Cork councillor to lead EU grouping

Cork County councillor Gillian Coughlan has been elected to lead the Renew Europe political group in the EU's assembly of local and regional representatives, the European Committee of the Regions.

Cllr Coughlan (Fianna Fáil) joined the committee in 2020, and has contributed to its working in a number of ways, including leading the drafting of a report on the future of digital education, and another on local authorities in countries in the western Balkans wishing to join the EU.

She is currently drafting a report on the local dimension of relations between the EU and the UK.

Renew Europe is the political grouping where Fianna Fáil sits in the European Parliament, and is also the grouping of French President Emmanuel Macron, Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten, and the Eu's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, Kaja Kallas.

Cllr Coughlan is joined in the grouping in the Committee of the Regions by the President of the Basque Country, the Vice-President of Normandy, the King's Commissioner of North Holland, the President of the Brussels Capital Region, as well as the mayors of the capital cities of Bulgaria, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Slovakia.

The committee is an assembly of subnational politicians appointed by national governments of EU member states. Established in 1994, Ireland sends 18 councillors - nine full members and nine substitutes.

It is tasked with giving decision-makers at a European level a better understanding of how the EU is functioning in its local communities.