The Parliament of the Canary Islands hosted the plenary session of the Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies (CALRE) on Tuesday, corresponding to the last meeting of the 2025 term, on a day that consolidated the archipelago's role as a meeting and dialogue space among European regions.
The day began with the meeting of the Standing Committee and continued with the Plenary Assembly, chaired by the president of CALRE, Astrid Pérez, who welcomed the delegations present and those participating remotely. Among them were representatives from regional parliaments and assemblies from Austria, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Portugal.During the Assembly, reports from the various CALRE working groups were presented, focusing on areas such as subsidiarity, equality and the demographic challenge, sustainable development and water, accessibility for people with disabilities, electronic democracy in the age of artificial intelligence, health inequalities, migration policies, and the future of CALRE itself.
One of the highlights was the presentation of the report by the Migration Policy Working Group, coordinated by the Canary Islands presidency, which launched CALRE's first video podcast in 2025. This initiative, recorded in Lanzarote, addressed the migratory phenomenon from a political, social, and human perspective, focusing on the Canary Islands as a border territory and calling for greater European co-responsibility in facing this challenge.
Astrid Pérez was unanimously re-elected president of CALRE and reviewed the work carried out under the Canary Islands' presidency. She stated that CALRE has intensified its presence in major European debates, especially regarding the next Multiannual Financial Framework 2028-2034, advocating for a strong and flexible cohesion policy, sufficient structural funds, support for strategic sectors, and specific attention to the most vulnerable territories, such as the outermost and mountain regions.
Among the milestones of the mandate are the unanimous approval of a historic manifesto with the demands of regional parliaments for the future European budget, the strengthening of collaboration with the European Committee of the Regions, and CALRE's international projection in forums held in Japan and Taiwan
In the final stretch of the session, the candidacies were presented and the CALRE Awards 'Stars of Europe' 2025 were voted on. These awards recognize the best initiatives developed by European regional legislative assemblies in the 2023-2025 period.
The first prize was awarded to the Assembly of Madrid for the project “Close to the Madrileños,” the second to the Regional Council of Lombardy for its initiative “Journey of Memory,” and the third prize was shared between the Parliament of the German-speaking Community of Belgium and the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of the Azores.