The German Christian-Democrat Peter Straub has been elected Chairman of the EU’s Committee of the Regions for a two-year term. The Committee, meeting in plenary session in Brussels last week, voted by a large majority in favour of Straub, currently President of the Land of Baden-Wuertemberg. He will succeed Sir Albert Bore, Mayor of Birmingham. In his speech of investiture, the new chairman said he wished to “reinforce the political role of the Committee an organ composed of representatives of the European local authorities with exclusively advisory powers within the EU decision-making process. Straub also stressed the importance of “contributing to the strengthening of democracy in the new member countries by promoting the development of decentralized structures”. He also said that, in the course of his term, he intends to strive to ensure that the Committee of the Regions “be the mouthpiece of the regional and local authorities and the defender of the principle of subsidiarity”.
