The chairs of the six CoR political groups met on April 21st in their second online meeting. One of the chiefs and most active participants during the Conference of Presidents was Władysław Ortyl, President of the Podkarpackie Region in Poland and the President of the ECR Group in the European Committee of the Regions. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss policy options on the local and European level that could help in the fight against the covid-19 pandemic.

Prior to the discussion taking place, Stella Kyriakides, the Commissioner for Health and Food Safety spoke at length about the actions taken by the European Union in the fight against the coronavirus. The Commissioner, who originates from Cyprus, emphasized the European priority should be to develop a vaccine against covid-19. In the subsequent discussion, Mr Ortyl expanded on this point, saying that the EU should develop a horizontal approach, by creating a European research group, specific to addressing this dilemma. The members of this research group would be representatives, of universities, scientific institutions, and European Union institutions.  

This conference was also an excellent opportunity to discern and discuss the work the European Committee of the Regions specifically has been doing in combatting the coronavirus. Some of these activities include facilitating an online platform for cities and regions to exchange ideas and provide one another mutually beneficial assistance. The discussion later migrated in the direction of creating an emergency EU health mechanism. Such a mechanism could potentially be beneficial to local and regional authorities that are currently facing shortages regarding medical staffing and health care supplies.

Later in the meeting, concerns with respect to the EU budget and post-crisis economic recovery plan were also discussed with the European Parliament's rapporteur on the next EU budget. The ECR President underlined the need for an ambitious budget that puts Europe's economic recovery at the centre.