The Bureau of the Committee of the Regions, which met today in Bratislava, Slovakia, adopted a political statement on the outcome of the UK referendum on the European Union. According to the Regional Under Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations, this document reiterates the "clear support "of the regions to the European project.
 
Rodrigo Oliveira, who attended the meeting on behalf of the President of the Government, stressed that the political declaration adopted today "is clear in the respect for the decision of the British people, but also in the strong support of regions and cities to the European project and its values of democracy, peace and well-being."
 
The Bureau of the Committee of the Regions, an EU body of which Vasco Cordeiro is Vice-President, met on the sidelines of the 7th European Summit of Regions and Cities. The main topic the agenda was the discussion of the consequences of the British referendum on the European Union membership.
 
On the occasion, the Regional Under Secretary defended that "the European Union should take up the goal towards the resolution of this critical situation by making the necessary reforms to restore confidence and trust of citizens and intervening decisively to solve its main issues."
 
For this to happen, "the EU must start by strengthening real solidarity and its territorial cohesion, which also includes a social and economic component, and respecting scrupulously the principles of equality among states and among European citizens. It should also be able to acknowledge its failures and avoid blaming other levels of power for them," said Rodrigo Oliveira.
 
"The regional governance bodies and local authorities are closer to the people, having the knowledge and the ability to act and contribute to providing the necessary responses. Nevertheless, it is essential to strengthen subsidiarity and proportionality in EU legislation as well as the simplification of European heavy administrative bureaucracy in order to ensure budget stability and EU funding," Rodrigo Oliveira.
 
The European Summit of Regions and Cities, which takes place today and Saturday in Bratislava, is the most important event organised by the Committee of the Regions of Europe. The event brings together 700 participants, including members of governments and assemblies of EU regions and cities, senior representatives of Member States and EU institutions as well as of several organisations.