European Summit of Regions and Cities in Mons 18/19-03-2024
CoRAI, ARA and ASA join forces for Europe's automotive regions with a stand at the summit
from left to right: President of the Grand Est Region, Franck Leroy, and CoRAI Chair Thomas Schmidt in front of the automotive stand.
from left to right: Leo Grassi (Italian Regional Representation office of Abruzzo, IT), CoRAI Chair Thomas Schmidt and Dr. Jakub Stolfa (President of the Automotive Skills Alliance).
from left to right: Marina Klavina (Technical Secretariat of ARA, CoR) and CoRAI Chair Thomas Schmidt.
from left to right: CoRAI Chair Thomas Schmidt talking to Thomas Wobben (Directorate for Legislative work 2 of the European Committee of the Regions).
from left to right: Andres Jaadla (CoRAI Member, EE), Lina Dingler (CoRAI General Secretariat), Aivar Paidla (EESC), Dr Hans-Joachim Gericke (CoRAI General Secretary).
from left to right: CoRAI Chair Thomas Schmidt welcoming Marco Marsilio, President of the Abruzzo Region, at the automotive stand.
The 10th European Summit of Regions and Cities took place in Mons (Belgium) on 18 and 19 March 2024 under the title "A renewed cohesion policy that leaves no one behind". The two-day summit is the largest event organised by the European Committee of the Regions, at which local and regional elected representatives meet to shape Europe from the regions and cities.
CoRAI shared a stand with its partners, the Automotive Regions Alliance (ARA) and the Automotive Skills Alliance (ASA) at the festival that accompanied the summit to raise awareness for the common objectives of the three partners. The Working Agreement between CoRAI, ARA and ASA, signed last year at the Political Conference of the ARA in Pamplona, aims to accelerate efforts to achieve a just transition in the automotive industry and to give the regions affected a strong voice.
During his visit to the stand, Minister Schmidt emphasised: "The successful transformation of an automotive region requires targeted measures based on a well-founded impact assessment by the EU Commission, as industrial transformation primarily affects regional jobs and value creation, as well as a European mechanism to promote fair and just transition." Discussions with Franck Leroy (President of the Grand Est region), Radim Sršeň (Czech Vice-Minister for Regional Development), Petr Kulhánek (Governor of the Karlovy Vary region), Markku Markkula (First Vice-President of the CoR), Juraj Droba (Governor of the Bratislava region), József Berényi (CoRAI Co-Chair, Bratislava region) as well as many other stakeholders at the automotive stand demonstrated the importance of intensive dialogue and cooperation between the regions.
