Jaroslava Jermanová elected new chair of the commission for Economic Policy of the European Committee of the Regions

​​Czech representative Jaroslava Jermanová was elected chair of the European Committee of the Regions' commission for Economic Policy (ECON) at the meeting on 22 September. Ms Jermanová, Councillor of the Central Bohemian Region, will chair ECON's work over the forthcoming two and half years, until the end of the CoR's current five-year mandate. ​

The ECON commission's main role is to coordinate the work of the European Committee of the Regions – the EU's assembly of regional and local authorities - on issues related to economic and industrial policy, such as competition and state aid policy, public procurement, SME policy and entrepreneurship, economic governance and European Semester, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), internal market and digital single market. Its activities also encompass economic and monetary policy, taxation policy, international trade and tariffs (including WTO issues) and local/regional finances.

Jaroslava Jermanová who has been a CoR member since 2017 and is part of the Renew Europe group, commented on her election: " I take very seriously the responsibility of chairing the ECON commission in these times of global instability, persisting inflation, high energy prices, and continued disruptions of trade and supply chains, which heavily impact our citizens and businesses, but also local and regional authorities. Being from the industrial region of Central Bohemia, the pertinent economic policy issues which our cities and regions face are very important to me and during my mandate I will work to improve the EU's policy responses and towards their more effective implementation . "

CoR President Vasco Alves Cordeiro congratulated the new chair and said: " As local and regional authorities work hard to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and to address the challenges of the green and digital transition, our institution will make the voice of all regions and cities across Europe heard on crucial dossiers such as the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the upcoming reform of EU economic governance, and the Sustainable Development Goals. "

The new first vice-chair for the ECON commission is Ilpo Heltimoinen (FI/ECR) and the second vice-chair is Pehr Granfalk (SI/EPP). ​