On 15 July the CoR commission for territorial cohesion and EU Budget (COTER) discussed how to better deliver EU cohesion policy on the ground with Ms Iskra Mihaylova, Chair of the European Parliament’s committee on Regional Development (REGI). Discussions centred on delivering new jobs and sustainable growth by making the most out of the 350bn Euro invested under EU cohesion policy.

As part of the debate, questions were raised about the future collaboration between the REGI committee in the EP and the COTER commission in the CoR. ALDE President Bas Verkerk (NL) highlighted the recent success achieved in the REGI committee on the vote on the Urban Agenda, which was a collaborative effort and stands to show how local and regional authorities can constructively contribute to the work in the EP. Ms Mihaylova applauded the outcome of this collaboration and called on closer cooperation between REGI and COTER, acknowledging that a close cooperation of the REGI committee and its working group on the implementation of Cohesion policy with regional and local representatives could contribute to ensuring that the needs of those, who are implementing investment programmes on the ground, are duly taken into account.