According to the signatory regions, multi-level governance “was intended to be at the very core of the EU project”, and subsidiarity “was to be a fundamental principle in European policymaking”. They consider, though, that “these values seem to be more and more forgotten” and, consequently, “decision-making is being moved further away from the citizens” by promoting the implementation of policies at member state levels “instead of allowing for regional differences”. This is especially true in the case of the EU Recovery Funds, for which this initiative has already called for a shared design and implementation.

The 17 signatory regions are Aland Islands, Balearic Islands, Free State of Bavaria, Bratislava Region, Carinthia, Catalonia, Flanders, Hessen, Regione Lombardia, Lower Austria, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Tyrol, South Tyrol, Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council, Varazdin County, and Wielkopolska Region.

About the Conference on the Future of Europe
The CoFoE is a European citizens debate on Europe’s challenges and priorities organised by the European Parliament, the Council, and the European Commission. A multilingual digital platform was launched in April to discuss proposals for Europe with citizens from all member states through online events. An inaugural hybrid event will take place next 9 May 2021, Europe Day. 

About the initiative 'Regions for EU Recovery'
European regions that take part in the initiative ‘Regions for EU Recovery’ collaborate to ensure regional participation in EU Recovery Funds. For the last months, they have shared experiences on dealing with the COVID-19 crisis and they sent two joint letters to the leaders of European institutions seeking a greater role of regions in the European recovery.