it, that I have always understood that this is and was a useful and necessary mechanism for the rest of the European institutions to know more about reality when it comes to making decisions, an instrument to get to know each other better, to trust alliances, to approach Europe to the citizens, and precisely because I believe it, I have actively participated in it. I have done it for a few years as President of the Commission on Natural Resources. I have also done so by sharing alliances with other mediterranean insular territories like Córcega, Cerveña, Sicily or Gozo, to be stronger in the defense of common interests. And at the same time, I have defended in the midst of this committee the need to recognize the singularities of the different territories to avoid inequalities. I always say that there is no worse inequality than the one generated when treating those who are different. Precisely, this was the philosophy of the dictamen that I presented here three years ago, and that I had been carrying out for title, made a sustainable use of natural resources in the mediterranean insular context. In this dictamen, there were two plans that coincided completely with the position of the European Union. The first was to advance in territorial cohesion, giving a response from the European institutions to the different realities that coexist in our continent. Treating differently from the different, as I said before, but with an objective that is to guarantee the equality of rights of all citizens and citizens who live where they live. The second plan that was collected in that dictamen is one of the main challenges that we have as a society. I am referring to the fight against climate change, which has stopped being a threat to become a reality against which we must fight with more strength and with which we have to coexist, preparing ourselves for its consequences that already affect our day to day. These two paths, the one of territorial cohesion and the one of the fight against climate change, do not have a step back. They are two paths that the European Union has taken and that must lead with more confidence in the future amplifications and the desired effects that the climate is having on our territories. To these two, it is necessary to add three more that seem important to me. I am referring to the fight against gender inequalities that are unfortunately being accentuated with the pandemic and its effects, just as we have mentioned the problems of the mental health of our young people in this way. I am also referring to the need to progress towards equality between men and women. I am referring to the constant impulse to achieve all the conventions that are still needed. And to the revitalization of our families, of our administrations and of our societies. This is a process that has already begun and that must have a true and humanistic character. We are currently talking about the issue of territorial cohesion, the matter of equality, psychological and physical conditions. These are the issues that we have to address. And we have to address them in a regional context, through the European Union. And the region has an important role, fundamental. The European Union is making the difference between women and women in it. And what happens in Brussels is not a mirror of the national sentiments and the geography of this content, which we experience in our region is now very also apparent before the next EU elections. People in rural areas, in regions, in industrial decline or peripheral regions experience decreased employment opportunities, declining public services and quality of life. So how can we prevent them from denouncing European democracy and Europe as a whole? I propose that we all focus our attention and give the voice to their concerns to bring Europe closer to the communities. We, members of the committee regions, extend our hand to European and national leaders. Regional and local authorities are the only form of government with trust levels of more than 50% in the European Union. We are ready to use this credit of trust to help to explain the relevance of the EU in our communities. So dear colleagues, those are only some of the major concerns from the report. It is up to us to bring them in the campaign for the upcoming EU elections. And EU strategic agenda 2024 to 2029 should also reflect and propose solutions to the challenges which this report. Thank you. Thank you so much. Now on behalf of the PES, we have two interventions. First of them, Christophe Ruyon. You have the floor for two minutes. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. Prime Minister, this report shows that the regions and cities are at the heart of the response brought to the crisis and that out of the European Union, there is a point of health. This survey carried out by regional and local elected officials, which along with their report, shows it well. The elected officials are in the first line, whether it be on the issue of the fight against climate change or on the issue of Ukraine at the forefront of our fight for survival of our freedoms. The question that arises today is how we at the European Committee of the Regions can make European policies evolve. We cannot, of course, count on the states that, most of all, have a purely accountable approach. We have to think intelligently, solidly, thinking about the long term. What will be the future of the policy of cohesion or of the common agricultural policy if we will not fundamentally improve the European Union today? We want to consolidate the policy of territorial cohesion that is in the long run because Europe is not just the Europe of emergency priorities and we are not an insurance company, nor is it also the Europe of bucolic landscapes to visit. We must trust and respect 100% of the White House because without the regions and cities there will be no ecological and social transition for all and all in the 100,000 local collectivities of Europe. Thank you, Member Peter Kaiser. Thank you, Mr. President. It's been two minutes. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for this very challenging report. The regions and cities are not only the heart of the European Union, they are also the backbone of our democracy, which in this context has a special meaning to win. 70% of the EU policies or policies will be implemented by local and regional localities. Just so to speak, we have been asked that the regional and the common level trust more than, for example, the national level in the implementation of this EU policy. At the same time, this claim is also for us as regions, especially those with law-abiding physicality, a great challenge. In my country, in Kärnten, we have in the framework of our sustainability coalition responsibility for the future generations to take over. As a measure for sustainability, we have the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations in the Kärntner government program, which is defined as a one-to-one regional climate policy. To be able to implement these ambitious goals, it is important that financial means are also necessary. I therefore demand that the regions and the common level be included in the design of the construction and resilience facility so that we can also use these means as target-oriented. A last thought, which is also very important to me, is the child poverty. Child poverty exists in Europe. Around a quarter, so every fourth child, is threatened by poverty or social exclusion. Therefore, this must also be done in a close context. With education as an effective protection against poverty, and the European year of competence must win special importance in this context. Thank you. Now the floor goes to Member Jasna Gabrich for three minutes. Thank you very much, dear guest president and my colleagues. What I am about to say waits additionally heavy considering the horrific developments in the last days. History can easily repeat, and the rising global instability does not bode well for regions feeling neglected. One of the chapters of the State of the Region report focuses on enlargement. As chair of the core cooperation group with North Macedonia, I feel I must talk about western Balkans. This region surrounded by EU members has been held for decades now. At the crossroads of history bearing witness to the turbulence of the past, the shivers of these turbulences can still be felt today. The incident in Kosovo showed us recently. The European perspective gave the people in this region hope for decades. But hope does not last forever. I came across the European Commission report recently, which shows that places within European Europe which feel left behind are faced with disengagement and discontent in the long term. When the development trap is unaddressed, disengagement and discontent make citizens less likely to support European integration and of course our values. And can you imagine what it does to those that have been stuck for decades in the session limbo? This is why I would like to address my first remark to Mr. Dermanya as the representative of the upcoming Council presidency. Do not forget the enlargement during your presidency. If for no other reason, do it for the promise of a lasting peace that the membership in the EU bring along. The second thought I would like to direct towards my colleagues of the Committee of the Regions, but in particular to the European Commission that shines with its absence today. While local and regional authorities have a rather limited role in their session negotiation as such, they have a significant, if not to say, crucial weight in accompanying citizens with relevant information on the process and of course implementation of concrete pre-assession projects showcasing how membership in the EU could improve the quality of citizens' lives. Cities and regions have the power to fulfill the dream, if I may say. For us, a score to live up to our role, we need the help of the European Commission to unleash the full potential of the technical assistance and information exchange tax program to move away from the strict and narrow scope that it is preaching now and of course allow us to help our partner cities and regions to build their capacities. This will bring them closer to the realization of the European dream and us to get tomorrow new member states that are of course already on their way to embrace what European integration has to offer. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Member Gaviric spoke on behalf of the Renew Europe Group. Now on behalf of ECR, we have our member Yura Drobach for two minutes, two and a half minutes. Thank you. Dear Mr. President, dear Mr. Deputy Prime Minister, dear colleagues, as we gather here today to reflect on the state of regions and cities across Europe, I think we could all agree that regions and cities across Europe have been facing series of crisis since the COVID in the March of 2020. In Slovakia, we were actually fixing things on behalf of the central government which was not capable of reflecting on these crisis very quickly. We started with COVID, then went through a financial crisis and thirdly the crisis related to our dear neighbour Ukraine. President von der Leyen stressed in the State of the Union that we are a Europe of regions and that regions are important allies against the ongoing climate change as well. When I look across the eastern border of Slovakia and see Ukraine, they are still subjected to the terror of Putin's regime. When the war broke out, we opened our doors to the Ukrainians fleeing this Armageddon. We provided shelter, food, services and later on also jobs and education to the Ukrainian children. And we continue to support them by helping them in the reconstruction efforts in Ukraine. We are accompanying the country on its path to the European Union. The war also showed vulnerability of European Union related to the energy. So I hope that we will do our best efforts to become completely independent on the Russian natural resources. Of course, us local and regional authorities are committed to a green transition, but the goals must be achievable and practical and realistic. This is why we reiterate the importance of nuclear energy for reaching the targets of the Green Deal. The Green Deal cannot compromise or put at risk our industries, our small and medium enterprises in the rural areas. Nobody should be left behind. And my last remark concerns cohesion policy. I fully agree with the report. The cohesion policy is central for our regions and cities and for reducing disparities. I would like to refer quickly to a good example of this from my region of Bratislava. We received over 5 million euros from the cohesion policy to build up the second cycling bridge between Austria and Slovakia. And this bridge really works miracles, not only in the tourism area, but also as a symbol of unification of Europe. And more importantly, the bridge is actually on the former Iron Curtain border. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Now on behalf of the European Alliance, I give the floor for two minutes to Member van Loo. You have the floor. Thank you, Chairman. The Minister and colleague. There is an element that is clearly coming forward from this debate about the state of the regions and that is more or less so. Regions are the engine of Europe. Without the regions and cities, there is no European Union. No single policy can deliver the results without a strong withdrawal of regional authorities. And while this interpretation is being determined by euro-bar meters on pinnipielling, it is clear that regional and local authorities are profiting from a strong withdrawal of the citizens, it is incomprehensible that we still live in a strong centralized European Union. A European Union that mainly looks at state-of-the-art and state-of-the-art cities. I am also happy that the Belgian Prime Minister is going to work well with the regions in our country and I also hope in the future that other ministers will also work together with their regions. Because how do you actually sit with the regions? The strong regions that exist here, but also the areas in the periphery of Europe, the islands in Europe, remote areas, flat areas. As you can see, more than 70% of the policy and the legislation has been followed by regions and the regions are being carried out would have to be recognized more. The Green Deal of the European Union with ambitious goals must be carried out by the regions and yet there are possibilities for direct financing. Regions and cities can deliver concrete results. We have seen this when thousands of refugees from Ukraine have arrived here, here in Brussels, in Vlaanderen, in Wallonia, when we have undertaken actions to improve the energy efficiency, to reduce the energy dependency of Russia and to trust more the local produced energy. And with pride, I can say that the approach of drought and climate disaster, the Flemish Blue Deal, has improved the water management and has taken the measures that can be a key study for the European Union. And I am happy to see that the European Commission has taken care of the water management. I hope that this Flemish Blue Deal will inspire the European Union. Finally, when democracy exists in diverse regions until there is more autonomy to put your own political accents then you must be able to keep that in mind. Also in the United States and also in Europe. On behalf of the Greens group the floor goes to our member Joseph Frey for two minutes. Thank you very much. As a report on the reform of the EU stock market I would like to briefly enter into the potential and opportunities of the energy transition. Because local and decentralized clean produced and consumed energy can contribute a lot to reducing potential. Namely with the energy autonomy to decarbonize the energy production to make our air better to create workplaces to create local economic circles and to leave money in the region in the city. Citizens and citizens can actively integrate and become prosumers through local energy communities and their own mini solar systems. Not only consume. On behalf of the Greens the ADR therefore asks informative one-stop shops but also simple network connections and targeted investments of clean, clean, flexible and central energy. A look at the power production costs per kilowatt hour shows clearly where the road has to go. The kilowatt hour costs 2 to 8 cents and 10 to 20 cents for nuclear power. Without subvention in fossil and nuclear power the market would decide for renewable energy. The Greens is an event where you are all welcome. Thank you. Now the floor goes to members for one minute. First, Lorena Capone. You have the floor for one minute. To overcome the various territories in the different regions of Europe this is the main objective of the policy of cohesion. Therefore, following the pandemic there have been also devices for the recovery and resilience. What is the role of the state, of the regions and of the city? Since we have not reached the objective of the diverse or unfortunately of the subvention of the diverse it has not been reached. We have to ask ourselves why and how? What can we do? Because many states and regions have expenses especially cities have costs. So it is obvious that we have to spend money and resources. But how to do it? We can centralize it. The Italian state is thinking for example to centralize it. Always removing the possibility of the regions to spend. Considering that the regions and the city have the difficulty, but this is not the case. If ever, strengthening the role of the regions and cities can effectively obtain a greater capacity of spending. Thank you. Thank you. Member Gitmar Brooks, you have the floor for one minute. Thank you. Thank you. Member Kirin McCarthy, the floor is yours for one minute. Yeah, thanks President. Dear Deputy Prime Minister, if you read any one document today I advise you to read the barometer document on the executive summary. I know you read so much, but please read this. Because in this document there is renewed conflict between the regions and the cities. So if you read any one document today I advise you to read the barometer document on the executive summary. I know you read so much, but please read this. Because in this document there is renewed calls by us that we need to have dedicated funding mechanisms. We need to have digital and green transition tools, renewed calls to help the small urban areas and rural areas, renewed calls that we should have influence on EU policy and the renewed calls go on and on and on and every year for the last four or five years you have produced this fantastic document. So my call here this morning is that the Spanish and the Belgian local region authorities a lot more. In fact the full document is probably going to 200, 300 pages but we want to inflict that on you. But please, please, please read the fact sheet and please, please listen to us and engage with us a lot more. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Member Andrea Putsu you have the floor for one minute. Member Yonek Poulet you have the floor for one minute. Thank you very much Mr. President and Mr. Vice Premier. I would like to come back to one point that has been raised by the two orators and thank you Mr. Dermagne and Madam Armingole to know the digitization of the economy. We know that it brings opportunities in our regions in our communities with new economic sectors but also a certain number of risks we think of the tax and we also think of the right of workers the right of social workers who are at least in this new sector. So I have presented here at the Committee of the Regions a report on the work of the platform and the Directive Project of Nicolas Schmidt and it was adopted at a very high level with some points that have been raised. First, the first point was the question of the status of the workers with a real demand of clarity in terms of their status either they are independent or they are real workers with rights. Second, there was the question of the human touch to know that there must be a report with human interventions and the third point was the control of the algorithms. You here in Belgium, you have done a far but it is not yet the case at the European level so it would really be necessary with the President and the Spanish President to bring all the support of workers for guaranteed rights in the sector of the platform. Thank you. Member Carl-Einz Lambert you have the floor for one minute. The report on the position of the Union from the point of view of the business body makes that the role cities, regions and municipalities in Europe play for the European Union they are independent and the future of integration is essentially based on how far it is possible to build these business bodies better in the European Union. Many have promised but often we realize that the business bodies are not enough. In Brussels everything is only seen from the state we really have to put the Union from the head to the feet when we seriously mean it with the subsidiarity principle and there were your words Prime Minister Witzer very erroneous, you also have from personal conviction how important the regions are for you and we have many hopes that the Belgian presidency will set the right sign. Thank you. Member Niemenem, you have the floor for one minute. Thank you, Chair. Thank you that one Thank you that one of the issues comes from the land. The land is currently no longer visible in the sky. Locals keep the ecological because the roads between the roads are empty. This means the development of the environment. First of all, the education of the land is stopped, the children are taken to the center and the children's parents can't get out of the land. At the moment there is a medical center in the south where medical doctors can't get out of the land and the residents are 10 kilometers away from each other and the residents can't get out of the land. Do you know what the conditions are before the time has changed? The land is beautiful and close to each other. Thank you. Thank you. Now the floor goes to our young elected politician Polosek. You have the floor. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, the members of the Committee of the Regions, it is for me a huge privilege to be able to express myself today in front of this prestigious assembly to talk to you about the ultra-peripheral regions which are in particular my Mayotte territory and often far from known, the ultra-peripheral regions are the post-European front lines of the European influence in the rest of the world. The gates of the European values and the places of direct meeting of the continent. Nevertheless, these territories are facing many challenges, poverty, irregular immigration, climate change, season change, the rise of water and an unequal drought. These regulations have made that today in Mayotte, there is a water crisis unimaginable for a European territory. Today, 350,000 European citizens have access to water two days a week in Mayotte. Europe is a chance, it is a great tool for the development of our territories. But sometimes, Europe creates obstacles. And that is why I ask whether we can take into account all the realities that are different from continental realities. The implementation of political cohesion between the territories in the conquest of the latest innovations and territories that, like mine, seek to guarantee fundamental rights such as access to water is not a simple thing. Thank you, Mr. President, dear members of the Committee of the Regions, for my commitment to accompany you in these research solutions. And I thank you for letting me speak. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your various interventions, particularly interesting and which are of course to feed the work of the Belgian President of the Council of the European Union from January 1, 2024. I said it in my introductory introduction. I do not want and the Belgian government does not want the Belgian President of the Council of the European Union without the massive, major, regional, community, community cities. It is absolutely essential, indeed, to be able to meet the different challenges that are present today in our ports already for hundreds of millions of citizens of the European Union. And you have been several to remember that indeed the regional level, the local level is the one that still has the most confidence in the leader of our populations. And I share this observation. I think it is a observation that brings us to think instead of the role of the different regions and communities in the architecture of our European institutions. You said it several times, they are today insufficiently represented and involved in the different policies of the Union. It is an essential element and in the context of the high-level relationship that I mentioned earlier which was entrusted to Henry Coletta and I hereby thank you for accepting this difficult mission one of the first policies that were set was indeed to take the turn of the 27 capitals of the Union but not only and to get out of Brussels to get out of Paris to go to the meeting of the territories of their representatives of their inhabitants to take the end of these territories take the end of the challenges of the constraints of the feeling of abandonment sometimes which is the one that we meet in our territories in our regions, in our cities and communities to integrate that in its reflection on the future of the domestic market an important dimension for this relationship is indeed the anticipation of a future enlargement of the European Union and of course the Belgian President will be attentive to involving the candidate countries you have indeed addressed the question of the long-awaited at the door of the Union on the collectivities and on the populations of this important delay with indeed a feeling of abandonment and a rising frustration and therefore the Belgian President will of course be attentive to involving a series of candidate countries to the European integration I think that this first step of reflection on the future of the United Market of the domestic market will be the first to intervene after Brexit we have seen that the elements of the United Market were used in the campaign for Brexit and therefore it is important to be able to put the church back in the middle of the village and to recall the benefits the beneficial aspects of the United Market and the United Market for all citizens after Brexit but also before the future of the Union and it is something that must be taken into account as well as the environmental transition the digital transition which until now were not sufficiently addressed were not sufficiently anticipated were not sufficiently thought into the framework of the domestic market and the unique market so to conclude on this point you would have understood that the mission is an ambitious mission an important mission a heavy mission to be able to do the synthesis of different interests of different occupations and finally to project this essential tool of our institutions of European construction which is the domestic market the unique market to face the challenges of the years and decades to come within the Union and I do not doubt that the contacts to have with the Committee of the Regions with all of its members and its representatives will be rich contacts and nature to feed its reflection and its work I have been asked more specifically about the question of the digitalisation of the economy of the role of the more and more prominent of artificial intelligence in the world of work it is indeed a focus of attention it will be indeed a focus of attention of the whole of the new state of the world in the micro-economics which is done by the administration the same way until now we still work in a rather far away of a rather macroeconomic but these are indeed questions, concern realities which already had an impact on the daily life of dozens, millions hundreds, millions or millions of workers and as is the case today for the Spanish President, a priority file for the Belgian President in the Epsco branch, where I have the pleasure and honor to be able to represent Belgium. As soon as you leave the file as quickly as possible, under the Belgian President, you will indeed be one of the priorities of Belgium, as long as the issues are important. And because it is indeed one of the first legislative files, in any case, where we can address and where we must address the question of artificial intelligence, of algorithmic management of work relations, of the economy in general. And so I think it is one of the first feet in the door in relation to this important question of the digitalization of the economy and of the growing importance of artificial intelligence in society. Here, Mr. President, I was a little longer planned, but these are themes that are particularly dear to me, and I would like to be able to continue the reflection and the debate with the members of the Committee of the Regions and to respond to Mr. McCarthy. Of course, I will be attentive and I will be an attentive reader of the report and I will take it to my departure with interest and pleasure, Mr. McCarthy. Thank you very much.