Local and regional authorities have a crucial role to play in protecting minority rights, strengthening cross-border cooperation and ensuring that European policies respond to the realities citizens face on the ground. This was the message brought by EPP-CoR members Csaba Borboly and Nikola Dobroslavić to the European Forum Alpbach 2026 in Austria. Taking part in the programme organised in the framework of the Euregio Days, the two EPP-CoR members contributed to discussions bringing together European, regional and local representatives on some of the challenges facing Europe’s regions.
Csaba Borboly, Vice-President of Harghita County Council (Romania) and Vice-Chair of the SEDEC commission of the European Committee of the Regions, addressed a panel on minority rights in Eastern Europe, where he argued that protecting minority communities and strengthening security should be mutually reinforcing objectives. Drawing on his experience in Harghita County, where the majority of the population belongs to the Hungarian community and around 15% to the Romanian community, Borboly stressed the importance of ensuring fair access to resources and services for all communities. “Minority rights must not become a casualty of security concerns. Security and minority rights are not opposites. They can, and must, reinforce each other,” Borboly said.
He warned in particular against minority communities becoming targets during periods of economic, political or security uncertainty. Instead, he argued, local and regional authorities can play a central role in fostering trust and coexistence because they are responsible for many of the services through which citizens experience equality in their everyday lives. “Local and regional authorities are the first line of protection. Brussels can set the direction, but the real work happens close to citizens, at the county and municipal level,” Borboly added.
In a separate panel on cross-border cooperation and EU funding opportunities at local level, Nikola Dobroslavić, Member of the Regional Assembly of Dubrovnik-Neretva County (Croatia) and member of the COTER commission of the European Committee of the Regions, highlighted the importance of cooperation across borders as part of the CoR's wider commitment to cohesion policy, multi-level governance and subsidiarity. Dobroslavić expressed strong support for European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTCs) as an important instrument enabling regions to work together across national borders.
He stressed that citizens and businesses in border areas can face particular disadvantages as a consequence of their geographical location, and that European policy should help overcome these barriers. “Citizens and businesses in border regions often face disadvantages that need to be addressed, because border regions are not a burden, but an asset to the European Union,” Dobroslavić said. Looking ahead to the EU's next Multiannual Financial Framework, Dobroslavić also reiterated the Committee of the Regions' firm position that regions must not be bypassed in the management and use of EU funds.
The interventions by Borboly and Dobroslavić at Alpbach highlighted a common message: Europe works better when its regions and municipalities are directly involved in shaping and delivering European solutions. Whether protecting minority communities, overcoming the challenges created by borders or managing European investment, decisions taken closer to citizens can strengthen cohesion, trust and cooperation across the European Union.