On 9 October 2019, the ECR Group hosted a conference on "Achieving improved economic governance and investments". The conference was part of the European Week of Regions and Cities 2019, the annual four-day event during which cities and regions showcase their capacity to create growth and jobs, implement European Union policies, and prove the importance of the local and regional level for good European governance.

The conference hosted by the ECR Group aimed to show how to ensure that local and regional authorities have a more formal, structured and permanent presence in the European Semester, which provides a framework for the coordination of the economic and fiscal policies of EU Member States.

Representatives of local government, the European Commission and the third sector discussed ways of making the current policymaking process more bottom-up, and therefore more effective and more democratic. 

Currently, the implementation of half of the European Semester's country-specific recommendations prepared by the European Commission and the Council require local and regional authority action. However, local and regional authorities are not formally involved in setting the recommendations.