Dutch Alderman Rob Jonkman was elected the new President of the European Conservatives and Reformist Group in the Committee of Regions.

Alderman Rob Jonkman (Member of the Executive Council of Opsterland) has become the President of the centre-right euro-realist ECR Group in the European Committee of the Regions. The Group held its elections on Wednesday 15 June following the loss of mandate of its President Gordon Keymer in the recent local elections in the UK. Vice-President Oldřich Vlasák was the acting President till the elections were held and Mr Jonkman was unanimously elected. Councillor Joe Cooney (Pendle Borough Council, UK) was also elected as Vice-President. The Group now has two Vice-Presidents – Oldřich Vlasák and Joe Cooney.

"I look forward to continuing the work of Gordon Keymer in aiming to achieve greater localism and realism in the EU decision-making process so that decisions are only taken at the EU level when they can bring " said Alderman Jonkman.

Alderman Jonkman has been a member of the ECR Group in the Committee of Regions since 2014. As a member of the ECR Group, Mr. Jonkman has been the Group's spokesperson on economic policy.

During the plenary session on June 16th, Alderman Jonkman represented the ECR Group in the debate with OECD Deputy Secretary-General Mari Kiviniemi on current and future challenges for European regions and cities. Mr. Jonkman called for greater localism in addressing global challenges. He underlined that "we need a place-based approach to identify global trends and challenges in the early stages in order to adequately adapt public policy."

Rob Jonkman has been Alderman of the municipality of Opsterland (the Netherlands) since 2010. Before becoming Alderman, Mr. Jonkman has represented ChristenUnie as council member within the municipality of Opsterland. Mr. Jonkman has been a member of the Commission Europe and International within the Dutch Association of Municipalities (VNG) since 2010 and has been a member of the advisory board of the Knowledge Centre Europa Decentraal since 2014.