Dear President Geblevich, dear President Groelich and Vice-President Linnock, dear members, guests and speakers, I'm delighted to start today's meeting of the European People's Party Group in the Committee of the Regents and I want to begin by thanking President Geblevich for giving me the opportunity to moderate today's debates and to pay an active part in today's meeting. I'd also like to begin by extending our condolences to our friends and neighbours in the United Kingdom on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II last night. I think it's fair to say that we're all in sympathy with them today for the passing of a leader who showed great service to her country and to her people. Just to introduce myself, my name is Emma Blaine and I am a councillor on Delirium Rathdown County Council which is in Dublin, Ireland. I am a part of the Finnegale Party and I am a Pride member of the European People's Party. Before we enter into today's discussion I just want to give you some practical information about how the day will run. Interpretation today is provided in English, French, German, Polish, Czech and Ukrainian and as always we'd encourage you to be active on social media and if you are doing so please use the following hashtag, hashtag EPP local dialogue and hashtag stand with Ukraine. So without further delay I just like to present to you on the stage President Geblevic who's the president of the EPP group in the European Committee of the Regions, Jan Groelich who's the president of South Moravia, Roman Linnick vice president of Pargibice County and head of the Czech National Delegation in the Committee of the Regions and also before I go any further I would like to apologise in advance for my Irish accent which may have me mispronouncing places and names so I apologise in advance for any offense that I may cause. I would like to begin by inviting President Geblevic to the stage please. Dear host, President Groelich, dear President Weber, dear Roman, dear colleagues, guests and speakers, dear friends. It is with the greatest pleasure and special gratitude that I open our EPP COR meeting today here in the beautiful city of Brno, the dynamic capital city of South Moravia, a region that invests in innovation that combines modernity and tradition. I see the region that works hard and grows. This event offers us a special opportunity to discuss a local and regional perspective of the most important topics in the EU agenda. How to face together, united the issue of energy security and supplies. The continued support to Ukraine and finally how to boost innovation and invigorate our competitiveness. I believe it is extremely significant that our meeting takes place today during the Czech presidency and in the same day where the EU national ministers meet to negotiate solutions to energy crisis. I'm also extremely pleased to see Manfe Weber, our newly elected president of the EPP and chair of the EPP group in the European Parliament is now connected with us from remote. Thank you, Manfe. We appreciate immensely your effort to be here with us today. Another sign of your genuine friendship with our group and your respect and difference to our all EPP, local and regional elected leaders. We are looking forward to listening to your inspiring words in the just few minutes. Dear friends, it is precisely by quoting President Weber that I wish to start my opening address to you. We can only survive in confrontation with Putin if Europe is the lighthouse of free democracies in the world. Indeed, I believe this is the moment to pass on to our to our citizens is strong political message, energy security and supply, support to Ukraine. Refinking innovation policies are all strictly interconnected and therefore must be handled in all integrated manner. Our people, our families, our entrepreneurs ask for a concrete solutions to pressing problems like rising inflation, exploiting energy prices, inserted it for a future provisions for of gas and oil. We as the EPP fully understand the reasons of citizens who are exasperated by continued emergencies and who are scared of what they will find by opening the next energy bill. But it is also true that today 85 percent of Europeans demand the EU to reduce its dependency on the Russian gas and oil. I believe that our role as regional and local leaders starts with giving the example by reducing electricity, gas and oil consumption in our public buildings. I have already implemented it in my region because in the winter, lowering heating temperature by only one degree could lead to substantial savings and thus increase common security. This I believe should be the way forward if we want to succeed, especially by enhancing inter-regional and cross-border cooperation, fruitful discussion between the public sector with innovation, innovation hub and the business sector, and finally, very important, by promoting fiscal incentives. So, regional and local leaders must be the forerunners of the repower EU plan in order to anticipate energy crisis and not just passively suffer them when it is already too late. Dear friends, Russian fiscal foils are used as an economic and political weapon. It is a weapon that feeds our threats. We must rebuild our energy policies to protect our freedom. And what more with the killing, kidnapping and abusively replacing mayors of Ukrainian cities, the Russian war is a deliberate attack also against local democracy. It is therefore in our responsibility to do everything not to allow fear and panic to conquer our people's minds and souls. Once again, this is the moment to remain united in solidarity. Building on our existing partnership, EPP regional cities have been in the front line by giving a chance to the millions of refugees. Most of them women and children that have to flee from invaded country. And as a example, I'm really deeply impressed that Czechia alone is now hosting no less than 700,000 Ukrainians, meaning the highest number of refugees per capita in the EU. Dear Minister Jurečka, dear Minister Langsadlova, you have contributed to the definition of the priorities of the Czech presidency. We have appreciated the outspoken Czech presidency support to Ukraine, including strengthening sanctions and visa restrictions. And now it is crucial to support a post-war reconstruction in this sense via direct contribution with our EPP mayor of Kiev, Vitaly Klitschko, who is also president of Ukrainian Association of Cities, the European Committee of Regions, together with its members and stakeholders established an alliance of cities and regions for a reconstruction of Ukraine. This alliance works like a platform that promotes a transfer of expertise and rebuilding local communities via town cleaning, helping to rebuild schools, hospitals and other key infrastructure. In that context, I wish to thank Czech mayors in particular for a great job they are doing. The EPP group in the Committee of Regions is at your side, ready to help in particular in a view of next local actions that take place in two weeks. You can count on us on EPP-CUR group and I believe that thanks to President Weber on whole EPP for any kind of support you may need. Before giving the floor to President Grodzic, on behalf of the EPP-CUR group, I would like to thank him personally for his invitation, for his hospitality and perfect organization. The same words I would like to address to our friend Roman Linek. Roman, thank you for your whole excellent work for our group. And last but not least, let me thank our extraordinary moderator Ms. Emma Blay, who is also a member of our group, who accepted to take over this challenging task. Thank you, Emma, for all your work to help making this meeting a success. President Grodzic, the floor is yours. Dear President Geblewitz, ladies and gentlemen, dear friends. It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you to South Moravia, to its metropolis, Bernat. The main theme of today's meeting is how regional economies should face the impacts of the current crisis. The crisis means that the Russian aggression in Ukraine persists. Our obligation is, in the first place, to help people escaping the war. We are helping, and we will continue to help as long as is needed. I am proud that the Czech Republic and countries in the east of Europe immediately took clear stance against the aggression, because we have personal experience. I'm happy that our countries stand on the side of Ukraine, but being on the right side costs something, and now we are feeling it in the prices of energy. This is something that we have to address together as Europe, and we have to do it immediately. The people that are the most impacted by the energy crisis are people from whom we most often hear that we should leave the European Union, that the European Union is obsolete. It is not true. However, we have to prove it. We have to prove that we are able to find a common solution during such difficult times. In the Czech Republic, fortunately, at long last, we have a constructive government, a clearly pro-European government, which takes the European presidency as an honor, not as a bother. If the energy crisis is not addressed, there is only one alternative to our government, and that would be a pro-Russian government, and that's not what we want in my country. I want to live in a pro-European country with pro-European partners and neighbors. Here, we are mostly local politicians and regional politicians who cannot really influence the whole situation, but we have connections in the high posts. Please let us help as much as we can. Thank you very much for the topics of today's discussion. We are undergoing a change, and the existing situation will clearly have an impact on the labor market, and we have to be prepared to face it. My region has a great advantage in this respect. Thanks to the concentration of universities and schools and technology companies and start-ups, we are ambitious to become one of the most innovative regions in Europe. Thanks to that, we can handle this difficult period and move on, and this is what brings us together in EPP. Thank you for this meeting, and I'm looking forward to its outcomes. Dear Olga, our president, Mr. President Gablevich, dear Pana Heitomane, dear First Vice-Minister of Czech Republic, dear colleagues and guests, prior to my speech, I would like to thank to all of our colleagues who made this even possible. I would like to thank, personally, to our host, President Jan Grorich, for his effort and support that allowed us to bring such a high profile even to the capital of Morivia, which celebrates the well-hunted years of its existence as a distinctive region. I'm honored as a co-host to welcome Mr. Olga Gablevich, president of our political fraction in the Committee of the Regions, and all members of our European EPP family. It's wonderful that we have so many distinguished speakers with us here today, and I appreciate that you dedicated your valuable time to us. I'm glad we meet at the time of the Czech presidency of the Council of the EU at the second biggest city of our country and the capital of the South Moravia region. We meet at an external meeting after almost a three-year pause to discuss two topics. Situation on Ukraine and how regions could boost innovations and how innovations could help to fuel the development of regions. At this point, I would like to take the opportunity to continue with my speech in Czech so that you would hear how beautiful language it is. Now I apologize to all Moravian nationals because I can't speak the Moravian slang. I only speak official Czech. In the first presentation, we will hear about how life is in Ukraine and how people are doing when they have escaped to the Czech Republic and other countries and how the regional governments are helping them. In the second panel, we will focus on the situation in economics, where our companies are still facing the consequences of the global pandemic and also the current crisis in the availability of resources. All this has an impact on the fulfilment of European strategies, especially in the area of the environment. I believe that the topics could be discussed not on one day, but they could be discussed for ages, for years, and all this is important for preserving the quality of life of European citizens. They are the obstacles on our way to develop European values and the European House. There is one topic that I'd like to point out too. If I were to describe the current situation in terms of political stability and security, I would think of the word unpredictability. Since the end of the Second World War, there has never been a moment in this world where we would think more about what we have built and whether it is a jeopardy and what the tomorrows will bring. We look into the future with concern and it is our task to make sure that these concerns were not fulfilled and that the lives of our citizens could continue. The way to overcome this fear definitely leads through innovation. Innovation is something that can help our companies in keeping their competitiveness in global markets because only healthy economics can develop and move on with the whole society. I'm looking forward to today's discussions. I wish us all a lot of fruitful thoughts and discussions and I hope you enjoy your visit to South Moravia. Thank you. Thank you so much Vice President Linnick. And finally, I'd just like to come to the floor to Deputy Mayor Bruno, Mr. Petr Hadlik. Dear Vice Minister Jureczka, Mr. Geblowicz, dear President Greilich, Mr. Linnick, ladies and gentlemen, I wish you a beautiful morning. I would like to speak here as a co-host in the role of the organizer, a co-organizer of this event. Today, we have a meeting in the assembly hall. This is where we have the meetings of the Bernard City Assembly on a regular basis. This is the assembly hall which was constructed at a time when Olomots and Bernal was taking turns in ruling the Moravian Assembly in the medieval ages at a time when the Czech Kingdom was divided into groups when Moravia had its own sovereign position. After the 30-year war, when Bernal, contrary to Olomots, managed to defend itself from the Swedish army, it was the city of Bernal that became and is still the seat or the capital of Moravia. At that time of the 30-year war, there was one historic incredible event that took place. At that time, the Swedish army, who had about 30,000 soldiers, sieged the city of Bernal. And here in the city, there were about 1,500 people defending themselves, 1,500 soldiers defending themselves against this huge majority. For three months, the city managed to defend itself from the brutal assault. So it's quite a miracle that happened here in Bernal. At that time, we managed to defend ourselves, and three months later, the Swedish had to retreat the army. So the parallel that we are going through these days can be somehow approximated to the defense of Ukraine, which really faces huge military attack by the Russian Federation. I would be very happy if this miracle that we experienced in the 15th century here could be repeated in Ukraine. Today, we are here because thanks to the defense of the city of Bernal, the assembly hall could develop. And today, we are sitting in areas where, below us, we used to have a Dominican monastery. I used to say that this was the first EPP project of cooperation between the public and private sector. At that time, there was a discussion between the politicians and the members of the church. And they decided to build this building on the foundations of a religious order. Today, you are going to discuss a number of topics. Well, unfortunately, I will have to leave you, because in two weeks' time, we are going to have a municipal election and our target, because of course, this party is strong. That's why the president of the region comes from the party. So, of course, we want to boost our position in the municipal election as much as possible. Of course, lots have been said by the previous speakers. But every day, I go to see people. I work on the campaign. Every day, I meet dozens and hundreds of people. And of course, you feel one important thing. You feel concern. You feel worries about what's going to happen. You feel concerns of the ordinary people, people in the street, businesses, company owners, those who do business either on a local level or in the European market or in the global market. They don't know what's going to come. They're afraid of the energy prices. They're afraid that people will have to be laid off. They're afraid that there will be problems with the economic business and social matters. It is our task. It is the task of the EPP as the strongest grouping, as President Grilich has said. We need to make sure that we need to keep the security in the European Union so that we can find a swift and fast solution, European solution, as our government is striving to achieve as part of the European presidency. I really hope that you will enjoy the event today. We will meet in the evening at the Spielberg Castle. This is our castle. We will have an informal event. I'm looking forward to meeting you tonight. Thank you. Thank you so much, Deputy Mayor. I'm going to hand over to President Gavrivic, who's going to introduce us to President Eber. Dear friends, as I announced before, our newly elected president of EPP, Manfebaba, is with us today. I don't have to convince all of you because it has been proved that he is a huge friend of local and regional politicians gathered in the European Committee of Regents. He started his political career at the regional level and I feel that he is still one of us.  Olga and all the friends from the Committee of Regents, thank you so much for welcoming me and giving me the chance to contribute to you. Olga, you said it, what I promised in Rotterdam when we had our big party convention, we will keep this promise and this is the promise that the EPP is, first of all, an AS party. We are the party on the local ground. We are proud about this and that is also the DNA of the EPP because we are rooted, we are close to people, we are people's party. So, that is our thinking and that's why you and the Committee of Regents is really an extremely important place to be, to consider, to think about the next steps. And I also want to thank our friends from the Czech Republic. They are doing a great job as a president here. I had yesterday contact with Prime Minister Fiala on energy issues. So, we are really proud about what the Czech government is now really delivering, especially our EPP friends in the government. Dear friends, when we will look politically to the situation, we all feel this question of uncertainty and people are worried, people are really concerned and worried all over Europe. Probably what Emma also at the beginning said, especially yesterday's passing away from Queen Elizabeth II marks also in a way this new uncertainty. She was an anchor. She was a person of stability. We all knew her since decades. We grew up with her and that's why again, this is also a symbol of even a global moment because it's globally recognized. Another event where we see things are fundamentally changing and that's the situation. When I recognized the last three years of this mandate on European level, we had election in 2019 and we had some good ideas for the future of Europe, but then COVID came and now the war. So, we are more dealing with crisis management than with real long-term politics and that is in a way the general situation we are in. What does this mean? This means, first of all, leadership. I am proud that we as EPP and as European Union managed to give a proper answer in the beginning of this war in Ukraine towards Russia. We know that this is a fight not only between two countries. It is a fight about our values. It's a war about our values between freedom and autocracy and dictatorship in Russia. Putin must lose the war. That's clear and we are so proud and we are so honored to see the strength of the Ukraine people that they are now really winning back territory in the east of Ukraine and whatever it costs, we have to go. That Putin loses this war. That is the main message, that's the historic moment we are in. On the other hand, we have to be honest to our citizens. War on European soil, war is always costly for the Ukrainians even to have to pay soldiers with life. We in the European Union today, we have to suffer with economic impact and that is what is today in the center of the debate. You know that the energy ministers, Olga, you mentioned this at the beginning, they meet today in Brussels. We had in the last days with Ursula von der Leyen, with our friends there an intensive discussion about what do we propose. The commission was presenting this week key ideas for how to answering the bill question, the energy development question towards our citizens. If I may mention some of these details, first of all, Olga, you said it, saving energy is key and we also must speed up investing in renewables. The long-term perspective on energy is a great one. When wind energy, solar panels and all these things will work, then we are much more independent as Europeans and we have a climate neutral energy production in Europe. So on long term, our ambitions are clear and this will be a good future, but the transitional period is the key question in front of us. So saving energy is key. We have to care about the social dimension, that's why the taxation is important for especially poor in our countries. We have to care about the business sector and I must underline not only about industry, steel and chemical industry, but especially also for our SMEs. Look to the bakeries on the corner of our street, they are suffering a lot with the gas price and energy price and they have no possibility to compensate. So there we have to care and we have to invest. We need the Russian gas price cap. I think it is not acceptable that Putin is benefiting from today's development on the gas price. We need a discussion about the ETS. You know that we have on European level a regulation on the table which is producing costs for emitting a CO2 in today's European Union. And this is also a price driver in a way. It's also part of the price developments and that's why EPP is fully supporting all initiatives to fight against climate change after this summer. I think it's obvious to do so, but we have already an enormous price development on the energy side. That's why the state should not add to this market-driven development and other price. That's why we have to lower the ETS costs and we have the power EU plan on the table. And Olga and I want to assure you that in our talks, in our legislative talks, we will pick up also ideas which you have now included in the document which you will discuss today that especially the local authorities must benefit because we cannot repower EU. We cannot go into this new world without the local communities. You speak about funds which are then managed directly by the local authorities. I think that should be also on the agenda of our colleagues in the European Parliament when it is about the legislative work there. And finally on these subjects, the energy market is important. Currently, we have fragmented energy markets in Europe. The interconnectors are not yet there. We are discussing, for example, a gas pipeline between Spain and France Macron is refusing this because he wants to protect his nuclear power plants, his energy production system in France. So that is not Europe. That is not a European market and we have to create an European energy market. I tell you that if we would have such a market, then speculation would not as high as it is today because the markets are speculating that in December, January, when things are really getting problematic for Europe, then there will be a national competition between the member states of the European Union about the gas. And that is also driving the price, this speculation towards an egoistic approach in Europe and not a solidarity approach of Europe. Let me frame this thinking when we discussed this in the EPP group and in the EPP party presidency this week with our commissioners. Let me frame this with the EPP messaging that we stand for a winter of solidarity. That is what we want to see among member states, solidarity, and among citizens in our society to practice solidarity. Dear colleagues, this is the most important and the dominating issue. And again, the Czech presidency, Prime Minister Fiala, all the friends there are really doing a great job to deliver now in short term. But there is more at stake. We have a food crisis, a global food crisis where we have to give an answer and there we as EPP, we are fighting for our farmers that they can produce, that they have a moratorium for additional regulation. Timmerman's Socialists and European Commission is presenting new regulation for our farmers to create further burden for our farmers. We say as EPP, full stop, no further regulation for the next one, two, three years. What we need now is to allow our farmers to produce food because on global level it's so urgently needed. I have to tell you that we are running on European level a little bit out of money because COVID was very costly and now the war is very costly. And that's why we will face a debate about the revision of the MFF about our financial regulation on European level, whether we invest the money in a proper way. We also have a debate about the future of our currency on the table. You know, ECB yesterday did a great step on the inflation to answer the inflation development with interest rates. And there will be a debate about the future deficit debate on national level on our table. And also the debate about migration is still there, linked to the big solidarity we showed to the Ukraine people all over Europe. Thanks to everyone. It was possible to welcome them. And it was mentioned, Czech Republic is one of our heroes in this. Also Polish friends, Romanian friends did a lot, Slovakia and so on. So that is great. But we don't have yet an answer generally and fundamentally to the migration debate. And I have to tell you I was last week in Rome together with our Forza Italia colleagues to contribute to the campaign there. And in Italy, migration is a top issue, is still a top issue where we have to give an answer. And again, we need a European solution for this. And I was also happy to see in your document, Olga, that you deal with defence, you know, that all countries are now investing in strengthening our defence capacity that is urgently needed. On the other hand, we need also an European pillar on defence when it is about cyber war. I think it's obvious that nobody cares anymore whether this server is placed in, in Prague or is placed in Munich. People only care or the students who are attacking us only care about the software on this server. So the place, the location is not anymore important. It's about the technical conditions to attack us. That's why we have to strengthen ourselves. And that means to work together to build up a European defence pillar. That is what is ahead of us. And we all feel that this is challenging. And I think it's important in today's political conditions to be honest, to tell people the truth about what is in front of us. Because if we are honest, I think people say, okay, we see the problems, let's solve them together. And serious leadership is again needed, is again required, is again asked for. Crisis times, or MPP times, are times for serious centre-right politics. And we have now four elections in front of us in this autumn on Sunday, Sweden, where Ulf Kristersson is in a good position. We have a chance to win there. We have then elections in Italy, a big country of the European Union, where the centre-right coalition is in the lead with our friends from Forza Italia. And then we have elections in Latvia, where our friend Kristiannis Karrens is leading the polls as acting Prime Minister of Latvia. Good luck to our friends there. And on the 2nd of October, we will have elections in Bulgaria, where our member party, Gerb, this party leader by Kropotisov, is currently leading the polls. It's the biggest party in Bulgaria. And I hope that there, all pro-European forces can really work together. So we have now four elections in front of us, where we can win. It's not automatically guaranteed never. People have to say in a democracy, but we are in a good shape. And that should be also a starting point for our motivation to answer the challenges of today. Contribute with your ideas, again, with the main message, crisis times, or EPP times, U.S. mayors, as regional politicians, you know this, that people look to us, people want to have answers from us. That is EPP. That's why, Olga, I thank you so much for all your efforts, for the efforts of the committee of region group of the EPP. I am, as party leader, proud about this pillar of our work. Again, EPP is made as party. And that's why I wish you all the best for the debates today. And I'm looking forward for the outcome. Thank you so much and have a great and successful day. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. President. For your very inspiring words. You touched very different topics, or very, very important, and in all, maybe not in all, maybe defenses, not in our, in our responsibility, but, but I think that we have a lot to do in common. And you can count on our support from local and regional level. I hope to see you soon and face-to-face discuss how we can be more supportive for the EPP family in those challenging times. Thank you once again, Manfred, from being with us today. And once again, for inspiring words, and I would say that the words which give us some kind of hope in these difficult times, because times are very difficult, but it is great when we see that our leader have the idea how to tackle this, this problem. So thank you. And let's be in touch, and I hope to see you soon, Manfred. Thank you very much. Pardon, is that better? Thank you. Apologies. I have been accused of that before, so thank you for pointing that out. And thank you so much, President Febre. I know President Febre has a very busy schedule today, and he may be moving on, or he may wish to stay around for the next part of our schedule, where we have two very important guests from Ukraine, and two very important testimonials, which will give some insight into what the situation is on the ground in Ukraine. Dear friends, our event today takes place in the shadow of this terrible and ruthless war in Ukraine. The European Union's support to Ukraine's people remains strong and unanimous. Values such as freedom, democracy, rule of law, self-determination, and the safeguarding of human rights must be protected against fear and aggression. With one voice, members of the EPP Group and the European Committee of the Regions welcome our guest speakers today from Ukraine as part of our European family. European Regions and cities are confronted today with the effects of this war. First of all, I have to provide first aid and shelter for the millions of Ukrainian refugees, including many women and children, who have left their home country in order to survive. Now our European Regions and cities are working for more long term solutions for displaced families. Let's not forget that we're talking about the largest refugee crisis of the 21st century, but the highest refugee flight rate globally. 700,000 Ukrainians have reached Czechia. That, as we've heard before, is been hosting the largest number of refugees per capita. Now we've already discussed how it's important to think about the future of this country beyond the current war and to have a long-term vision, not only a short-term and emotional one. We are fully committed to strengthen our links via the Alliance of Cities and Regions for the reconstruction of Ukraine. We will transfer expertise on rebuilding local communities via town-twinnings, helping to weed out schools, hospitals and other key infrastructures in your country. I'm proud to remind you that this alliance exists thanks to the vision of EPP politicians, both at the European Committees Regions and the Ukrainian side, including the EPP Mayor of Kiev Vitaliy Kitschlevsky. It's therefore privilege for me to talk on two very special guest speakers who have shed a light on the current situation in the country, the conditions of the Ukrainian people and their vision of the future. You are the grassroots leaders of the course of Ukraine. You know best what your citizens need in your towns and regions. You will be the builders and the organisers of the ground and the local leaders of the new Ukraine. Mr Vadim, Borchenko, the Mayor of Mariupol is now connected with us, I hope. We're connecting. Joining us today, the floor is yours if you're ready to speak. Well, welcome all the guests, all the people here.  As you know, this is a city which is still the symbol of Ukraine and Russian terror. Before that, our city was the leader in the European values. Mariupol has always been a city of development, a strategy until 2030. We were working on a huge vision of our future together with the European allies. We saw Mariupol as a city close to the sea, close to the ocean, but what happened that on the 24th of February, of course, the Russian army invaded Ukraine. Mariupol, the occupants in Ukraine destroyed the city within two months. Within two months' time, the Russian occupants killed more than 2,000 people. So these are the statistical data that is available. We have lots of victims. The entire city has been converted to ashes. They destroyed the crucial infrastructure, municipal infrastructure. Everything that we had built, building with great love over the past seven years, it all went down to the ground by what we call the Russian peace. I need to say that Mariupol cannot be destroyed morally. This is not only about the buildings, the gardens, this is not only about the schools and flowers. Mariupol people, this is people who are symbols of resistance. So if you have our people living, if you have Ukraine living, if I remember my Ukrainian Mariupol, we are not to be defeated. Currently, our history continues. We are very grateful for the great support for Mariupol. Mariupol was the 12th largest city in Ukraine. At present, the heart of our city lives on. Our city lives in the hearts of our citizens, of our inhabitants. We believe that there will be a time when the occupation is over. We believe what President Vladimir Zelensky says. We are already planning the restoration of Mariupol, this place, to gather with our leaders, together with our people. We want to help the center. We want to help Mariupol. We are already working on a vision for the future, how to renovate, how to restore our city. This is the heart of our Donbas. Of course, this is going to be the symbol of the new European world. The restoration of Mariupol, this is another chapter of our new Ukrainian history, our new Europe. Our city is a symbol of these atrocities, of this brutal war, but we also believe that this is going also to be a symbol of the renovation and restoration. I know that the history of our city, these events will go down in the global history. Now we are working on a special strategy, restoration strategy. We use modern ways and methods and tools of spatial planning, urban planning. We believe that Mariupol will be a showroom of a global scale. We hope to serve as an example for a number of other cities and towns, an example of how you can build a city raising from ashes. I believe that we will do this together, together with the international community, and this is going to be a city that is going to be flourishing, a city of free citizens, a symbol of civilized world, a symbol of the victory of the European values over the medieval values of the Russian emperor. We are ready to fight until we die, where we have the debris, where everything has been bombarded. This is where new modern buildings will be erected. We know that our international partners are already getting ready for this stage. That's why I would like to express my thanks to the European Bank and the World Bank for, sorry, and the municipalities. I want to thank Dańsk as well for being the first ones for joining large Ukrainian companies in their effort to reconstruct Mariupol. Last, well, I also have to repeat once again, if we do this together, if we unite our forces for the future of our world, which depends on the will of the individual, then we are ready to show that we will do our best for our victory and for our values. This is not just something that is faced by the Ukrainians, but this is something that is faced by the entire mankind. We all believe that Ukraine will win the war. Ukraine has a happy future ahead of itself. Slava Ukraine, thank you for your attention. Thank you so much, Mera Bochenko. There were really, really inspiring words there. I think we can all take a lot from it, including that image of Mariupol being a symbol of the new European world and the thought of your citizens flourishing as free citizens in the not too distant future. I think we will all grasp that and go forward with it even more bigger. I'd like to hand you over to President Kennedy to give me some comments too. Just shortly, dear Mr. Mayor, I am certainly convinced that Ukraine will win this war and I am fully convinced that Mariupol, the city, the symbol of Russian terror, is the city completely devastated. We saw and we still have in our hearts these pictures destroyed buildings, destroyed theater with a lot of innocent victims. So we as Europeans believe that this symbol of terror will be the symbol of victory and symbol of reconstruction of Ukraine. So I hope that in the next few years Mariupol will be once again green, growing, flourishing city with smiling kids because it is our common obligation, not only Ukrainian obligation, it is our common European obligation. So we keep our fingers crossed, we have to ensure you that we do our best to support your fight to protect your country, that we are taking care of all of those who have to flee from your city as well. Even in my region in Poland, I'm sure that I have people who have to flee from Mariupol. But we hope that in the next years that they can go back to the rebuilt reconstructed beautiful city and it is not only my wish, I think is that it is our common promise. Thank you, thank you Mr. Mayor once again for being with us. I just want to send a big respect to your city and to your country as well as we are sending our material support and as we are trying to help your people, which are running from your country to our country, but it's nothing in comparison with your fight for us and for the free Europe. So big respect, stay strong and Slava Ukraine. So do you like to do anything to our door? Are you okay? Thank you so much again Mayor Bočenko. Thank you, it's a privilege to have you join us today and we really appreciate you taking time out of a challenging time for you and your country and Slava. Thank you so much. We were due to be joined by Vitaly Kim, the governor of Iklav, but unfortunately as you can imagine there have been some challenging challenges technically and I believe that their region has been under attack which has prevented them from joining us today. So he may join us later on and we'll be here to connect and we need to speak to him, but obviously he has greater priorities at the moment and there are a lot a lot to deal with there. So we were very grateful to speak to Mayor Bočenko anyway, I think he's given us a lot to think about and a lot to go forward with. So that concludes our part of this morning session. Thank you so much for joining us on stage this morning, President and Vice President. The war in Ukraine and its impact on the local labour markers. So we're just getting set up here with the new name tags and I'll call everybody onto the panel in a moment. And like I've said at the outset of this, if I mispronounce anybody's names the apologies in advance. But if everybody's ready, I would firstly like to call Marianne Eureka, who's the Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs. And Yelena Žreženin, who's the EPP First Vice President. Yelena, thank you. Emile Bach, of course, is right in front of me there. And Mikaela Šarová, who's a member of the European Parliament and the Vice-Chair of the Cult Committee. And finally on this panel we have Alina Kresi, the Director of the Centre for Foreigners. Thank you so much everybody for joining me here on the panel this morning and to everybody. It's a very important topic that we're about to discuss. So we're going to do a series of questions and answers. If that's okay with everybody, I'll take you on by one and we'll get right into it if that's okay. And I'm going to start with Marianne Eureka. Minister, first of all, thank you very much for your presence here today. We're extremely glad to welcome you. Not only in your capacity as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Social Affairs, but also as a first class representative of the current Czech presidency of the Council of the EU. We've listened to the testimonies today from Ukraine. Russian aggression has caused the most massive refugee crisis since World War II, as we've discussed already this morning. Europe's unity and pandemic rushes war and showing its solidarity with Ukraine has been impressive so far. And indeed, this includes welcoming and accommodation of millions of refugees. One of the Czech priority states managing the refugee crisis and Ukraine's post-war recovery. And this is a very ambitious very ambitious goal. So can I ask you which are the main actions taken up by the Czech government in support of the Ukrainian refugees? And have you envisaged a plan for the future for the integration of these refugees? Should the war continue and the Ukrainian the return of Ukrainian people to their homes becomes a more medium to long-term perspective? Good afternoon. Welcome to the Czech Republic. I need to say that the topic that we are going to discuss today is pressing and very current. So talking about the migration wave, which is something that has affected Europe. We are really talking about the specific situation. We have the refugees coming from Ukraine. We have a different composition of refugees compared to the previous refugee crisis in the past because we have a specific composition. We have a major share of women coming to our country, women and children coming to our country, and people who are of an older generation and in fact, these are not the people in the productive age. And of course, as a result, you have specific demands on the individual member states who have to deal with the situation and who have to deal with the situation in the future. The situation in the Czech Republic is such that per capita, as you've said, we have the largest number of refugees from Ukraine out of all the EU countries. So as far as I know, we are over 420,000 incoming refugees and talking about the position that we have as the Czech Republic to support these people. We are very swift in cooperating with the Ministry of Interior Affairs and the Townsend Municipalities. And we have set up a system where the people have one contact point and they can register in this one point shop. They can enroll for the health insurance. They can also get registered and enter the labor market. To do so, we have also developed a simplified form of social support so that these people, no matter if it's an adult or an infant, they have direct access to monthly financial supports, financial benefits. This benefit is administered in an electronic way to a large extent. And we were quite surprised to see that we have more than half of refugees who can apply for these benefits through electronic or bank identity, which of course reduces the costs of the benefit administration significantly. As regards the labor market, well, I have to take my head off because the people who come from Ukraine, we see that they want to be engaged. They want to be active. They just don't want to sit with their hands in the lab waiting how the state is going to take care of themselves. And from day one, over 1,000 people started working immediately here. So it's quite a remarkable number. But we can also see certain barriers for the people to do qualified job that is aligned with their education, with their background, with their experience. And the greatest barrier, of course, is the language barrier. And of course, we are trying to work on it, but it's not really simple because we feel that a number of people who came from Ukraine, if they ask them, when we make all kinds of surveys, when we ask them about the future of their stay in the Czech Republic, most of them keep saying, we want to come back home. And we hope to come back soon. They have been saying it from the beginning. In human terms, I fully understand I would also like to come back as soon as possible, but it's not our decision. It's not the decision of people in Ukraine, but unfortunately is the decision of the criminal in Moscow. So of course, as a result, you have a certain space of hesitation to what extent they want to be engaged in the English, sorry, in the Czech courses that would give them better future in the labor market. But I must say that with the passing time, we can tackle the situation. What I see as a big threat is that not each EU country has the same position as the Czech Republic in terms of the labor market. We have the lowest unemployment rate in all the EU countries. Currently, we are at 3.3% unemployment rate. And our labor market keeps asking for more and more people. We have companies looking for new employees, but the situation is different in other EU countries where, of course, you can have a topic opened up and a topic that will be opened up by the populace, saying that the Ukrainian state work from the local people, this is a great hazard. And Europe has to remember that because these countries will have to get help with these issues. And then there is a second risk. And this is also already happening. In fact, we have a difficult situation with energy crisis. So there is a concern how to pay for the energy. And then they are afraid that they will lose their job. And they will lose the job because of a refugee coming from Ukraine. So this is a very dangerous mix of how the populace can then abuse the situation. And we should really have serious concerns about the future of our election, both in the country and in the EU parliament. So I am in touch with all the presidents of the popular parties. We should really take seriously what Manfred and Weber spoke about. We need to help with the costs of the incoming refugees, because, of course, the costs are quite high. And we also have to take the help for the population. We really have to help the families covering the energy bills. If we don't manage, this might be a bomb, that might be a problem in the future, in the next year for Europe, for democracy, and for how the free democratic country has been operating so far until now. So this is a big threat. Thank you so much, Marianne. That was excellent. And thank you for all that you are doing for the refugees. I can empathize with your situation in employment in Ireland. We are struggling to find people to fill positions. So I think we are in somewhat a unique position, you and I, in that respect. But you are so right that in other countries it's not the same and there will resentment, will and probably already has grown in some countries for people taking jobs. But thank you so much for that contribution. I'm going to move on to Yelena. Thank you. And dear Yelena, you've always been committed to promote values such as democracy, rule of law, equality between women and men, as well as active citizenship, moreover given your strong advocacy for education policies. Another interesting from our concerns, the expectations for the future in that specific field. So your enrollments of Ukrainian children for the 2022-2023 year will provide additional evidence for us of the numbers of refugees planning to remain for the medium to long term in the EU. So can I ask you in your opinion, what are the most important aspects for every local government to consider when it comes to the integration of Ukrainian refugees, especially women and children, for their active participation in society and the concrete chances for them to build themselves a future in the hosting country? Thank you. And it's really challenging times in many ways. And I will speak for me as a local politician, but also in Sweden, we have a long-term experience of taking refugees and the large numbers. In the last, I would say, 30 years, we have probably been one of the countries who has taken the most refugees of all countries. So we have also developed structures and systems and learned what is working. And still, we have challenges. Some things are not working. I would agree with Mr. Yuretka that this group of people that have arrived has really a strong will to start working immediately. And I think it was, I'm very grateful that the European Union was fast to decide on the temporary projection directive because that means that people can start working immediately. And in North Sweden, we really need labor. It's not so attractive always to move there, but we have Northwalt, a battery factory that is looking for people. So I would say the people that have moved to Northern Sweden, I would say 50 to 80 percent got a job. What we thought when we prepared was that we thought that more Ukrainians spoke English. So that level was lower than expected. In Sweden, everybody speaks English more or less. So if you speak English, you can get a job pretty easy. So I would say anybody who has come from Ukraine and speaks English has really good opportunity to get a job. Well, the difference this time that we have not experienced is that this group with the temporary protection directive don't have access to the adult education system. So all the Swedish learning has to grow through volunteer associations. And Salar, the Swedish Association of Local and Regional Level, has been discussing with the government to open up the access for the adult education program. And in Sweden, we have arrived about 38,000 from Ukraine, and 60 percent of them are working age, mostly women and children. What really surprised us that we have never in my lifetime seen the Swedish society open up as they have to help in all kinds of way. So in my municipalities, the phone rang and people came and said, oh, we can help and we can take in people and so on. And all organizations that we knew and also new organizations that started. And mostly it's a beautiful thought, but sometimes people are also impulsive. So I mean, I have a mayor from another municipality. She said that one day she came to work and somebody that opened their homes said, here is a family of Ukrainians after five days. It's like you can take care of them. And in Sweden, it's not the municipalities that does the immigration. It's the government. But anyway, we in my municipality, we were very fast because we have the crisis management. So we opened out 18 cottages with 80 beds. And since these are cottages near a ski loop, we could also have dogs and cats. So we have to find out the way how to pay the veterinarians and so on. That was a new one. We haven't experienced that. But there was never any question about what's right. And I would say that all 114,000 in my municipality has been very thankful that we did this and open up different homes and so on. What I have done as a politician is made sure that all childcare and schools are fast to take these children because then these children will learn the language. They will have other things to think about and thinking about worrying about their father or relatives. And they will learn the language. And the mothers, usually mothers came, can start working and integrate. So that has been very good. We have hired Ukrainian speaking teachers. So all children that has applied for a preschool and school place, we have been within a month or so able to provide that. Even if by law, we are not obliged to offer preschool because it's kind of expensive. But we have done this as a solidarity. So I think that we have to educate these people no matter what age they are. Because if they can return to their home, they're going to be equipped with new skills and build a stronger and more resilient Ukraine. And hopefully they have enriched our country. Thank you. Thank you, Elena. I think there's a lot to be taken from what you've just said. I think language is really at the heart of all of this for integration of refugees across the European Union. It's just a fundamental, I think. And I think we all need to make sure that that happens in our own countries. And I also loved the story you have of accommodating the pets because I think it's those images from the war that have really driven home to many of us. How it's affecting people like you and I and children having to leave their cats and dogs at home and flee the country. Sometimes there's more heart wrenching than seeing a bomb fall in the city. So it's the little things that we can identify with. And it's lovely to see that you're accommodating them and even thinking of the finer details like that. So thank you so much. Emil, I'm going to move on to you. Now, as mentioned in the Czech presidency priorities, the EU must take all steps to help best deal with the unprecedented refugee wave from the war affected Ukraine. This will require the mobilization of all available resources and expertise as well as their coordinated use. Now, according to the conclusions and the conference of the future of Europe, the EU needs to take into account the social and economic impact of the war in Ukraine and the link between the EU economic governance with a new geopolitical context and by strengthening its own budget through new own resources. So can I ask you what concrete measures has your city implemented to help Ukrainian refugees feel welcome precisely in the medium and the long term? Thank you so much. I hope you can hear me. I was inspired by President Weber's speech, so please allow me to have two comments on his speech. First of all, we all are agreed that Ukraine must win this war and I would add we need a strategic defeat of Russia in order not to be able again to start a new war. We are here in Czech Republic. We have the experience of spring of Prague 1968. We do understand what the Russian invasion means and we know if we do not have a strategic defeat of Russia and we do not win this war next time could be anyone else. So here it's so important to talk with our people and to explain that definitely it's difficult. Definitely liberty has a price but without this price our liberty is in danger forever. When we choose Europe as a former European a former communist country we choose liberty and have to stand and to defend for that. At the stake in this very moment is not just Ukraine it's our peace in Europe and the future of democracy on our continent. So my message is the same as President Weber said as long as we have solidarity as long as we work together we can defend any enemy and we can win this war together with the Ukrainian people. We need a European solution to our European problem and I salute the idea of President Weber to have a winter of solidarity and the European energy market because this is the case and we have to be very careful not to leave room for populists and extremists. If we do not act now and concrete we are going to leave them opportunity to go for the next elections. Concretely now because you have given me five minutes now why only they use one minute and a half. What we have done at the local level includes Napoca the second largest city in Romania where we have as a country more than one million refugees. First we explain to the people that this is a marathon of support not just a sprint as is as democracy itself it's a marathon this support for Ukraine it's a marathon and we are so happy to see as everywhere in Europe so many people willing to to help and to get involved. So we took this energy and we set up and a group of support of 70 NGOs organization called one single in order to help together in different fields. Second call centers was they are very useful call centers 24 hours in Ukrainian language because we have the university possibility to have Ukrainians speaking native to give them orientation in the city in terms of accommodations medical services assistance and so on and is still operating. Another call center is for available accommodation spaces. We centralized all the people who wanted to offer accommodations and also the national and local support and have a call center and provide accommodation for them. The third element was to offer psychological assistance translation services for Ukrainian and legal advice on employment and jobs in the city because you need psychological assistance but at the same time legal translation for their documents in order to provide jobs in the city. Fourth we had six collection donation centers in three major areas of the city and besides we use the sister city mechanism for example we have the city of Dijon or the city of Kolon which is a city of Cluj they gave us money to provide support and we sent in Ukraine because they said to us you are closer to Ukraine you know better their problems so besides our local region and national money we use the mechanism of sister city and we had on the ground in Moldova and in Ukraine many many cities. Now in the train station because it's a transit area in the same time we set up a transit center in order to offer a hot meal or beds for their needs in the train station for provisionary temporary measures. On long term medium and long term we established an integrated support center for information counseling legal advice medical assistance occupation of jobs with the support of qualified institution one center one shop as we have in Brussels one shop center one shop center for refugees in the city for all the domains and offer them the entire legal expertise. The second issue is what Elena mentioned here about schools and kindergarten. Ukrainian children can be enrolled in kindergarten or schools including Apoka. We use the private sector in the field in the field of education who have private kindergartens who can offer education in English and some of them choose to have education in English. For the others we offer places in our kindergarten and for the parents who did not choose to to send their kids to kindergarten we provide them carry age appropriate activities in one of more than 10 educational recreation centers and offer service at no cost. So if you do not want to go to the kindergarten we offer another recreational activities educational activities or with no cost with the support of our municipality. Regarding job sense I'm coming to to the end and we use the integration for the very first moment. I can tell you that in this very moment we have almost 4 000 Ukrainians integrated on the local market in inclusion Apoka based on this permanent contract legal advice and working with business environment and with the local agency to offer support in inclusion. And last but not least we offer a hot meal we call the friendship meal every day around 200 meals are offered at freely by our NGOs. If you want to have a meal go there with the Romanian or Ukrainians to have together a chat and working together in the city. In terms of European level I think we need to strongly support what is written here because we feel definitely we need to to send money to the local and regional authorities in order to better deal with our issues. Thank you so much. I just have one follow-on question from your excellent round up there just to clarify that the kindergarten the private kindergartens you're providing spaces for free for the refugees yeah like in Sweden as well it's that's amazing yeah. It's voluntarily offered by the the private kindergartens but we ask them are you willing to take 10 15 kids in kindergarten to offer education in English when the education language it's available for them I said definitely yes so we involve the private sector in the field and it's a success and as you said everyone it's willing to help in any means starting from taking care taking care about the pets dogs and and the cats but in the same time education and jobs and we want to keep these enthusiasts as a marathon not just a sprint absolutely thank you so much thank you and now I'm going to move on to Michaela who's beside me here and now dear miss Schroederber could you speak in English to begin. The Russian aggression in Ukraine has helped to focus attention on the need for digital sovereignty and increased focus on cyber defense and against disinformation. Now the conclusions of the conference on the future of Europe have stressed that the EU needs to be more assertive to taking on a leading global role in promoting its values and standards in the world increasingly in turmoil this also applies to media and communication channels and indeed we've learned that this information has already become a key component of hybrid warfare especially in the way it can influence the perception of European citizens towards Ukraine and the reasons of this ruthless conflict. Now six months have passed since the Russian aggression started and there's a risk that European citizens are becoming numb to the conflict and its effects especially those who live far away from the border. So can I ask you this war has been characterised by an assault and the work of journalists covering it on the ground and beyond on the ground Russian authorities have sought to discredit free media reports about crimes and atrocities and abusive crimes of war do you think that the EU should focus more on media freedom and the protection of journalists and fight against this disinformation in the context of the war in Ukraine or is this already in place do you think we're doing enough. Thank you very much thank you Emma for your questions but first of all I would like to thanks to the committee to our EPP group in the committee of the region our president and all who are coming to Burnoff I think it's the first time that we can host this important event I'm happy to see you dear friends Emil and others congratulations for your huge work and congratulations to all regional local authorities in this crisis time so I will switch to the Czech language because it's my matter time it's better for me thank you very much for the questions that Emma has raised of course undoubtedly the impact on the communication and the the impact of communication and disinformation campaigns is felt by everyone the first question was as to the outputs of the conference on the future of Europe and I want to draw your attention to the fact that the conference was a year-long conference in fact it started at the time we called the pre-war period but even at that time the citizens very well felt they perceived that the lack of correct and exact information across the EU is the reason for easy manipulation one of the conclusions of the conference and recommendations for the citizens or requirement an urgent requirement was that the European Commission should establish a platform electronic platform where each and every citizen can validate validate and verify the accuracy of the information I wonder whether the outcomes that we are going to talk about next week on the 14th of September Ursula is going to talk about it in the European parliament so I wonder if such measure will be taken I think it would help each and every of us not only the citizens but also you at the municipal level at the regional level those who have who have the responsibility so this is one measure that is requested and it can be a quick measure to implement and it would definitely help at the time of the crisis when we all face the concerns of the citizens about their existence about their well-being and the impacts of the Russian aggression the second measure that is a long-term measure and the people also ask for as the outcome of the conference is education a joint framework for civil education and for EU education so that the citizens from the infant starting from although that are 17 18 all the way to the senior citizens all feel that that the EU should provide a basic framework assistance for schools and teachers so that it's not a compulsory but it should be a voluntary model of educating and providing information about the EU we have uniform institution we have a single EU legislative framework unfortunately the citizens don't know it and it's not only their fault so these are specific measures that are arising and as regards the freedom of journalists media the conference on Europe even ask for law that would make sure that media in the EU are free well we would like to have like a legislative framework instead and this framework would ensure the freedom for media in the EU and next week the committee should submit media freedom act so this is an act on which is going to ensure freedom of media across the EU this is something that will be discussed discussed but i have no doubts that independent media are the force pill of democracy we need them we need to protect the safety of journalists the quality of journalists and the true nature of information that is spread i just want to draw attention to the fact that the at the european level we have these positive solutions what we use to encourage the freedom of media but we also need funds to do so so in this case i would like to highlight that this is mainly the nationalist states that are in charge of supporting the national media i need to underscore media of public services that's how we call it media of public services that need funds they really need funds to be supported from public funds and we can rely on such media to provide true information even in this economic crisis the crisis that of course is the responsibility of putin we need to call the spade the spade we need to get the right terms for the crisis we would not be in this harsh situation if it wasn't for putin if putin did not attack ukraine so it's something that needs to be said it needs to be repeated to the citizens and we need to spread correct information so just a side note when i drive with the taxi driver in a park and he tells me that 10 million refugees left ukraine i'm telling him no it was four million ukraines who were given the status of temporary protection four million ukraines have fled the country four million have the statute of temporary protection and we know that a great part of them is already coming back to ukraine so we talk about hundreds of thousands of people coming back so we don't talk about 10 million people and this is something you have to keep repeating in the media but it's it's not the duty for the private media to say so they can but we need to have the public media that have to keep stressing this and this is also at the EU level so if you are interested in more detailed information we have an institute like a supervisory board it's called ERGA at the european level and ERGA monitors the independence and independence and freedom of media in the EU ERGA and to fight against the restrictions meaning that at the same time we need to get the protection against the disinformation websites so we have STRATCOM and this is an organization which is like a european agency and just to show you the budget of the agency i want to say how insufficient it is when this institute was established in 2015 it had about one million euros as a budget now in 2021 though it was 11 million euros when it was established and we are facing a huge campaign european parliament keeps requiring that this strategic agency should be boosted because this reveals disinformation webs as part of the sanction package in the spring there was a ban on some disinformation websites of course these websites were banned and we have to keep doing it we have to keep revealing these platforms and ban them russia today and others so put it in a nutshell this is an extraordinary situation and we need to be strong here what the mayor of mario polo said together we are stronger and i believe that we can manage if we are strong together and if we are courageous in the solutions we don't have to be afraid we are facing a rival who who has who uses any tools any means and we need to have a legal framework we need to follow the system of law but we need to use strong tools thank you thank you sir and i fully agree with everything you're saying i think we all have a story similar to the taxi driver and the and the misinformation and i wonder is it a separate issue but the disinformation on on social media is even more rampant is this something that can be tackled in the same way with funding we need to do we think about that separately or together do you think you know going forward i think it's just important to add it into to to tackling that disinformation separately or together with traditional media i think that we have to use all the opportunities which there are i was speaking about the european level and about the possibilities that we have and we have to use these resources together and national states and regions and municipalities have an excellent possibility to complement these resources i didn't say at the beginning that in this immigration crisis ngos played an important role a crucial role and they are being supported from the EU but the immediate support that is needed for language education of refugees and their children and people who need to enter the labour market for that we need to use the local resources at the EU level there's the erasmus program which was doubled and it is used by universities but it can also be used for the education of journalists and media people and then there is a creative europe and cohesion funds there is a lot of tools available at the european level and they have to couple with national resources and now i'm moving on to elena i don't know if i can see her there thank you no elena you're the director of this the center for foreigners of the south moravian region and your mission if i'm correct is to help foreigners on their journey into integration and into check society and we've already mentioned that the check republic is on the front line tackling the refugee crisis check republic is a transit and a destination country and there with the third highest number of registered ukrainian refugees after poland and germany and the highest number per capita um so with that in mind could i ask you could you please describe the key services provided by your center in helping foreigners on their journey of integration into society here thank you very much thank you First of all, thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak here and to present what we do here in the South Moravian region and at our center and what we are still doing in support of the people from the Ukraine. After the presentation of the mayor of Mariupol, it is difficult for me to speak because they reminded me of all the photos of refugees in the first weeks of the war, the first weeks of March. I was there with my team and these were really very difficult times.  So on behalf of my center I'd like to thank mainly the governor of this region because what we are doing here in the South Moravian region is mostly his doing and it is thanks to him and the rescue services in the South Moravian region who were the first to intervene and they started helping the newcomers immediately through the crisis staff. The crisis staff is working on a participative base and it incorporates the rescue system and we represent NGOs and we are still a part of this staff and I believe that it is extremely important to be there. Our center has had 13 years of experience in integration and we are in a network of integration centers that are supported by the Ministry of Interior and we are a network supporting integration services for people coming from abroad. Our center has been supporting language skills and assistance in legal and social affairs. We support job seeking. We help to integrate children in schools at all levels all the way up to universities. We participate in networking and coordinating integration services within the region but also within the entire Czech Republic. With regards to the situation in Ukraine and speaking about what we managed to do in the first days for the newcomers, I will also follow up on what Michaela Šojdrová said. Our biggest effort was to ensure the most relevant information for the newcomers as well as for their members of families and friends and also for the public at large because the help that was available needed to be communicated and we didn't want any distorted information about the available help because the distorted information might even harm the newcomers. In the first days we saw that some services were misused and we had to communicate clearly that all services and all information provided is free of charge and that all the processes which started at the assistance center are free and we had to communicate that this was a safe place where the newcomers will be helped. As Maria Nurečka mentioned, thanks to the fact that in each region there was an assistance center, it is possible to take care of everything that the newcomers need and that is of key importance because when these persons come to the assistance center they get the chance to live in the Czech Republic, they can enjoy all the rights of people living here in the South Moravian region. In cooperation with the center we try to ensure the integration services that is the language and just to give you an idea from March to June, thanks to the financial support from the European funds and the Ministry of Interior we were able to open more than 40 Czech language courses and we have over 600 graduates from these courses, both children and adults and in terms of the integration services it is important to continue providing advisory services because people need to know what to do next. Most of the time these people in the first days, thanks to the assistance center, have somewhere to stay and we also help them with accommodation. Nonetheless, the subsequent services and subsequent questions about where they can get medical aid, where they can get doctors for their families, how to place children in schools, how to get a job, all this is the activity of our center and this is where we do the integration service. Thanks to the cooperation with important institutions and NGOs and employers and chambers of commerce we are able to create systems so that the help doesn't go to individuals only but to groups of newcomers. There are many activities we do and I want to stick to my time limit so I will not mention any more. Nonetheless, for us this situation is a challenge and an opportunity to show that the functioning of a center at the regional level has great importance. It is important as a coordinate network and an institution that brings people together and coordinates the newcomers with the local services and institutions. In the first weeks we witnessed a great wave of support from the local people to the Ukrainians, both the new coming and the ones that have already been established here and it was our effort to make sure that the wave lasted as long as possible. Now it seems that the situation in Ukraine will not be over so soon and it feels that the wave of solidarity is fading because there is a surge of other complications in our lives and as Mrs. Shoidrova mentioned we are beginning to struggle against a wave of inacceptance. We are already facing discussions like isn't it too much what we do for them? Don't we do it at the cost of our own people in the Czech Republic or other foreigners living here for a long time? I still believe that this help should not be reduced until the situation comes down in Ukraine. Thank you to the regional government for the persistent will to help. It's extremely important for us to support the newcomers and make them feel welcome and safe. I want them to get all the assistance and support and at the same time I want to ask if we managed to open the door and loosen the rules for example for placing children in schools and in supporting language skills or support when entering the labor market we should start discussing whether this support could be open also to other foreigners coming to the Czech Republic not only the Ukrainians. Maybe this support should be made available to everyone from Ukraine living here even before the war. Thank you. Thank you so much Alina. An insight into the really important work that your centre is doing. It's really heartening to see that you've got graduates already from the language program that you've run so that's really great news because we've already discussed how important that is. Now I'm going to start with a second round of questions for our panellists if I could just ask you as it's the second round to be a little bit more conscious of time if you don't mind because we have a limit on how we can go. Marina I'm back to you with the second question and I just want to go back to ask you to expand on something that we discussed in the initial round and that is the integration of working-age Ukrainians into the labor market how you've already mentioned how unemployment is very low but how has that integration gone? Have the Czech people been accepting in general and how easy has it been for them to find work if you don't mind? Well thank you. I think that the adaptation and integration process in the Czech Republic is quite successful. We are doing quite well. Of course the labor market has a huge free capacity which is a great advantage as I said at the beginning but we have objective barriers because of course first and foremost some of the accommodation capacities that we need to be flexible in providing is provided in localities when there is not much there are not many job opportunities so we need to make some internal reallocation so that the people can stay in those localities where there is job offer but where they can also get accommodation and where we also have capacities of school and preschool institutions so it's not that simple of course we are somehow dealing with that right now but slowly but surely we will be doing quite well and address this solution. Of course the great challenge is the language education the language skills this is one barrier of course now we have companies who are going to be active in that and we support their activity if they want to have their own operation language courses we have a new operational program these activities can now be covered by the EU funds it's called OP plus and of course we also try to encourage these activities at universities NGOs that could also that are already contributing we have a number of NGOs providing language courses at the various levels all these use associations so it's a wide community of NGOs being involved in this but we also have some legislative barriers and this is quite a challenge in Europe because we need to be able to harmonize the approaches how to approach the recognition of university degrees of course practical experience in the field of health care social care we want to have a qualified nurses and doctors so we should learn from the situation now and as regards European countries and as regards military agreements that the EU is going to negotiate we also have to touch upon this issue this would also help the labor market a lot in the future so this is one great appeal that I'm transferring to other colleagues at the European level because we should really move forward in this field and then if I come back to what I've said before which is the question of the funds well I've been trying to communicate it with all partners at the European level and I'm trying to provide one argument the money we have in the EU budget for cohesion the money that we invested after COVID to the new rest to the national restoration plans this is money allocated for the issues we have that are described and that should be dealt with and we also need some funds for costs associated with the current refugee crisis and it will be very difficult to explain to the voters anywhere in Europe telling them that now we will take this money from the cohesion fund from the national restoration plan and that will be allocated to dealing with the situation and the original problems the original priorities we had the money will be missing and the people will ask for answers so what about the digitalization what about the development in the development of infrastructure what is the development in better social care system and will be in a situation saying well the movement will not be so significant because you had to spend some money on the low on the current situation and of course it's not really well balanced in all the EU countries so I would very much like to appeal in this forum of EPP this is something we should not neglect and we need to have addressed help for countries that really have a high cost right now on behalf of the Czech Republic I can say that just in the social system starting from the beginning of the of this crisis we have 10 billion crowns which is cost to allocated to help the refugees and of course we have other costs of the social health care system and so on so by this I want to close and I would think all those that are involved because this is the topic how Europe shows how it means to live in practice these are European values based on Christian and Jewish values we have never been exposed to a situation when we would have to be so fast and demonstrate our European values and leave the values so am I head off to all those who who contributed to that thank you so much Ryan I want to lean again and and also touching back to something that we mentioned in the initial round and have there we talked a bit about the education system and how you've been taking them in a preschool age and and throughout the older years has the has that impacted the capacity of your education system I know in Ireland we are very very short on preschool places and I really admire the the way other countries have reached out and offer places I know that in Ireland if it's a real struggle to find places for anybody and have has the influx of refugees impacted on your capacity as a whole on the other hand the national level is responsible so they are placing people so in the beginning we were having our own cottages but we also have people in private care so we took in everybody and tried to to place them so yes it's tough in a way but I still want to say something because times are changing it's very tough and earlier we had had conferences all of us talking about challenges for Europe with an elderly population we can't found labor the problem in Europe is not finding labor it's the mismatch it's the mismatch of what the companies need and what the labor can give so we all in this room and also national level and European level we have to think different for instance after the second world war well all the men in America went to war the women went to factories so if I look in Europe we have a lot of blank spots where we can't find people we have to think that women mostly in this case there are women can also work in some sectors where are male dominated we can see it in Sweden we have a lack of truck drivers we have a lot of young women driving big big trucks and so on and they are making a lot of money too because it's a lack of them so we have to create educational benefits so that it's all disposal for men and women to choose to have adult education of course you can turn in your university degrees if you have one but if you haven't had one then it's like it's going to be very hard and as long as they don't work they don't contribute as we want them and then we can see a division when it's harder financial times we could lead to racism and people don't want maybe to engage in the same way so if we are going to keep Europe united and we need I mean the pandemic and this war is an eye-opener come on we have been so naive we have been in this dream oh it's like oh they don't mean bad I mean we're the last standing big democracy we have to stand up it's gonna be tough but we have to think in new ways not the narrow mind so we're gonna have to drive new things that we haven't tried before we will fail of course but we will learn from that and move forward so I think look at this as possibilities because crisis opens your eyes and also forces you to rethink we have to rethink about China we have to rethink about Russia well nobody's thinking about we have to rethink Europe European values and they come at a price so this price if we don't stand up now our children will pay for it by not being free living in a free world so have that in mind very well said I think we do need to challenge our perspectives on the truck drivers an amazing example I wouldn't I don't know any female truck drivers and it's amazing to know that there's I know they are doing a lot of money so maybe we'll start a recruitment campaign in Ireland but it's it's we need to challenge our perspectives and and change the way we go going forward and Mikaela I'm back to you oh no Emil I'm on to you sorry apologies um may I ask you based on excuse me based on your experience is there a need for additional flexibility and mobilizing cohesion funds from the period 2021 to 2027 for the integration of Ukrainian citizens I'd be very briefly and I would like to emphasize two ideas mentioned by Madame Shodrova and also from the Deputy Prime Minister of Czech Republic Republic first we have to pay attention about the cohesion funds we need fresh money in order to deal with refugees and we need to keep the cohesion funds for their initial aim as Mikaela said the Vice Prime Minister we need infrastructure digitalization decarbonization and so on we cannot burden all the pressure just on cohesion funds to take and deal with the refugees so that's important to understand the European level for that we need fresh money the second idea it's exactly what it's written here in this document call to grant EU cities and regions direct access access to e-funding for migration and integration care facility and what the mayor of Warsaw is here and he mentioned many times how important it is to deliver money direct to the local and regional authority because they are in the very front of the of the crisis and if you do not have a good collaboration the national level you have to spend the money and maybe too late when you need that money to to be back so these two ideas are there for us thank you thank you so much madam short over I may um go back to something that I threw at you at the last round going back to social media if I could ask you to a little bit about social media um what do you think more can be done at a communication level including through social media to keep people's attention alive concerning the conflict now we know that regions and cities do a lot especially by linking the military developments in Ukraine with the direct impact that the war has on our societies um and communities but what do you think more can be done I think is the question for for really for all of us for all the government to be active to face this disinformation campaign I will switch to the Czech language because I will speak about concrete Czech project we have specific Czech projects that help people to navigate through what is true and what is not true and at the European level I already mentioned several initiatives that means everybody at the member state level can be well informed about what information is true and what is misinformation and what we should avoid however in any case I believe that uh we have to be active in this and we have to actively show the truth and the reality and give positive uh good examples in the Czech Republic there is an initiative called a gift for Putin um it is an open account where people gathered over 200 million Czech crowns for weapons and equipment and defense material with which we'd like to help the Ukrainian army to fight Putin this is a civic initiative this is something that shows that citizens in the Czech Republic will understand what is going on in Ukraine you asked about how to face misinformation how good we are at doing this since we are having regional representatives here and people from the municipal level you are also administrators of educational institutions so I'd like to ask you to make sure that information is provided at schools and that true information is provided political propaganda is prohibited but it is an obligation that pupils and students get true and objective information so it is your job at the municipalities because you are responsible for schools elementary schools and secondary schools you have to make sure that these schools provide truthful information to their students this is something that we are also pursuing at the level of the european parliament we have exchange of practice about how people educate in various countries maybe if I may touch on this issue about the structure of immigrants 36 percent are young people who are at schools and the capacities in sweden and in the Czech republic need to be extended of course but we do have a reserve in the capacity so it needs to be said that for us this is an opportunity to educate and rejuvenate our society so I see this as an opportunity with the new students and new teachers the minister said that we should harmonize the professions and the recognition of qualifications of course that is a challenge but we know from practice that Ukrainian mothers and Ukrainian students are very hardworking we know from employers that if they want help if they need work Ukrainian employees are always willing so there is good experience with these people and this needs to be emphasized I believe that the fight against this information is not there for the first time you know that Brexit was also very much affected by it by it and the european parliament deals with it on an ongoing basis but it is up to each and one of us to take advantage of our competencies and provide truthful information and we have to draw attention to these issues so this is what we have to do and you're dead right we all have a responsibility in this room I think too and a big responsibility so thank you so much and I am finally going to Lena for the last question and you spoke at length about what what your services you're providing in your center but could I ask you because it's been a few months now and you have experienced prior to this obviously as well what are the main lessons that you and your colleagues have learned from this current refugee crisis well thank you for the question definitely I will have to repeat it to us what is quite important is to have the experience in getting the most relevant information so that we can get the relevant information to all the incoming refugees and to all those who are in touch with the foreigners information is what I want to encourage Mrs. Shoidrova in this effort this is what can ensure the safe stay and the the functioning of our society in all respects because if we have true information available and if we move forward or sorry if we transfer the information to the citizens so to the foreigners so that they know their rights and duties related to their stay in the Czech Republic well this is how to make sure that there will be no disinformation misleading ways and we will make sure that we will avoid that the foreigners do not really understand what their rights and duties are so of course we have to make sure that we can all live safely together so our main challenge is to make sure that we get the information and we transfer the information to all the stakeholders to all the all those who enter the integration system which is also highly important is to keep the interconnections at the local level both with the NGOs with the public sector with the public authorities with the employers and with the chambers of commerce because we really need to keep interconnecting we need to keep informing about the expectations and the possibilities and to us this is the only way to ensure efficient coordination and integration for in favor of all of us last but not least it's also important to look at the barriers that are being established with the new people coming from abroad we need to see how we can reduce the barriers so that it's fair towards the local citizens and so that it also enables quality life of the newcomers I mainly speak about the language barriers and of course when entering the labor market it's our effort to communicate towards the labor officers the representatives of the ministry of social affairs what we deal with when we need to engage the people in the education process so we want to be sure that the newcomers do not have only unqualified jobs but we want to employ their professional professional background so that they can work in positions that are fully qualified for and where we lack our staff so I mainly speak about the area of healthcare and the schooling system and social care this is where the people are needed most another great challenge is the area of language education and it's very important to get enough funds for the language courses for the language education in in the Czech language because the people if they are going to speak Czech if they are fluent in Czech this will make them more independent and there are many things they can organize themselves in the Czech Republic so that's about it from my part and thank you very much for inviting us today amazing panel this morning I think you'll all agree each one of them gave us so much to think about and to learn from this morning so thank you all very much for for joining me this morning thank you hi everybody I'm sorry I think I gave everybody the false impression that we're having a break if we could all return to our seats that would be fantastic for the for the final part of our program and take a couple more selfies and then we'll all get back to our seats and I promise there will be lovely refreshments to come after the conclusion of the final part of the program so our panel is assembling on the stage and if we could all get back to our seats please what can you do they'll come back we'll come back in a second welcome everybody to and the final part of our program if anybody is still standing and would like to come back into the room that will be very much appreciated and in any event I will introduce our final part of this this morning's program and that is to discuss regions as hubs for innovation and we have a wonderful panel here this morning and so I'll begin with our introduction to this part of of the event and dear participants and dear speakers innovation strengthens local resilience and improves our local community's capacity to face emergencies it also protects citizens and supports local economies I believe this is precisely why a shared regional vision needs to be grounded in an analysis of regional strengths and weaknesses the committee of the regions has always called for enhanced innovation in every region and in every country connecting with each other and after all the core challenges for regional innovation policies are to ensure a favorable environment for entrepreneurship and business growth to create jobs stronger cohesion and boost competitiveness however today we cannot debate innovation without mentioning the fact that we're still recovering from the COVID pandemic and that energy prices have been rising at an unprecedented rate both crises have primarily affected the business sector and in particular the SMEs small businesses are the backbone of the EU industry and represent the first employer in Europe today for example 70 percent of SME owners believe that the rising energy prices will impact severely on the growth and existences of their businesses so far nearly two-thirds of companies in the EU spend between five and 20 percent of their total expenditure and energy on energy when utility prices are high and they are getting higher and higher and the winter is approaching it has a dramatic effect on overall business costs and priorities on top of that SMEs often still cannot afford significant investments innovation and generally have no connections or poor connections with research hopes in times of crises and high prices innovation policies risk being the first ones to be sacrificed before concluding my introduction and passing the floor to our distinguished guests let me congratulate the Czech presidency for including among their priorities the principle that the internal market needs to be further deepened also by supporting science research and innovation and in a moment we will debate this in greater detail and now I am going to begin with Marku Mokula the president of the Helsinki region dear Marku over the last 15 years as an experienced rector on innovation policies and also as the president of the core you have dedicated yourself to the promotion the support and the development of a role for regions and cities in creating effective innovation ecosystems and making smart smart specialization work you tirelessly stressed the need for strong and ambitious interactions between research private investments and good public governance with these three elements combined in a way to be of mutual support so can I ask you in your experience from Espoo and the Helsinki region how do you consider current EU innovation policy stacks up in delivering concrete changes on the ground especially across the connectivity and next generation skills green urban planning and energy efficiency areas is there all of this realistically affordable in the context of an energy emergency okay dear Emma thanks for the question and dear all my EPP colleagues so it's really great honor as well to be here in this amazing building and the meeting room where the decisions have been done already for centuries but let me refer first to the previous panel that but because you you most of you you are away very well aware that Finland is a very special country now with respect to Russia I have we and we have the history with Russia how to live along and the Soviet Union as well we have 1344 kilometers long joint border on the land with Russia and that means that we need to find the innovative solutions how to operate in certain cases certain circumstances and as well now when we are discussing in Europe party also in Finland so should we slow down the energy transformation to green and rich digital we actually we large large majority in things we came to the conclusion no just the opposite we need to speed it up we need to accelerate all those and use this enormous opportunity that this will be the new beginning for carbon neutral Europe that means that when we had defined already in many cities in Finland we had defined our carbon neutrality road maps to 2030 including Espo we did that already more than five years ago that that is our target year and we will make that to happen now a year ago also Helsinki capital which we are next to that Espo we formed the joint capital metropolitan region so Helsinki made the same decision we know that they have more difficulties than us and everywhere there are difficulties but this is a clear target and that means that we need to work more together with industry with get get the companies to invest in research and development new innovative solutions using modern technology but as well looking that from the societal perspective so societal innovations are crucial on on on this development and Emma when you asked stress my personal experience so I definitely want to encourage all of us to be poly as politicians the forerunners we need to be a few years or 10 years ahead of most of the others and show that we can make that but it means in practice so getting committed on certain kind of breakthrough innovations which have a strong political flavor in the 90s when you had the european europe lifelong learning 96 so I was the Finnish campaign director inside Finland at that time a member of the parliament but committed on showing what does this lifelong learning mean because that was part of my own professional background and then in the parliament they started to call me mr lifelong learning good because then people knew that that I know a lot and I can encourage the other eight others to do that later on five years ago I had as well learned and realized that innovation is the key instrument not only for experts but for policymakers politicians and innovation should be our keyword and now it's more timely than ever to do the same at the EU level so in the turn of the the millennium we introduced this innovation as the keyword for all the members of the parliament or close to all not all accepted that but the large majority and we created a special committee for the future inside the parliament all parliaments yours as well in all countries you have a committee for science you have a committee for foreign affairs and so on but we wanted to invent the future as well so we created that had to vote at the parliament to establish that on a permanent basis and the majority was in favor of that proposal against actually the original proposal not to have future on a permanent basis but just when we need the future so this kind of initiatives now need to be taken on the local and regional level and I think this is crucial and and and now let me refer and link to this one thing that I can help I think most of you as well because during the summer the CR thanks to Simone and a couple of the others negotiate in Jabba-Walbury and so on so we got myself to be the rapporteur for the new innovation agenda for Europe and that is very important because that's increasing financing to what you Emma said about the SMEs those startups and cross companies how to have more pub private investments as well for that that is one of the priorities clear there another is to that we need to have experiment look the whole innovation process experimenting piloting testing and sharing with the others and that's a crucial the third one is especially on the deep tech valleys and here this deep tech it it does not mean such just one new technology but it's above all others it's a societal transformation how to have multi disciplinary innovations how to take the best out of the new knowledge and integrate create this synergy for this deep tech development and yesterday I contributed and participated virtually on the meeting of Commission Joint Research Center and the CR and and our many of our regions on these partnerships for regional innovation where by the way with Emil Bock Klusna-Porka, Espo, Eindhoven, Leven, a couple of the others we are one of the regions who are especially focusing on this climate neutrality smart city development the EU mission so I contributed there and Maro Sefkovic the Commission Vice President stressed that this instrument the new deep tech valleys has a new instrument to reach the European targets and deep means above all tackling societal challenges by using multi disciplinary knowledge via to food material circularity new renewable energy solutions digital and artificial intelligence on all processes and my city and my region Helsinki we are the forerunners in these thought-provoking transformations and that experience we definitely want to share in practice as well thank you thank you so much Marco and this is in no way related to your wonderfully comprehensive answer but I should have stated at the outset if I could just remind all this all the panelists to stick to our time limits that would be fantastic but thank you so much for your wonderful answer thank you and I'm going to move on to Mr Schmidt now and I believe you have a video that you want to share with us as well after the question but I'll just address the question to you first and Saxony is it a true innovation stronghold and the creativity and innovative spirit of the Saxons has always been the driving force of your economy in order to maintain prosperity regional authorities have the mission to strengthen and support innovation ecosystems in a targeted and strategic manner so in your view how can we boost innovation in Europe what can be the role of regions and very importantly can you give us an example of how you foster innovation in your region well I'm happy to have a chance to be here today and that's a topic that I want to talk about today well we need to define exactly if we talk about sustainability about innovation we need to really define what is understood by this term in relation to the inflation and innovation are only created if you introduce them as a standard in all kinds of areas of the social life and if these innovations are achieved so science research and the promoters supporters it's the businesses citizens those who take measures that result in innovations so people who introduce new technologies for example those who develop screens or TVs with a new generation of screens and if we are doing well if the innovations are to be influenced then we need to do it in a in an informed way how do we find ways to reach such innovations how can we reach the innovation and how we could do it at the national level at the state level we as the representative of the state we talk about innovation always independence on the standards on the norms and this concerns not only mobility e-mobility but it stretches all the way to quality so if we want to achieve these results we need to activate people who can contribute to that so this means researchers scientists businesses providers of services and of course all those working in the public institutions and we need to make a network so that such a network can operate across the country so that we can create solutions and we look for solutions and that's why we have developed this platform the objective of which is to look for solutions and besides we also have some random meetings I call it random meetings ad hoc meetings between the politicians the all kinds of stakeholders and in Saxony we have established an initiative an initiative innovation hub that's it's called simul plus simul from latin which expresses unity connection plus as an expression of some extra value edit the value this principle was formulated by mr schoenberger who is speaking about creative disruptors and what we talk about here is sustainability and the one who proposed that he comes from the Czech Republic he also comes from the Czech Republic that's why I'm happy that we have this event organized in the Czech Republic this initiative is based on three pillars first is the exchange of knowledge starting from small meetings all the way to large conferences of course it's about immobility it also focuses on other technological topics and in total we need to communicate the exchange of experience the initiative is supported and the second pillar is the initiative plus this is where the main industry can meet and of course people can this pillar also engages entrepreneurs and then this pillar is used to share the innovative experience we can even provide grants from 5000 euros up to higher amounts but the objective or the main objective is to make sure that the people meet that they can network so that they can exchange the experience so that they can stop and think how they can contribute to their region and so that they can build up trust to this corporation so even if this initiative is organized as a competition and no one gets the award still you can have a have a feeling that you assisted with a good idea and the third pillar is concrete model projects all the way from lab projects to projects that deal with the current topics such as the wastewater treatment a circle economy recovery and of course this is something that is supported by the ministry of environment and large research institutes and we also cooperate with a number of initiatives from the state level from the national level down to the regional level we want to be the catalyst we don't want to prescribe anything we know to boost we want to promote and the we want to make sure that the ideas that are provided we want to be sure that the ideas are spread and disseminated without setting some restrictions without exercising pressure on people we want to make it possible for the people to develop their creative skills and as a result they can assist their regions so as a result this may develop it may create some energy and we know that people themselves are the source of this energy and that's why this is a credo a motto that I would like to convey today innovating which should be the main motto and we as the regional representatives be it the mayors or presidents or members of parliament we all are active in our regions and at the european level we met in the committee of regions so that we can we can contribute to the day-to-day work which in the EU will lead to new innovations that are highly important and this can then encourage our european future thank you a network of successful companies renowned scientists and modern administration that's the simul plus innovation hub of the saxon state ministry of regional development simul comes from latin and means together achieving more together for a smart development in the regions of saxony simul plus is a platform that enables the discussion of new ideas in a context with a variety of different partners so that i can actually implement new ideas three to five years earlier than usual we focus on solutions which are technically feasible make economic sense and are accepted by society with numerous projects the initiative shows how companies and research institutions can successfully work together to introduce and develop new technologies and to contribute to economic growth in saxony our objective is to establish a dialogue between science business and municipalities and jointly implement the projects using their expertise for me simul plus is an excellent way to reach one's goal much faster with other like-minded partners smart projects for smart regions that's the task we're tackling until now we have always created innovations for the region but the right way is to create innovations together with the region with the companies and the institutions located here our topics cover all areas of innovation based regional development our thinking is strongly oriented towards the future of our regions for example how can we harness the challenges of structural change to our advantage today there is no better way to demonstrate how the transition from a former coal based energy system to new decentralized energy systems is taking place towards a circular economy which protects resources and the climate the common vision is that the european showcase center for a circular economy develops here the digital transformation one of the most extensive transformation processes in business and companies which permeates all spheres of life how do we best take advantage of the possibilities of digital transformation this is of utmost importance also in view of bundling digital transformation competencies and at the same time not merely talking about it or networking but also getting things on the road build digital competencies try out new digital solutions the simul plus innovation hub a platform for exchange and transfer which connects theory and practice simul plus relies on a three-part intertwine structure with specialized conferences workshops competitions model projects and test bets european digital innovation hub saxony is the next milestone in order to comprehensively implement the digital transformation of course the goal is to think beyond borders because that's exactly where a lot of new areas open up we live the international exchange of experience and intensify the collaboration with our european partners in order to implement joint projects achieving more together the simul plus innovation hub for innovation based regional development in the heart of europe thank you so much minister schmidt for sharing that video that's it's like a glimpse into the future that's happening right now so i think we can all take some inspiration thank you so much um i'm going to move on to radine surson the pronunciation is correct um dear radine you have a double political role as deputy minister for regional development and mayor of a small village making your presence is in this roundtable very specific and meaningful for the different perspectives that you can offer us um innovation policies are often perceived as belonging to big research hubs and reserved to large companies and to the highest levels of governance but in reality multi-level governance is vital to enhance the coordination of regional national and eu innovation policies so with this in mind as someone passionate about community led local development how do you see local communities being empowered to best take ownership of their development strategies and how can we continue to fight red tape in a way that allows sms to reach new levels of growth at a time when many there's many challenges and rising costs that we discussed earlier good afternoon ladies and gentlemen first of all let me welcome you here in the Czech Republic it's a great pleasure that we can host here our friends from the committee of the regions although in this moment i am also the deputy minister of regional development of the Czech Republic first of all i am a proud mayor of a rural municipality already for 12 years and i am also very proud member of the european committee of the regions and i am always engaged in issues like smart villages and the rule development and with that kind of passion i'm trying also to bring this topic on the level of the uh the government and the presidency and i am also so happy that the committee of the regions is coming so often now to the Czech Republic this is our first session next week on friday we are going to meet in Prague for the bureau then we had a smart villages and cly conference in lednice which is a vine region very close to here then we have also said a commission meeting in bruno and we have also quarterly meeting in liberate so many events of of the committee of the regions under the Czech presidency and i must say that also our minister of region development is very enthusiastic about the committee of the regions and we are so happy on behalf of the government to have the committee of regions as one of the key partners as it was mentioned in the beginning i very much do believe that every crisis is a huge challenge and for me the two crisis we are facing covid crisis and the war in ukraine and consecutive energy crisis it's a huge challenge for the rural areas because i think it can speed up the transformation of rural areas and bring the rural revival much sooner than we would expect it in if it was not like that because when i've heard smart villages five years ago the godfather is frank bogovic who is epp member of european parliament and my very good friend uh so we are thinking about it and the mayors were skeptical about it you know what are you bringing to the rural areas but now everyone is thinking about the new tools about energy efficiency now after covid already home offices are possible you know in any kind of business so the young people can stay in the rural areas and work from homes etc etc and i i think we should use this challenge and we should take the tools and policies from the european national to local level to try to bring the rural areas in the in the in the heart of of the development and to bring their revival it's also nice to hear that innovations are not connected just to big cities as it was used before but that we are now talking about also innovations in the rural areas rural areas not a museum as i'm always saying they are also very interesting place to live and very having great potential to develop that's why i do think that combination of technologies together with innovative ideas because smart villages is not just about the technologies it's about new ways of thinking like social innovations etc can really and also the engagement of the community we should also think about it that any kind of innovation should be like kind of bottom-up process you know it's not just about that some politician or someone say okay we'll do that i think we need to have kind of bottom-up approach so that people feel to be engaged in the process and they are kind of having ownership of that so i think this is this is crucial especially if we are talking about innovations in the rural areas because we should persuade the people here i feel that the key role of the community like local development and local action groups as we do have also experience in the Czech Republic is crucial because they are a kind of innovation broker in the rural areas and they are able to work with all the sectors it's a public sector it's private sector and it's NGO sector and of course support of the small businesses is key because of course rural areas are not just about agriculture rural areas are about diversification and we do need to support like kind of innovations hubs and business incubators and we are trying to establish them now also in the rural areas of the Czech Republic actually my local action group Schumpersky-venkov actually this is my village is about 120 kilometers north from here so we are establishing in rural area we are establishing innovation hub and and business incubator together with neighboring local action group and with the city of Schumper and we really want to keep also the urban rural linkages with that and we really think that we need to support that also in a smaller cities and in rural areas because it's not the solution that it's those incubators are just in in big cities second thing we should use the technologies and of course broadband infrastructure in Yasenik region which is one of the most outermost regions of the Czech Republic where the unemployment rate was the lowest the highest one in the Czech Republic now is piloting 5g for five cities project which is really bringing 5g which is bringing piloting telemedicine in this region so women shouldn't travel 120 kilometers to all modes with the pregnancy diabetes but they have facilities at home they measure and the hospital and experts are just diagnosing it and we are also piloting there those innovation hubs etc etc so this is one of the regions and what we find out is that the people are moving back to this region it's not having the highest unemployment anymore you know and there is nice countryside and there is also one guy who is having some kind of initiative which is called positive and he's persuading people how sexy it is live in Yasenik how successful people live there you know and this is another that we have to build up the pride the rural pride in the people and so those are the tools we are trying to use we have also association of local governments in the Czech Republic which is putting together the small municipalities and they are having a project which is called rural 2030 and they are bringing community energy solutions they are bringing all the new technologies in transportation etc etc so it's another tool also association of local governments so to sum it up I think it's it's crucial to think about the development and innovations together because it's going hand to hand and innovations can help us to develop the least developed regions which are usually at the borders for example it's like Sony with Poland etc and we should use these examples also to really boost this this policy on the european level actually our presidency we do have two events for this topic we really want to as much as possible push those those those initiatives and I I'm sure that the committee of the regions as a buddy which is actually composed of the people from the bottom we should really use this opportunity to to push it so that really we can help to also the rural areas as it is in south korea and other countries thank you so much our demon it's really good to hear about innovations bringing life back into places that that might have been you know decreasing in population that are attractive again for people to live in and have a really good quality of life as well I think in the countryside so it's great to see and we're moving on to Miroslav Vinovsky and thank you for coming today and as part of your mission your department has a strategic approach to the economic development of the region in the field of research and innovation and it's a process of identifying the opportunities and strengths part of the strengths and part of the region that can benefit for specialization in a particular field of science and technology so can I ask in your experience in this region what are the funding programs that have helped to bring the greatest tangible changes to citizens communities and businesses thank you for your for your question thank you for the opportunity to speak at this conference and of course for the opportunity to share experiences from our and my region so once we look at your question just so the facts and the figures the Padovice region is amongst the two most successful Czech regions in terms of the disbursement of EU funds converted to the capital per inhabitant until 2021 we have made use of about 50 billion crowns in our within our region and it's quite interesting that if you look at the details of these facts and figures most funds have been allocated to business support which is quite interesting because of course we speak very much about the funds that are still allocated to road reconstruction hospital reconstruction but the greatest share of the funds in our region are allocated to business support the Padovice region unfortunately does not have a center such the South Moravian Innovation Center and that's why for the time being we as regards our activities in innovations have to be somehow replaced but our main project that we would like to prepare for the new period which is up and running is the construction and establishment of the Padovice Innovation Center and we are very happy that we can collect experience from the South Moravian region I'm very happy to see the I'm very happy to get some experience from Saxony because of course I could also get experience from the university and if you look at how we can combine and interconnect the into individual companies businesses how we can interconnect university sector and businesses and universities together and I believe that one of the greatest contributions if we talk about the contributions how to that are brought by the EU funds is the effort to make sure that we can develop investments where the individual partners closely communicate with each other and we really need to cooperate so just to give you a specific example my colleague Mr Sarsen knows that for many years I have been enforcing and integrated territorial investments and we achieve something extraordinary in our region if you have the two largest cities in our area Padovice so the city of Padovice and the city of Raditzkálova this is an area with 300,000 people and five universities what is interesting that these universities before we wanted them to have this common approach they didn't communicate at all they were like preserved encapsulated and they could not imagine a narrow cooperation between themselves and cooperation with businesses within the region was of a very low level and the funds were like the driving force but thanks to the funds that the universities and businesses could use we managed to set the cooperation in motion and start up the cooperation and we get remarkable results out of this cooperation over the past five six years so right now to give you an example of the Padovice University we are very strong in chemistry and in cooperation with other three universities and of course with the private companies we they develop materials that are already tested thanks to the european cosmic agents and they are tested in the universe already we have a great potential concerning our region and i don't know if you are aware of it the city of Padovice is the heart of radio locator technology in europe and perhaps globally in Padovice they have developed radio locators that in 1990 could detect invisible american stealth fighters and thanks to these companies that keep developing this area and thanks to the universities that are engaged in electromechanics and other fields of engineering we are really a great we are at the cutting edge of europe and i believe that the european funds have really assisted us in ensuring the cooperation so it doesn't really have to be about the tangible results but it's also about the cooperation that my colleague from Helsinki was talking about this is a key topic and a small european success we have achieved thanks to a project with which we implement using EU funds smart accelerator we have developed an application which is mainly used by students and pupils primary school pupils who decide how to continue studying and it also helps their parents and this is an application that can you have tests and it shows you what skills the pupil has where the students could continue their studies and then it also indicates to the students at primary schools where the steps could be then diverted in the local companies this is an exceptional app because you avoid going to the psychologists who describe the skills of your children so alone sorry together at home with their parents they can choose the best possible secondary school in their region just sitting at home with their parents and the application also shows the children what innovative companies are out there where they could work in the future so i believe that these are tangible results of the EU funds well spent thank you so much i learned a lot about part of it so there thank you words seems a great help of innovation thank you very much and now i know petro has been patiently waiting all afternoon but i just have one time sensitive announcement from members just before i i go to you better if you don't mind just for anybody who was intending to get the shuttle at 1330 i have passed one it's now leaving at 1315 sharp to go directly so if you could enter in the courtyard at 1315 to go directly together to the grand hotel and then the airport shuttle will be going to vienna from there so it's 1315 for anybody who is planning to get to the 1331 and for the visit of bruno anyone who's going on that will be departing between 2 and 2 30 between 14 and 14 30 and we'll gather in a group at the backyard after lunch to um do that and then for the dinner this evening you can arrive to the castle at 1830 and it'l