The EU should be more localist and focus on areas of added value was the message delivered by ECR Group President Rob Jonkman and ECR Group Member Władysław Ortyl to the President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani and Vice-President of the European Commission Jyrki Katainen during the European Committee of the Regions plenary session on May 11.

The two high-profile representatives of the European Parliament and the European Commission attended the CoR plenary debate to discuss the future of Europe. Antonio Tajani acknowledged that the EU's role should be not to shower everyone with money, but to concentrate on priority areas: security, migration and youth unemployment.

This was in line with Rob Jonkman's (Alderman in Opsterland, Netherlands) call for rebuilding trust for the EU by investing in civic empowerment and taking decisions at a level that is closest to citizens. "Many Europeans feel today that the EU is too remote. As a result support for the EU is low in many Member States, in fact even lower than in the United Kingdom, which decided to leave the Union. We must rebuild this trust by bringing the EU as close as possible to our local communities. This could be achieved through European localism. The EU should refrain from regulating on issues that can be addressed at local or regional level".

The ECR President's message was reinforced by Władysław Ortyl (Marshal of the Podkarpackie region in Poland) who addressed Commissioner Katainen and called on the European Commission to listen more to the citizens and focus on issues which benefit all Member States.

"In February this year we co-organised with the European Committee of the Regions a citizen's debate in my region Podkarpackie in Poland. The event was attended by Prime Minister Beata Szydło and CoR President Markku Markkula, but above all the purpose of the meeting was to listen to our citizens and to pass their comments to EU institutions. One of the main messages the citizens wanted us to take to Brussels is that we should not be afraid to reform the EU and to concentrate on selected policies which bring benefits to all, such as deepening of the Single Market, flexible regional policy and building resilience to natural disasters".