Taking place on Friday 21 October in Lecce, Italy, the ECR Group in the Committee of the Regions' forthcoming localism conference aims to look at how the principle of localism can be used to achieve a better functioning regional policy.

The event will focus specifically on the EU's regional policy, which accounts for approximately one third of the total EU budget. The policy aims to target all regions and cities, and as a result our conference will bring together a variety of stakeholders and speakers to the historic city of Lecce, Italy.

Confirmed guests include Paolo Perrone, Mayor of Lecce and First Deputy Chairman of the National Association of Italian Municipalities, and Raffaele Fitto MEP, Member of the European Parliament for Southern Italy and President of Conservatori e Riformisti.

The conference will be split into two sections, where the first panel will set the scene for EU regional policy and look at ongoing challenges experienced at a local and regional level that require EU actions. The second panel will feature a discussion on the way forward for localism post-2020.

The discussion will be overseen by President of the ECR Group in the CoR Rob Jonkman and Vice-President Oldřich Vlasák. Other guests will be announced in due course.

The event, taking place at the Teatro Paisiello in Lecce, will start with welcome speeches from 09.00 and is estimated to finish at 12.45.