In December 2016, the European Conservatives and Reformists Group in the CoR hosted an extraordinary group meeting, attended by ECR Group members, MPs and local and regional politicians from across Europe, discussing the future of the European Union.

Separated into two panels, the meeting on Thursday 8 December started with a seminar on 'Scenarios for the future', looking at how to change the European Union to make it more accountable and effective in the near future.

Chairing the first panel, ECR Group President Alderman Rob Jonkman said: "It is an exciting time to be discussing the EU's future. Recent referendums and votes in Member States have shown disdain and antipathy towards

the direction in which the EU has been going, sending a strong signal of the need for the EU to change."

"Many of the concerns voiced by citizens' echo the principles of our Group, namely decisions need to be taken at the local level and involve citizens as much as possible."

Guests for this panel included Daniele Capezzone MP, from the Chambers of Deputies in Italy, who argued the EU "must not be a cage but a means for countries to achieve growth through a free market". Other speakers included

Pieter Cleppe from the think tank Open Europe and Oldřich Vlasák, Vice-President of the ECR Group.

For the second session the debate moved to an open forum on the future of the EU, where local and regional government views were shared by local government representatives from Belgium, Italy, Poland, Northern Ireland, Croatia and the Czech Republic.

Topics raised included the need for the EU to focus more on facilitating trade deals, a further focus on regionalisation, and calls for the European Committee of the Regions to be able to propose and put forward legislative changes to the European Parliament and European Commission.

Presiding over proceedings in session two, Cllr Joe Cooney, Vice-President of the ECR CoR Group, said: "Sitting here in Brussels, EU politicians sometimes forget the impact that regional policies and opinions made at the EU level have on our local communities. We need to readdress the communication between the two and improve the relationship between the EU and local communities."

Commenting on the need to make EU funds more effective and easier to access, Councillor Cooney added: "Local and regional authorities have a crucial role in delivering EU growth targets through funds and support mechanisms agreed at the EU level and financed through national governments. Yet problems with current funding apparatus and unsuccessful implementation of funds have resulted in many local regions and authorities not benefiting from EU regional policy."

"The ECR Group believe that the only way to improve the performance of the EU's regional policy is by sticking with the principle of subsidiarity and ensuring decisions are taken as close to citizens as possible."