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The report has not been adopted in plenary yet but made it through the relevant commission (COTER), on 3 February.

While the CoR has not yet adopted its opinion on the Fifth report on economic, social and territorial cohesion in the EU' - a first discussion is to take place on 3 February in the Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy (COTER - the rapporteur is Michel Delebarre, PES, France) - Bresso's speech gives an idea of the main lines that it might contain.

Its work will be coordinated by the President of the CoR's Commission on Territorial Cohesion Policy (COTER), at present Michel Delebarre (PES), mayor of the French city of Dunkirk and president of the EGTC West-Vlaanderen / Flandre-Dunkerque-Cote d'Opale.

Questioned by Europolitics, Michel Delebarre, president of the Committee of the Regions' COTER Commission and mayor of Dunkerque (France), declared that this clarification had been long awaited by the "territorial authorities which, for once, were highly satisfied by the recent judgements of the European Union's Court of Justice on Eurawasser and Coditel and would like this case law to be carved, if not in marble then at least in stone, in Community legislation" .

Commission for Territorial Cohesion - COTER. Its competences include the Structural Funds, territorial cooperation, spatial planning, urban policy and all transport-related issues.

Other speakers included Jean-Yves Le Drian, rapporteur (PES, France) of the CoR on territorial cohesion and Michael Schneider (EPP-ED, Germany), president of the CoR's Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy (COTER) during a joint meeting of the COTER and the European Parliament's Regional Development Committee, on 7 October.