Mr. Apostolos Tzitzikostas:

I thank the members of the Joint Committee on European Affairs for meeting today. I also thank my colleagues, the members of the Irish delegation to the European Committee of the Regions, which is one of the strongest and most active delegations of our house and whose dedication and hard work both on the ground and in our committee have been so important and valuable during these very challenging times.

Just take a moment to think about what we have been through in the past two and a half years. The crises we have gone through have turned our longer term challenges into urgent priorities. Digitalisation has made a difference between having students attend their classes and not, and having companies survive and not. Energy transition and building a sustainable green Europe are no longer only an environmental challenge but a geopolitical necessity.

All this time, from the utmost horror of the war in Ukraine and the ongoing suffering of Covid to the impact of Brexit, and from the ultimate threat of climate change to Europe's unhealthy dependence on Russian gas and crude oil, European regions and cities have been on the front line. During these historic crises, they have been protecting citizens, delivering vital services, accelerating green and digital transitions, diversifying energy sources, saving businesses and jobs and, of course, providing help and shelter to the millions of Ukrainians who have fled their country because of the war. It is regional and local leaders in Europe who have, right from the start of the attack against Ukraine, organised humanitarian aid and welcomed refugees in the regions bordering Ukraine and in every other corner of Europe. At the same time, the European Committee of the Regions has swiftly created and put in place a web-based Ukraine info-support hub, a platform that can be visited on our website and that matches needs in Ukraine and its bordering regions with offers for help. We have called for an improvement in access to emergency EU funding to make it easier and faster for regions to access it and to provide rapid support and manage the humanitarian crisis.

We have also introduced an important initiative to host children from Ukraine in summer camps across Europe. Now we are building a big European alliance of cities and regions for the reconstruction of Ukraine, linking local and regional authorities in Europe in order to co-ordinate and facilitate contacts and co-operation with the Ukrainian local and regional authorities, following the proposal of President Zelenskyy and the support of President Michel. My call to the Irish regions and cities today is to join this alliance and our initiatives for the children and the reconstruction of Ukraine.

All these consecutive and parallel crises have shown that no matter one’s size, strength and power, no one alone can deal with the challenges and meet the real needs of the people. This is how the European Committee of the Regions sees our European house of democracy: the EU being the protective roof; the member states, the strong walls; and the regions and cities, the solid foundations. All levels of government must work together to bring results. There is no other way to work.

I welcome the fact that, with the Irish programme for Government, there is for the first time a clear commitment to regional development as a policy implementation objective. I trust that the role of regional and local administrations will be enhanced to deal with the huge challenges all across Europe, including the access to affordable housing and the crisis of the rise of the cost of living.

At the same time, I have to admit that I deeply regret that the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement lacks "territorial depth" and does not duly recognise the role of local and regional authorities in the EU-UK relationship. As I understand it, internal political matters are the reason the United Kingdom failed to assure a local democratic voice in the EU-UK partnership council. Moreover, we support a joint and responsible approach to the implementation of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, including the Northern Ireland protocol, and respect for the level playing field. For this reason, I am deeply worried about the unilateral interpretation by London of the protocol, which could turn into a de facto hard Brexit, a disruption of the UK-EU trade with very strong repercussions for Ireland and risking the jeopardising of the Good Friday Agreement.

For us, one thing is clear. There are many regions in Ireland and all over the rest of Europe that are so heavily impacted and so heavily invested in partnerships with UK devolved nations and local governments, so there are so many untapped opportunities in areas of mutual interest — such as providing humanitarian assistance and managing sustainably the North Sea, the Channel and the Irish Sea, as well as fighting against climate change and implementing the sustainable development goals — that the role of regional and local authorities is irreplaceable.

Let me conclude by saying that our Union can survive and move forward only if our citizens care about it and believe in it. More than ever before, we must build a bottom-up future for Europe with more democratic representation of the people's vote and less institutional complexity. We must win back the trust of the citizens. This involves their trust in all three levels of government and the three levels of elected politicians - European, national and regional and local. These three levels of trust are interconnected and can only succeed if they reinforce each other. If one of these levels is missing, the whole European house of democracy collapses. To put it in simple words, we need a lively parliamentary democracy with a stronger European Parliament, stronger national parliaments and the European Committee of the Regions, as well as Europe's 240 regions and 90,000 municipalities, at its core. This is how we view the future of democracy in Europe and the future of Europe.