“The Congress – within the Council of Europe – and the Committee of the Regions – within the EU – share the same fundamental values and have complementary roles,” underlined Congress President Gudrun Mosler-Törnström addressing the 123rd Plenary Session of the Committee of the Regions in Brussels on 12 May 2017. She highlighted the main fields of co-operation between both organisations, in particular on thematic issues of mutual interest such as the prevention of corruption and promotion of good governance. “Another area of cooperation is the observation of local and regional elections. Since 2012, members of the CoR have participated in 15 Congress election observation missions,” she explained. The Congress President also insisted on their respective external policies, mentioning the example of the political situation in Turkey, the EU Eastern Partnership which encompasses five countries that are members of the Council of Europe (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) and Belarus, and the neighbouring countries, in particular the Southern Mediterranean. “The next step will be our joint event on 5 July 2017 to celebrate our partnership in the framework of the 10th anniversary of the signature of the Memorandum of Understanding between the European Union and the Council of Europe,” she concluded reminding participants that 2017 is also the 60th anniversary of both the Treaty of Rome and the creation of the Congress in 1957.
Speech
Committee of the Regions