“Europe is not built in Brussels”: addressing the assembly of the Committee of the Regions in Brussels on 24 February, the President of the European Commission José Manuel Durao Barroso recalled the essential role of the cities and regions in building Europe, which is born from below. Barroso had been called to present the programme of the Executive for the next five years. The Portuguese politician first recalled the main challenges of the EU in 2005, namely the ratification of the Constitution and the adoption of the financial prospects, i.e. the programmatic document that plans the revenues and expenditures of the EU up till 2013. Then addressing the members of the Committee of the Regions directly, Barroso added: “You, who are so close to people’s daily life, represent a privileged channel of communication to establish our relations with the public and also to pursue our common efforts on the road of prosperity, democracy and security”. At this point Barroso insisted on the role of the participation of citizens to realize the “common home”, which must he stressed have the peoples of Europe as its protagonists and “must correspond to their hopes”. The Committee of the Regions has an essential role to play in this perspective. “You are at the heart of European governance”, added the head of the Commission. He called for a “partnership” which would reunite the national, regional and local political levels, as well as civil society, to “revitalize Europe”, within which the Committee of the Regions will be a principal player. Barroso did not fail to express the hope that the member states would grant to the Union the necessary resources to “make the EU work”, to “pursue territorial and social cohesion”, and to “help the poorer areas and the weaker sections of society”.
