During the session of the Chamber of Regions on 26 March 2025, its President Cecilia Dalman Eek (Sweden, SOC/G/PD) affirmed strong support for Ukraine's efforts to pursue and finalise its decentralisation reform. She also emphasised that this war-torn country needs specific assistance to strengthen the regional public authorities, to enable them to fulfil their mission in the pre- and post-accession phases to the European Union. Vitalii Bezghin, Member of the Ukrainian Parliament and Chairman of the Parliamentary Sub-Committee on Administrative and Territorial Organisation, pointed out that the occupied regions and those on the front line are currently unable to participate in the EU pre-accession process under the same conditions as their counterparts in central and, even more so, western Ukraine.
Albert Castellanos, President of the Assembly of European Regions (AER) and Dušan Raičević, President of the Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe (NALAS) spoke about the role of the AER and the NALAS network in the cooperation of EU regions with regions in countries that are undergoing the pre-accession and accession procedures. They emphasised that EU enlargement requires ongoing consultation with regional authorities at all stages of the process. This reality was confirmed by the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, who, addressing the Chamber by video message, reiterated that most EU legislation must be implemented at the sub-national level – not forgetting that the regions play a leading role in EU cohesion policy, accounting for one third of its total budget. However, the debate highlighted the importance of making regional authorities in candidate countries more aware of their responsibilities and duties on the road to accession and once within the EU.
The active participation of the young delegates once again emphasised the importance of integrating young people into the structures of regional and European democracy, particularly in countries such as Georgia where young people ardently desire their country's accession to the EU, despite political trends at government level.
The role of regions in the process of accession and post-accession to the EU
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