The Bureau of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) held its external meeting in Balatonfüred, Hungary on 28 and 29 October. The program of the event included meetings of the presidents, the national delegation coordinators and the Bureau, a study visit, and a seminar on territorial cooperation and sustainable tourism that CESCI had also been invited to participate in.

The meeting took place in the recently opened local Congress Centre where the participants were welcomed by Vasco Alves Cordeiro, President of the CoR, János Bóka, Hungarian Minister for European Union Affairs and István Bóka, Mayor of Balatonfüred. The seminar followed the Bureau meeting and included two panels: one on the future of European Territorial Cooperation (ETC), and another on sustainable tourism.

The first panel was moderated by János Ádám Karácsony, a Hungarian member of the Bureau. First, Karl-Heinz Lambertz, President of the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) gave an introductory speech focusing on the results of the high-level group on ETC. Ms Themis Christophidou, Director-General for Regional and Urban Polics of the EU summarised the most recent developments of the Commission.

The panellists, Nikola Dobroslavić, President of the Dubrovnik-Neretva Region (Croatia), Kersten Uno Petersen, Regional councillor of the Southern Denmark Region, the rapporteur of the CoR on the future of ETC, Ms Marie-Antoinette Maupertuis, President of the Corsican Assembly and Gyula Ocskay, Secretary General of CESCI added diverse viewpoints to Mr Lambertz’s overview. CESCI’s secretary general promoted a differentiated approach to each territory instead of forcing convergence, and putting proximity into the focus of European policies which are too far from the citizens today.

The panellists of the second round-table moderated by Anna Magyar, a Hungarian member of the Bureau, were Niina Ratilainen from the Turku Local Council (Finland), Csaba Rúzsa, Vice-mayor of Pécs (Hungary) and Cordula Wohlmuther, Director for Europe of the United Nations’ Tourism department (remote). The introductory speech was given by Péter Niedermüller, Mayor of the 7^th district of Budapest focusing on the impacts of overtourism, and the potential local policies for tackling it. The debate revolved around the same topic with references also to those regions which suffers from the lack of tourism.

The event’s concluding remarks were drawn by CoR’s Vice-President Mark Speich who reminded Hungary’s role in the deconstruction of the Iron Curtain and expressed his wish that this attitude will be spreading all over Europe.