New ECR Group Presidency takes office - Cllr Keymer re-elected as President and former Vice-President of the European Parliament Oldřich Vlasák and Mayor Jerzy Zająkała elected as Vice-Presidents.

During its first meeting of the new 2015-202 Committee of the Regions mandate, the ECR Group members elected their Presidency. Cllr Gordon Keymer CBE FCA (Leader of Tandridge District Council/UK) was re-elected as the President of the ECR Group in the Committee of the Regions at the meeting of the Group. Mr Oldřich Vlasák (councillor of the City of Hradec Králové/CZ), former Vice-President of the European Parliament and a founding member of the ECR Group in the CoR, and Mr Jerzy Zajakała (Mayor of Lubianka/PL) were elected as Vice-President of the Group. Mr Adam Banaszak (member of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie regional assembly) was elected as Treasurer and Ms Daiva Matonienė (Member of Šiauliai City Municipal Council) became the new Chief-Whip.

Mr Gordon Keymer noted that "It is an honour to be re-elected as President of the Group I helped establish in 2013. It was also thanks to the active support and efforts of Oldrich Vlasák that our Group was set up. I very much look forward to continuing the work we started together and ensuring that a strong conservative and reformist voice is heard in all EU institutions."

Cllr Keymer noted that "In this new mandate, we will continue to actively work with our political family in the EU to promote ECR values. We will be working to increase the EU's democratic accountability, its competitiveness and growth, to ensure full respect of the principles of subsidiarity, greater localism and a strong voice for local and regional government in guiding EU policies."

Syed Kamall MEP, Chairman of the ECR Group in the European Parliament said "it is great to see the ECR family growing. I look forward to the continued work of our two Groups on delivering a new direction for Europe."

Note to editors:

1) The European Committee of the Regions is the political assembly of local and regional authorities.  It is an EU institution with an advisory role. The CoR provides consultation to the Commission, Council and Parliament in the EU decision-making process and performs the task of monitoring compliance with the Principle of Subsidiarity to ensure that decisions are taken as close to the citizens as possible.

2) The ECR Group at the CoR is the newest political group in the Committee of the Regions and has been growing since its set up in April 2013. The ECR Group is an extension of the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists, which continues to grow with over 70 MEPs from fifteen countries, Prime Ministers in the European Council, and a successful think tank (New Direction). The ECR Group in the European Parliament, with whom the ECR Group at the CoR works closely, is currently the third largest political group in the EP.

3) Cllr Gordon Keymer CBE FCA has been a member of the CoR since 1998. He is a member of the British Conservative Party and a founding member of the ECR Group in the CoR. He is a member of the CoR Bureau and is the former leader of the UK national delegation to the CoR. Since 1991, he has served as the Tandridge District Council Conservative Group Leader and since 2000 he has served as the Council leader. Since 2012, he has served as the South East England Council Chairman. He also serves as South East UK's representative on the UK Local Government Association's (LGA) Executive Committee. Furthermore, he is the Vice-President of the Executive Bureau in the Council of European Municipalities and Regions.

4) Oldrich Vlasák was a member of the European Parliament from 2004 till 2014 and the last 3 years as the Vice-President of the European Parliament. He is a member of the Czech Civic Democratic Party and a founding member of the ECR Group in the CoR. He entered local politics in 1989. In 2001 Vlasák became the President of the Union of Towns and Municipalities of the Czech Republic. He entered European politics in 2000. He was delegated to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe and represented the Czech Republic as an observer in the Committee of the Regions. After his active work in the Policy Committee of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) he was elected its executive president. In the European Parliament he acted as coordinator of ECR Group in the Committee for Regional Development and was a vice chairman of the Urban Intergroup. In 2012, he became the EP Bureau member responsible for the Science and Technology Options Assessment panel.

5) Jerzy Zająkała has been a Member of the Committee of the Regions of the EU since 2004. From 2006 to 2008, he held the position of 1st Vice-President of the European Alliance Political Group. At the same time he served as Vice-President of a political group “Union for Europe of the nations – European Alliance” and as Vice-President of the Commission on Sustainable Development (DEVE). From 2008 to 2010, he was Chairman of this same Commission (DEVE). From 2009 to 2010, he was also a Member of the Council of Rural and Agriculture under the President of the Republic of Poland. From 2010, he served as Chairman of the European Alliance political group at the Committee of the Regions before becoming in 2012 1st Vice president of this same political group. Prior to his career at the Committee of the regions, Jerzy Zająkała held various positions in his native Poland.