EPP-CoR members called for a strong commitment to strengthen cross-border cooperation and spoke against unilateral decisions that led to the closure of borders and which impacted villages, cities and regions badly when discussing matters for local and regional authorities at the 139th plenary session.
Helma Kuhn-Theis, Member of Weiskirchen Municipal Council said that 240 thousand people in her region cross borders on a daily basis. "People in the health sector could not get to their place of work. We can't permit this to happen again and we need closer cooperation at all levels to be better prepared for possible future crisis."
Marjon De Hoon-Veelenturf, Mayor of the municipality of Baarle-Nassau said that the Corona crisis showed that here were different approaches by different member states and this had an impact on border regions, such as on access to primary care. She added that decisions taken also had an impact on trade. "Cooperation between Member States must start earlier in future crisis especially in border regions. We need cross border cooperation in times of crisis like COVID-19" she stressed.
Piero Mauro Zanin, President of the Friuli Venezia Giulia regional council and vice-president of the CIVEX Commission remarked that cross border regions legislation must be reflected in the better regulation framework. Agnes Rampal from the City of Nice and the Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur, spoke about the importance of removing obstacles to cross-border cooperation especially in the health sector. "We need to establish cross-border cooperation mechanisms in the health sector which embraces multilevel governance."
During a discussion on Tourism after COVID-19 crisis, Adam Struzik, President of the Mazovia Region spoke about regional airports and explained that these have been badly affected. "We need direct help because otherwise the regional economy will suffer." Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, Mayor of Gdańsk said that many regions and cities have already developed tourism technologies and products such as cards that are very useful for tourists. "We need to support these projects to make Europe more attractive and help the tourism sector recover".