The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) President, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, and Lower Austria's Minister for Housing, Labour and International Affairs, Martin Eichtinger,  exchanged views on the EU's measures to combat the current crisis, as well as and Lower Austria's apprentice offensive during a teleconference call.

President Tzizikostas explained the work being undertaken by the CoR to bring together the experiences of Europe's local and regional authorities as means to measure, assess and improve the EU's policies to tackle the emergency. He argued that the EU needed to come together, agreeing the next EU budget and sufficient investment to support all regions and cities. "Cohesion policy and its unique partnership between EU, national and regional governments, are key for Europe to contain the pandemic and to relaunch Europe's economy. The divisions among Member States must be overcome to secure an adequate EU recovery plan, based on a bold EU budget, by June. Otherwise we risk to seriously weaken our capacity to protect citizens' health and social rights, preserve Europe's productive capacity, help businesses survive the emergency and invest in a sustainable future", said President Tzitzikostas.

"The European Committee of the Regions is the voice of Europe regions and as such promotes a strong solidarity and cohesion," said Lower Austria's Minister for Housing, Labour and International Affairs Martin Eichtinger said during a video conference with the President Tzitzikostas. Eichtinger said that he appreciated the efforts and measures taken by the EU's institutions to mitigate the current COVID19  Pandemic.

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https://cor.europa.eu/en/news/Pages/President-Tzitzikostas-and-Minister-Eichtinger-back-strong-EU-regional-funds-to-combat-the-Coronavirus.aspx