CoRAI – Committee of the Regions - Automotive Intergroup

Welcome!

CoRAI is an interregional group of members and alternate members of the European Committee of the Regions providing opportunities to discuss, exchange views and increase expertise on the Future of the Automotive Industry in order to promote cooperation between local and regional authorities.

CoRAI is a platform for informal discussion bringing together members from different parties, committees and member states being interested in future developments of the automotive sector.

The Future of the Automotive Industry interregional group of the European Committee of the Regions was created in April 2009. The president of the group is Thomas Schmidt (DE/EPP). József Berényi (SK/EPP), María Victoria Chivite Navascués (ES/PES) and Barbara Eibinger-Miedl (AT/EPP) form the co-chair. The group currently has 44 members from 12 Member States: Austria, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Spain.

Aim: The Committee of the Regions' Future of the Automotive Industry interregional group (CoRAI) connects CoR members from automotive regions with industry, clusters and experts of the EU Institutions. The European automotive ecosystem represents 1.8 million companies, at least 16 million people work in the sector. Regions with automotive industry and its suppliers are a fundamental part of this automotive ecosystem in Europe. They play a central role in the transformation that the automotive industry is experiencing due to the digitalisation and greening of transport.

The objectives are the following ones:

• To facilitate the exchange of views and best practices on a just, fair and successful transformation of regions with automotive industry and its suppliers.

• To exchange experiences among the territories about different issues concerning the automotive sector and the future of mobility (e.g. automated driving, sustainable transport fuels, skills, industrial policy, infrastructure, development of regions with automotive or supply industries);

• To establish contacts and exchange views and best practices with the European Institutions and other stakeholders;

• To foster contacts among automotive and mobility clusters, regions and cities.

Group meetings and activities

Working structure - the CoRAI Focus Group

In order to facilitate direct contacts, manage CoRAI activities and enable members to choose their individual level of involvement for themselves, this intergroup has established a support team, the so-called "CoRAI Focus Group". When joining, intergroup members are requested to nominate a contact person for this support team of mainly Brussels-based experts.

The intergroup president has appointed a secretary-general to organise the intergroup activities in close cooperation with the CoRAI Focus Group.

CoRAI meetings are open to automotive regions and stakeholders. Invitations are published on the CoRAI website in the calendar section.

During Styria's previous presidency, which ended in May 2023, meetings were held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic. The recorded meetings as well as meeting documents and key messages chosen by the speakers themselves can be found here: www.europa.steiermark.at/automotive

CoRAI and ARA - two sides of the same coin

In June 2022 the Automotive Regions Alliance (ARA) was founded on the initiative of the European Committee of the Regions. Since then CoRAI became a member of ARA and is working together closely on a just, fair and successful transformation of the automotive sector. In order to strengthen this cooperation, a working agreement was signed in November 2023 between CoRAI, ARA and the Automotive Skills Alliance (ASA) to jointly ensure a just and sustainable transition of the European automotive regions through cooperation between the three parties and a collaborative approach towards the challenges of the automotive-mobility ecosystem: Working Agreement on a Strategic Partnership for a Just and Sustainable Transition of European Automotive Regions (EN)

Mission statement

Declaration for a just, fair and successful transition (EN)

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