Alumna goes CoR
Dear EMA-DOM community,
Dear readers,
All those who have studied and experienced this unique European Master's programme know how deeply impact this period of study can have. Not only for your personal development but also in your professional life. The highlight of my professional career so far after the European Master's programme (8th generation, 2020-2022) was the election of the European Parliament last year. I myself was a candidate of the Social Democratic Party of Germany and was able to fight with many European comrades for our solidary, common European conviction. That was a great honour for me and a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Even though I didn't make it into the European Parliament last year, I was all the more delighted to have been elected to the local council at municipal level. In the state of Rhineland-Palatinate local elections took place at the same time. At that time, I didn't realise that the road to Brussels starts in the local council. This gave me the opportunity at the beginning of this year to become an alternate deputy member of the European Committee of the Regions (elected for five years) and thus to have a voice in an influential, consultative European body. My collective goal is to help shape local authorities in Europe by enhancing democratic structures and the rule of law.
The Committee of the Regions, which was established by the Maastricht Treaty brings together regional and local representatives from all 27 European member states once a month to discuss local issues that are of European relevance. This enables local and regional politicians to make their voices heard in the institutional structure of the European Union with regard to the regional impact in the respective member state. For this reason, the principle of subsidiarity, responsiveness and partnership is also upheld in the CoR as the European Cohesion policy, which plays a central role in the CoR. Thus, EU legislative proposals from the European Parliament and the European Commission are included in the debate. Current topics this year included tackling the EU-wide housing crisis, strengthening the European defence industry, the debate on a territorial approach to competitiveness and the regional perspectives of the European Oceans Pact.
For more information about my membership in the CoR you can visit the website:
https://cor.europa.eu/de/mitglieder/maria-harutyunyan
