THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS - shares the Commission's view that the EU should mobilise in a comprehensive, targeted and long-term response to support reform in transition countries with a view to stabilisation and the achievement of real, sustainable change and lasting democratic structures; - points out that local and regional authorities, which have wide experience of policy development and implementation in the delivery of essential public services should play a key role in the process of sustainable change in transition societies; - notes that the following barriers exist to the full realisation of the potential of local and regional authorities in the partner countries: lack of financial autonomy and limited fiscal scope; low level of development of local democracy, transparency and citizen participation; limited knowledge of financial aid available to local and regional authorities under EU programmes; lack of capacity for participation in the EU programmes and projects; - emphasises the possibility created by the Committee of the Regions of support instruments for EU policy in neighbouring states, i.e. a platform for cooperation between local and regional authorities in the form of ARLEM and CORLEAP; - recommends that participation in TAIEX programmes be extended to local and regional authorities in interested countries; - intends to support training of LRAs from transition countries to improve local capacity building. The CoR will start a dialogue with the European Training Foundation and other interested stakeholders on this question; - notes that the Committee is working closely with the European Commission on drawing up an atlas of decentralised cooperation and that it holds an annual conference on decentralised cooperation.