In addition to all the MEPs, Prime Ministers and Grandees there were also quite a few local Councillors like me in attendance.
The Committee of Regions continued to focus on Local Government issues by mounting a couple of specific interest Fringe sessions.
One regular event is entitled the Liberal Mayors Summit, and despite the poor attendance of Mayors and Group Leaders from the UK ,even when we were in the EU, I’ve fortunately managed to sneak in on a couple of occasions. There were about 20 attending this year, from metropolitan areas across the EU, with representation from well-known cities like Warsaw, Stockholm, St Omer, Bucharest, Split, Budapest, Vienna and smaller less well-known ones from across the EU states. It was good to realise that the Liberal influence is present in so many local authority areas.
The main guest was the very popular Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice President of the European Commission who had delivered a speech about plans to regulate IA.
The agenda included issues about SMEs, and combatting gender-based violence but the item which generated most contributions and took up the majority of time was about The European Year of Skills. Every attendee around the table had prepared a contribution on this subject and I found there was such resonance with issues our own towns and cities are experiencing, I thought it would be of interest to our colleagues here in the UK.
As the discussion went round the table, we heard from every representative about problems that their authority faced in planning for the future. These were an ageing population, a lack of well qualified staff and skilled personnel to fill vacancies, while experiencing an incoming surfeit of unskilled migrants. An interesting example was given of an authority above the Arctic Circle in the North of Finland, which had recognised that it needed to bring in new people if its business and activities were to thrive.
In Kenton, the Boots pharmacy backed onto the local Health Centre, so was the first choice for residents. The nearest alternate was a mile away, dreadful news for the many elderly and disabled users. In this Ward, we fortunately had a keen young member, so decided to mount a petition and, despite the bitter winter weather, Rob stood outside collecting signatures and listening to the concerns of residents. Those of us who braved the elements to help, also stood round, gave advice and picked up casework. Soon the numbers were building up, and we opted to submit the petition to the next full Council meeting.
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