Regional Governors: Slovak Representatives in CoR Must Be More Active

Bratislava, January 19 (TASR) – Representatives of Slovak regions in the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) should be much more active within this EU body than before, stated Trnava regional governor Jozef Viskupic after a meeting of regional governors in Bratislava on Friday.

The topic of Slovakia’s regional representatives within CoR was high on the agenda at the meeting, which was initiated by Bratislava regional governor Juraj Droba.

Slovakia is authorised to have five full and four alternate members in this EU’s advisory body based in Brussels. Following the November 4 regional elections in Slovakia, three full-member and two alternate posts remained unoccupied in CoR, as certain councillors in the regions failed to be reelected.

After the meeting, Viskupic stated that talks on personnel nominations for the unoccupied posts have just begun. “However, we’ve clearly agreed that those who will be there have to be active,” said Viskupic, adding that it hasn’t been the case at all so far.

The Trnava governor further stated that with regards to selecting the right nominees for CoR, the regular meetings of all eight regional governors, the so-called SK8 platform, have to be reestablished. “We have known the SK8 platform, which was officially led by my predecessor, only from the paper,” he said.

Regular meetings of regional governors has been welcomed by Banska Bystrica governor Jan Lunter, who said that cooperation between the regions will boost the quality of life in the regions.

This has been the fourth joint meeting of the regional governors since the regional elections in November. Even this time the governors failed to meet at full strength, as Trencin governor Jaroslav Baska excused himself from the meeting due to a long- planned trip.