Exclusion of the Automotive Regions Alliance from the strategic dialogue on the future of the automotive industry

Question for written answer E-003493/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Isabella Tovaglieri (PfE), Paolo Borchia (PfE), Anna Maria Cisint (PfE), Silvia Sardone (PfE), Roberto Vannacci (PfE), Aldo Patriciello (PfE), Massimiliano Salini (PPE), Susanna Ceccardi (PfE), Raffaele Stancanelli (PfE)

The Commission has announced that the third meeting of the strategic dialogue on the future of the automotive industry will be held on 12 September to discuss implementation of the action plan for the sector[1].

The Automotive Regions Alliance (ARA), set up by the Committee of the Regions and including 40 highly specialised European regions representing the sector, has again rightly stressed the need for its participation, as the voice of its regional members.

The Commission has again kept it out of the initiative, despite repeatedly acknowledging the regional relevance of the issues at stake, on the grounds that it could not be further enlarged without depriving participants of sufficient time to express their views. This justification risks prioritising organisational efficiency over the need to represent Europe's regions, thus sacrificing inclusiveness and transparency.

In the light of the above:

• 1.Why does the Commission not believe the participation of an alliance established by the CoR, which can offer essential regional expertise in the transition of the sector, to provide added value?
• 2.Does the ARA's exclusion not remove key stakeholders from the European decision-making process, thus potentially depriving the EU's strategic choices of regional legitimacy?
• 3.How does the Commission justify the contradiction between its stated commitment to ensuring the involvement of regions and territories in decision-making processes while excluding them from strategic discussions of this magnitude?

Submitted: 9.9.2025

• [1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52025DC0095.