Επιτροπή «Φυσικοί πόροι»

Εμπειρίες και διδάγματα που αντλήθηκαν από τις περιφέρειες και τις πόλεις κατά τη διάρκεια της κρίσης της νόσου COVID-19

Opinion factsheet

Σε αυτήν την ιστοσελίδα

  • Γεωργική πολιτική, Θαλάσσια πολιτική και πολιτική καταναλωτών
  • Πρόληψη καταστροφών
  • Δημόσια υγεία
  • Αγροτική ανάπτυξη
  • Πολιτική Συνοχής
  • Διασυνοριακή και εδαφική συνεργασία
  • Συνταγματικές και θεσμικές υποθέσεις
  • Οικονομία και δημοσιονομικά θέματα

Objective

The objective of this opinion is to gather the experience of the cities and regions affected by the first waves of the COVID-19 virus and highlight their strategies to cope, as well as their expectations from the national and European level.

These voices will shape the CoR response to the request of the European Commission's Secretary General who asked the Committee in its letter of 2 July to come forward with the dedicated opinion providing insights into the local and regional responses to corona virus.

Impact

The opinion, requested by the Secretariat General of the European Commission, fed into the communication published by the EC in June 2021.

Beyond this immediate use, the opinion's essential points are also reflected in the range of other documents and activities.

The call to discuss the EU competence in the field of health is clearly heard and "Health" is the 2nd of nine priority areas for debate under the Conference on the Future of Europe process.

The concerns about medicine shortages and dependency on third country providers find their clear echo in the draft proposal for HERA.

The question of urban-rural divide has meanwhile been taken up by the French Presidency and will be discussed during the Marseille Summit in March 2022.

Essential points

THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

 is convinced that the question of EU competences in the field of health should be discussed during the debate on the future of Europe;

 calls on the European institutions and national governments to involve local and regional authorities in the preparation of the national and EU-level Recovery and Resilience plans;

 is convinced that the EU must address medicine shortages and reduce its dependency on third countries by bringing back the production of certain medicines, critical substances, including vaccines, and protective equipment to European soil;

 calls for further measures to increase the flexibility of the EU budget, State Aid framework as well as de minimis regime;

 warns of the risk of "digital divide" and calls for policies and funding that support high digital connectivity especially in rural areas;

 asks for development of sustainable mobility linkages between rural, intermediate and urban areas;

 asks for local and regional authorities to be involved in setting up the new EU instruments, such as the Next Generation EU recovery plans and the food crisis response mechanism proposed by the Commission in the Farm to Fork Strategy.

Timeline