European Committee of the Regions

FRA’s cooperation with the European Committee of the Regions serves to raise awareness of fundamental rights among local and regional authorities and helps them integrate fundamental rights considerations into their work. The cooperation is carried out primarily but not exclusively with the Commission for Citizenship, Governance, Institutional and External Affairs (CIVEX).

The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) and FRA have established cooperation across several fundamental rights topics such as the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, the rights of the child, the fight against hate crime and discrimination, the integration of migrants, access to justice or the rule of law. The cooperation helps to support the exchange of local promising practices in fundamental rights.

FRA – CIVEX Annual dialogue

Since 2009, FRA jointly organises the Annual Dialogue with the CIVEX Commission. It is an opportunity to discuss policy actions at the European and local levels and their multi-level coordination. The list of annual dialogues is available below.

Cooperation activities

FRA and CoR have developed several cooperation initiatives and joint activities.

  • FRA contributes its fundamental rights expertise to the development of EU policies and legislations and provides input to draft CoR Opinions on request.
  • FRA and CIVEX co-hosted a workshop at the European Week of Regions and Cities ‘Towards long-term solutions for displaced people from Ukraine at the European Week of Regions and Cities’ (2023).
  • FRA and CoR co-organised an online seminar for CoR staff on ‘the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and its relevance for EU, national and local governance’ (2022).
  • FRA Director spoke on fundamental rights and EU values at the 134th CoR Plenary Session (2019).
  • CoR Members spoke at FRA Fundamental Rights Forum events (2018, 2021) 
  • CoR took part in FRA’s advisory group on its joined-up governance project (2011-2014) and contributed with methods and experience on the way the local and regional levels can effectively contribute to the fundamental rights governance. The key findings of this FRA project are captured in the booklet “Making rights real: A guide for local and regional authorities” jointly produced by FRA and CoR. The booklet is available online in English, French, German and Swedish (2014).

Overview of FRA-CIVEX Annual Dialogue events: