Patrick Molinoz, vice-president of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, elected to chair of CIVEX

​Patrick Molinoz, vice-president of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in charge of European policies and international actions, was on 20 June elected president of the citizenship, governance, institutional and external affairs commission (CIVEX) of the European Committee of the Regions. 

Mr Molinoz, mayor of a rural commune since 2001, brings significant experience, notably as vice-president of the Association of Mayors of France but also as vice-president of the National Commission for Decentralised Cooperation (Commission Nationale de la Coopération Décentralisée, CNCD), a position he holds because of his vice-presidency of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region.

As chairman of CIVEX, Mr Molinoz will lead work on the role of cities and regions in areas such as the institutional future of the EU, support to the reconstruction of Ukrainian cities, and the integration of migrants.

Mr Molinoz said: “This position is an honour and a huge responsibility. As chair of the CIVEX commission, it will be my job to lead the political work of EU cities and regions on some of the main challenges facing the European Union: How to strengthen local democracy? How to improve citizens' perception and understanding of the EU? How to help Ukraine? How to strengthen working relationships between regions and cities within the EU and with regions and cities neighbouring the EU?" 

On this last point, Mr Molinoz noted that "the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Region, like many other regions of the EU, maintains close and fruitful relations with other regions of the EU, particularly the Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany), Central Bohemia (Czech Republic) and Opole (Poland)".

Mr Molinoz continued: “Russia's war in Ukraine is a challenge for all levels of government in the EU. We expect the international conference on the recovery of Ukraine, which is taking place this week in London, to make it clear that the process of recovery and reconstruction in Ukraine should strengthen Ukrainian regions and cities and the process of decentralisation. The European Alliance of Cities and Regions for the Reconstruction of Ukraine is helping Ukrainian local and regional authorities in every way it can. The European Committee of the Regions, which serves as the Alliance's secretariat, has an important role to play. I urge EU local and regional authorities to think about how they want to help and join the Alliance."

Mr. Molinoz will chair the CIVEX commission until January 2025.

Background: 

Patrick Molinoz (53) has been vice-president of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté regional council since 2015 and has served as vice-president of the Association of Mayors of France. He has been mayor of Venarey-les-Laumes in Côte-d'Or since 2001 and has led the Community of Communes of the Pays d'Alésia and the Seine (COPAS) since 2004. He is also vice-president of the National Commission for Decentralised Cooperation (Commission Nationale de la Coopération Décentralisée, CNCD), which coordinates relations in France between the state and local authorities on issues of cooperation and international solidarity.

Since joining the European Committee of the Regions in February 2022, Mr Molinoz has been a member of two commissions, for cohesion policy (COTER) and for citizenship, governance, institutional and external affairs (CIVEX). He is a member of both the CoR's Working Group on Ukraine and the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM), created by the CoR to bring a local-government perspective to the work of the Union of the Mediterranean. He has also joined an informal grouping of CoR members with a particular interest in issues related to the automotive industry, the Alliance of Automotive Regions.

As well benefiting from funding from the EU's regional-development and cohesion funds and from the Common Agricultural Policy, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté receives funding from the EU's Horizon research and innovation programme. It cooperates with neighbouring Swiss regions, through the EU's Interreg V France-Switzerland Programme, in areas such as agriculture, digital technology, and advanced manufacturing.

Signed in 1962 and renewed in 2016 to include the former Franche-Comté region as part of the new region, the partnership between Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Rhineland-Palatinate is the oldest twinning between French and German regions.