During his participation in the "Enlargement Day" event organised by the European Committee of the Regions on 19th of June in Brussels, Marc Cools, President of the Congress' Independent and Liberal Democratic Group, recalled the importance of assistance programmes to strengthen local and regional democracy in Europe.

Speaking in the debate about the impact of the financing of EU cooperation programmes for democracy, Mr Cools highlighted the results of Congress' action on the ground to improve territorial governance. He stressed that the Congress was well-placed to translate financial support into concrete assistance to local authorities, through its direct access to elected officials and their associations and national governments, especially in the context of implementing the recommendations resulting from its monitoring. In this respect, Mr Cools regretted that the local and regional dimension was not a priority in the EU's assistance programmes, in particular in its joint programmes with the Council of Europe.