Our Vice-President, Ms Anna Magyar, is busy preparing the European Committee of the Regions opinion on the 2021 enlargement package. On 1 February, she presented the first working document to the members of the CIVEX Commission. In her exchange of views with local and regional politicians from 27 EU Member States, Ms Magyar stressed that "enlargement is a strategic asset for the EU and one of its most successful policies. It should help contribute to the stability and prosperity of the countries that wish to join the EU".

These are very busy weeks for the rapporteur, whose diary is packed full of meetings with the stakeholders concerned. In addition to meeting the ambassadors of the Western Balkan countries' missions in Brussels, Ms Magyar has already met with the vice-presidents of the Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe (NALAS).

The meeting with Mr Goran Cvetanović (Mayor of Leskovac, Serbia) and Mr Dušan Raičević (Mayor of Opština Bar, Montenegro) helped strengthen the already solid relationship between the Committee of the Regions and NALAS. During the meeting, many topics of interest to local authorities in countries that are candidates to join the EU were discussed. Among these, the two mayors stressed the importance of being involved in the preparatory phase of the enlargement package so that they could influence its content and not only in the ex-post phase, where they can only assess the impact of the planned measures.

CoR rapporteur Anna Magyar, who is also a Councillor in Csongrád-Csanád County in Hungary, went on to state that the demographic crisis was having a major impact on both EU and Western Balkans countries. 

The role played by brain drain is central. "If young professionals leave their countries to seek their fortune in Northern Europe, it will be difficult for those countries to develop a new governing class that is able to meet the challenges of the European integration process," said Ms Magyar.

The opinion is scheduled for adoption in CIVEX on 29 March and for adoption in plenary on 29 June.