Newspress

NEWS
PRESS
AGENCY

Themes

Solidarity with Ukraine's regional and local administrations

European Committee of the Regions - 2/21/2022 4:05:00 PM

Members of the European Committee of the Regions have expressed their solidarity with Ukraine's regional and local administrations as they prepare their communities for the possibility of an invasion by Russia.

Members of the Working Group on Ukraine created by the European Committee of the Regions - led by Alexandra Dulkiewicz (PL/EPP), mayor of Gdansk - expressed their "deepest concern about the Russian military build-up" and said they "unequivocally support Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity".

The letters, sent by Mayor Dulkiewicz on 15 February, were addressed to the leaders of associations of Ukrainian local authorities: Vitali Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv and head of the Association of Ukrainian Cities; Sergii Chernov, member of Kharkiv Regional Council and president of the Ukrainian Association of District and Regional Councils; Oleksandr Korinnyi, head of the All-Ukrainian Association of Amalgamated Hromadas; and Ivan Slobodianyk, chairman of the All-Ukrainian Association of Hromadas.

Members of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) said they stood "ready to further support Ukrainian cities in building their resilience". The CoR has been providing political and practical support for Ukrainian local and regional authorities since 2015, initially through a task-force focused on decentralisation in Ukraine.

"Reinforcing anticorruption measures, pursuing judicial reforms and building stronger democratic institutions respectful of minorities' rights will certainly help Ukraine be stronger in front of Russian military aggression," members of the CoR said.

In addition to Mayor Dulkiewicz, EU members of the Working Group on Ukraine are: Krzysztof Iwaniuk (PL/EA), mayor of Terespol; Gints Kaminskis (LV/RE), member of Auce municipal council; Wladyslaw Ortyl (PL/ECR), President of the Podkarpackie Region and president of the ECR group; Stavros Stavrinides (CY/PES), member of Strovolos Municipal Council; and Bernd Voss (DE/Greens), member of Schleswig-Holstein State Parliament and co-president of the Greens.

European Committee of the Regions

The European Committee of the Regions is the voice of regions and cities in the European Union.


350 members - regional and locally elected representatives from the 28 EU countries.
6 commissions covering competences in the following policy areas based on the EU Treaties:
- Employment, vocational training, economic and social cohesion, social policy, health.
- Education and culture.
- Environment, climate change, energy.
- Transport and trans-European networks.
- Civil protection and services of general interests.

6 plenary sessions a year.
More than 50 opinions a year on EU legislation.
More than 40 stakeholders' consultations each year.
More than 300 events a year.

President
Apostolos Tzitzikostas

Apostolos Tzitzikostas was elected as President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) in febbruary 2020 after serving as President of the Greek delegation and Vice president of the Committee since july 2017. He is also Governor of the Region of Central Macedonia.

BIOGRAPHY

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Apostolos Tzitzikostas was born on September 2, 1978. He studied Government and International Relations at Georgetown University, in Washington DC. After graduating in 2000, he had his first working experience at the Office of the President of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the United States Congress. In 2002 he obtained a Masters Degree on European Public Policy and Economics from the University College of London. Following his studies, he created his own company on the field of production, processing and standardization of dairy products, based on organic standards.

In 2007, he was elected Member of the Greek Parliament with the Nea Demokratia Party (EPP) in the First District of Thessaloniki. In the Regional Elections of November 2010 he was elected Vice-Governor of the Region of Central Macedonia and Head of the Metropolitan Area of Thessaloniki. On the Regional Elections of May 2014 he was elected Governor of the Region of Central Macedonia, and on the Regional Elections of May 2019 was re-elected Governor of the Region of Central Macedonia. On November 2019 he was elected President of the Association of Greek Regions.​​

Since 2015 he is a Member of the European Committee of the Regions. In July 2017, he was elected Head of the Greek Delegation and Vice-President of the European Committee of the Regions. He fluently speaks English and French and his articles are regularly being published in Greek and foreign newspapers and magazines.

​​