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On the 9 - 11 February a plenary seesion of the Committee of the Regions took place in Brussels. It launched the new 2010 – 2015 term. 344 representatives of European regions and local authorities chose people for key positions at the Committee, formed thematic Commissions and concluded necessary agreements within the four political groups and twenty seven national delegations. In this framework the EPP, which presently constitutes the strongest political group (130 members) offered Marchal Marek Woźniak to take up the position of the President of the Commission for Teritorial Cohesion (COTER). Is is one the most important Commissions of the CoR, which deals with topics linked closely to such regional issues as: economic, social and territorial cohesion, structural funds, macroregional strategies, transport, territorial cooperation and spatial planning.
It gives Marek Woźniak - the Marchal of a big and diverse region, which in the period 2007 – 2013 obtained almost 1.3 milliard euro of the EU funding for its regional programme - a strong voice in the discussion on the shape of the new EU budget and the rules concerning division of UE funds in the future. Following the agreements between different political fractions of the Committee of the Regions, the Marchal will take up the position of the President of COTER Commission in the second half of the present term. Until this time, he will hold a position of the 1st vice chair to Michel Delabarre – the former President of the CoR representing PSE (the socialist group).
After his election by acclamation for the position of the 1st vice chair of the COTER Commission, Marchal Woźniak said: “Thank you for your trust, I will try not to disappoint you. I come from the second largest region in Poland and I manage the regional programme of 1 270 mln euro. I am convinced that the cohesion policy is a key issue for the future of Europe. The former countries of the soviet block have lost tens of years and we hope that the european funds will help us to catch up with the other countries. We can see that the position of Europe on the global arena is starting to weaken – we have to strenghten it together. I count on satysfying cooperation with all the members of the COTER Commission and I particularly welcome colleagues from the new EU12. We really hope that the cohesion policy will not be marginalised in the future and that an appropriate budget for the development will be elaborated”.
On Tuesday, the 9th February Marchal Woźniak conducted a meeting of the national delegation to the Committee of the Regions. The local and regional representatives have unanimously entrusted him again with the position of the head of delegation. Once again, Marek Woźniak became a member of the Committee of the Regions’s bureau as one of the vice chairs of the CoR in the new term.
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During the meeting of the EPP, the Marchal confirmed his invitation for the members of this political group to Poznań. The EPP meeting in the capital of Wielkopolska will take place on the 17th and 18th June 2010 and it will be dedicated to the topic of local and regional authorities’s role in combating poverty and social exclusion in Europe.
Author: Information Office of the Wielkopolska Region in Brussels
Photo: CoR
