Murcia Región Europea Plenary Sessions of the Committee of the Regions 2025

The Region of Murcia played an active role in the Plenary Session of the European Committee of the Regions held on 14 and 15 May, where key issues for the future of the European Union were debated.

In the discussion on the EU’s long-term budget after 2027, a stronger Cohesion Policy with sufficient resources was advocated, one that can respond to the real needs of the regions.
Adrián Zittelli, Director-General for the European Union, took part in the discussions on the European Research Area, supporting greater involvement of the regions in innovation governance and in strengthening local R&D&I ecosystems.

EU cities and regions, in a document approved during the plenary, called on the European Commission to present an ambitious European Affordable Housing Plan to address the housing crisis affecting cities and regions across Europe. The opinion stresses that high-quality affordable housing must become an explicit objective in the EU’s next multiannual budget.

The Region of Murcia took an active part in the plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions on the occasion of the launch of the Wine Intergroup, together with 25 other European territories. This group has been created with the aim of strengthening the competitiveness of the wine sector in the face of global market challenges, oversupply, and climate change, and in the context of the upcoming CAP reforms.

During the plenary session, the Director-General for the European Union, Adrián Zittelli, stressed the need to join forces to ensure a strong and resilient wine sector. He also took part in a debate in Brussels on the local impact of U.S. tariffs on European agri-food products, advocating for a firm and coordinated European response.

The plenary also addressed EU enlargement and support for Ukraine. In this context, Zittelli underlined the key role of regions in the country’s reconstruction, highlighting the example of Murcia, whose companies are already collaborating on the development of applicable technological solutions under the Caetra programme. The recent visit of Ukrainian mayors to the Region to learn about these initiatives first-hand was also mentioned.

The 164th Plenary Session of the European Committee of the Regions, held in Brussels on 19 and 20 February 2025, marked the beginning of the new 2025–2030 mandate. In this context, the Region of Murcia played a prominent role thanks to the intervention of its president, Fernando López Miras, who presented the opinion “A Strong European Defence Industry”. In his speech, he stressed the need to strengthen the EU’s strategic autonomy in the field of defence, reducing external dependencies and protecting European technology and talent.

In addition, the Region of Murcia is consolidating its influence in the EU through its participation in the Commissions for Natural Resources (NAT) and Environment, Climate Change and Energy (ENVE), two key areas for its development. López Miras has been appointed Second Vice-President of the NAT Commission, further reinforcing Murcia’s presence in strategic decision-making at the European level.

On 2 and 3 July, the fourth plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) for the 2025–2030 mandate was held, with the participation of Adrián Zittelli, Director-General for the European Union, as an alternate member representing the Region of Murcia.

During the session, key opinions were debated and approved on legislative simplification, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and water resilience, among other topics. The Region of Murcia played a prominent role in the debates on the CAP, advocating for stability and solid funding for farmers, and on water resilience, emphasising adaptation to the climatic realities of south-eastern Spain.

Key topics of the session

• Sustainable tourism: promoting regional strategies that respect the environment and local heritage.
• Water resilience: efficient water management and adaptation to climate change, a priority for regions such as Murcia.
• Future of European wine: protecting the wine sector from global, climatic and digital challenges; the Region of Murcia participates actively in the CoR’s Wine Intergroup.
• Preparation for COP30: strengthening the role of regions in climate policies and the energy transition.

The participation of the Region of Murcia in this session reflects its commitment to sustainable European policies, tailored to local needs and with a direct impact on regional development.

The Region of Murcia took part in the plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions on defence policy, where President Fernando López Miras argued that SMEs, technology centres and universities should have access to future EU support linked to the upcoming European Defence Strategy, to be presented shortly by the European Commission.

The Committee approved two amendments submitted by the Region of Murcia:

• Boosting SMEs and start-ups in the defence sector: the text highlights the need to expand the EU’s industrial defence ecosystem, strengthen the competitiveness of supply chains, and leverage the role of regions in supporting internationalisation and technological cooperation.

• Support for dual-use technologies: it stresses their importance for strengthening the defence industry, generating civilian benefits, promoting public–private collaboration, and enabling innovation in regions without traditional defence industries, as already promoted by the Caetra Programme.

During the debate, many representatives expressed deep concern about European security amid rising tensions with Russia, especially members from Eastern EU countries and Ukrainian delegates.

Murcia’s participation reinforces its commitment to Europe’s strategic autonomy and to strengthening regional industrial development.

Translation into English:

The final plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) for 2025 took place on 10 and 11 December. Prior to the plenary, a high-level meeting was held at the CoR headquarters between Committee members and Spanish Members of the European Parliament, chaired by Alfonso Rueda, President of the Xunta of Galicia and of the Spanish delegation. During this meeting, the Galicia Declaration, adopted in October in Santiago de Compostela, was presented, and various aspects of the proposal for the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) were discussed.

During the plenary sessions, four major debates were held, with particular emphasis on the one focused on the proposal for the 2028–2034 MFF. In total, twelve opinions were adopted, addressing key issues for European cities and regions such as sustainable tourism, affordable energy, climate change adaptation, industry, artificial intelligence, territorial cohesion, and the role of local and regional authorities in the Global Gateway strategy.

In the context of the debate on “Towards sustainable and resilient tourism in the European Union: a balanced and adaptive management strategy”, an opinion unanimously adopted on 10 December, Adrián Zittelli, Director-General for the European Union of the Government of the Region of Murcia, took the floor. In his intervention, Zittelli underlined the importance of linking the challenges of sustainable tourism with the Union’s financial instruments, highlighting the essential role of cohesion policy. He stated that “all the challenges of sustainable tourism, which are rightly identified in the opinion and which will need to be addressed in the strategy, largely depend on the instruments of cohesion policy, hence the importance of taking this into account in the debates on the next multiannual financial framework and of defending it.”

The intervention by the representative of the Region of Murcia highlighted the need for the future European budget to maintain a strong and well-funded cohesion policy, capable of supporting regions in managing challenges such as tourism pressure, environmental sustainability, social cohesion, and balanced economic development. This position was in line with the majority view of the CoR, which warned during the plenary of the risks of weakening cohesion policy in the next MFF and of the potential consequences in terms of territorial inequalities and a growing gap between citizens and the European project.