On Tuesday 13 October, Marco Marsilio, the President of the Abruzzo region in Italy and Vice-President of the ECR Group in the European Committee of the Regions, spoke in the plenary session of the CoR on behalf of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group during a debate on the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic with the Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni. 

Mr. Marsilio emphasized in his speech the importance of cohesion underlining that economic, social and territorial cohesion are the cornerstones of the EU: 

"They are guiding principles that should never be disregarded, not even because of the need to deal with an extraordinary situation such as that caused by the COVID-19 pandemic", he said. 

Crucially, the President of the Abruzzo region urged more clarity from the European Commission as it relates to role of regions and local authorities in recovery funding by saying: "We think that it is not yet clear what role the Commission will assign to the regions and how this role can be exercised in the use of the recovery fund's resources at national level." 

Furthermore, the ECR Vice-President stressed the need for immediate action on the part of the European Commission in order to avoid even more drastic economic damage: 

"We, the regional governors and the public on the whole, are wondering in these hours whether these funds will arrive in time to prevent the crisis from having even more catastrophic repercussions than it already has".