In the year in which Rijeka is the European Capital of Culture and the Republic of Croatia chairs the Council of the European Union, Rijeka hosts the Extraordinary Session of the Presidency of the European Committee of the Regions.

The European Committee of the Regions encourages participation at all levels, from regional and local authorities to individual citizens. The Committee has set up several networks so that EU regions and cities can exchange their best practices, collaborate and contribute to the EU debate on a variety of topics, such as economic growth and employment, climate change, cross-border cooperation, development and subsidiarity.

An extraordinary session of the Presidency of the European Committee of the Regions takes place in Rijeka at the invitation of the Mayor and Vice-President of the European Committee of the Regions, Vojko Obersnel.

The European Committee of the Regions is an EU advisory body made up of elected local and regional representatives from all 28-member states. In the Committee of the Regions, they express their views on EU legislation that directly affects regions and cities.

The Presidency is a group of members of the Committee of the Regions who can be seen as the driving force of the Committee on the political front: it draws up a political programme and oversees its implementation.

The Presidency meets before each plenary session to coordinate the work of the Plenary Assembly and the committees. It also meets twice a year for extraordinary meetings in the member state holding the Presidency of the EU Council. The main tasks of the Presidency are to determine the political programme of the Committee of the Regions and to monitor its implementation, as well as to coordinate the work of the Plenary Assembly and the committees.