COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS : NEW EU STRATEGY: REGIONS WANT TO BE PARTNERS.

With just a few weeks to go before the spring European Council, which will focus on the future of the growth and employment strategy, the President of the Committee of the Regions (CoR), Luc Van den Brande, repeated his request to further involve local authorities in the definition and implementation of the new strategy. During the 5th Territorial dialogue for sustainable growth and employment', held in Palma de Majorca on 18 January, he once again relayed what the CoR has been repeating since 2006: without the cities and regions, which implement decisions on the ground, the Lisbon strategy cannot be successful.

Van den Brande, who recently met the newly-appointed permanent...