European Week of Regions: Bratislava region is interested in the future EU housing policy

“`html

Brussels/Bratislava – Pan-European meetings at the EU Committee of the Regions are always a good opportunity to lobby for the interests of metropolitan regions, such as Bratislava. This was stated on Thursday by Juraj Droba, chairman of the Bratislava self-governing region (BSK), at the conclusion of the 22nd European Week of Regions and Cities in Brussels. This is reported by the TASR correspondent.

On Monday (7.10.) evening, as part of the Regions Week, Droba opened a ceremonial reception dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the European Union’s enlargement in 2004. The host of the event was the Chairman of the Committee of the Regions, Vasco Alves Cordeiro, and among the honorary guests of the ceremonial reception was also the Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira.

Droba stated that the representatives of these countries at the event recalled not only what they have succeeded in achieving over the past 20 years but also pointed out other challenges that the EU must address in the future.

“We talked a lot about a sustainable environment, transport, the living environment, and the need for quality education. This is what we focus most on in our self-governing region,” Droba explained. On Thursday, he also attended a political working meeting with representatives of Helsinki, Amsterdam, and Dublin.

“We talked about how to sustainably manage a city and region. It connects us that we are metropolitan regions. All four cities are from half a million to a million inhabitants, and we are all from relatively medium-sized countries of five to 15 million inhabitants,” he said.

He specified that Thursday’s discussions were focused, for example, on social housing and the competitiveness of the EU, where Droba expressed his critical view of labor laws in member countries, which he believes should be somewhat “relaxed”.

The future European Commission will introduce a novelty in that one of the commissioners will be tasked with the housing policy in the EU. In response to a TASR question about how he perceives this through his participation in the Committee of the Regions, which is an advisory body of the European Commission, Droba pointed to the plan of the mayor of Bratislava, who wants to help young families in the city find socially supported housing.

“As a region, we will very limitedly look for housing that will be supported and will primarily be for teachers and doctors. It’s such a European trend that I somewhat resist. My common-sense logic tells me to rather give a person 700 euros in hand, let them decide for themselves what to do with it, than to say that you have a three-member family, so you must have a two-room apartment,” Droba explained his stance.

The European Week of Regions and Cities is the largest annual event dedicated to EU regional policy and cohesion policy. (October 10)

“`