A revision of the EU Treaties should lead to more
involvement of local and regional levels in EU decision
making process for a more democratic European Union
that is closer to its citizens
Local and regional leaders adopted a
resolution
on the outcome and follow-up of the Conference on
the Future of Europe (COFE) at their Plenary
session. They call for the swift follow-up and
implementation of the recommendations expressed in
the report in order
to meet citizens' expectations
and they
consider that an ambitious reform of the
functioning of the EU to meet the challenges ahead
requires Treaty revisions. A future Convention
should fully involve members of the European
Committee of the Regions (CoR) to represent the
voices of the over 1 million regionally and locally
elected politicians in Europe, in order also to
strengthen the local and regional dimensions of EU
policies.
After a year of debates, the Conference on the Future
of Europe ended on 9 May 2022 in Strasbourg. The
Presidents of the European Parliament, Commission and
Council received
a final report
from the Conference co- chairs containing 49
wide-ranging, ambitious and forward-looking proposals,
detailed into 328 l measures. Since then, EU
institutions are looking into how to follow-up on these
recommendations. While the
European Commission
is "ready to work within the remits of the EU Treaties
and to support Treaty change where needed", the
European Council
in its recent conclusions reiterates that "an effective
follow-up to this report is to be ensured by the
institutions,… in accordance with the Treaties". At its
150th Plenary session
, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), likewise
the
European Parliament
earlier this month, took a step further in the follow
up and adopted a
resolution
supporting the call for the establishment of the
Convention to revise EU Treaties in order to implement
the COFE recommendations, especially the ones
concerning the role of local and regional authorities.
New CoR President
Vasco Alves Cordeiro (PT/PES)
was member of the working group on European democracy
at the COFE plenary. He said:
“There are three lessons to be drawn from the
Conference on the Future of Europe. The need to
motivate citizens to take part, to empower their
active role, and to make sure that there is
accountability with a real follow up to show
citizens concrete changes and that their calls
don't stay unanswered. Regional and local
authorities have always been pioneers on this front
and remain committed to be part of the debate on
the Future of Europe. We are not afraid to push for
an ambitious agenda for Treaty change, and we stand
ready to be fully involved in the process. At the
same time, we will not wait to start work on
bringing the concrete changes asked for by citizens
during the Conference
.”
Apostolos Tzitzikostas (EL/EPP), First Vice-President of the CoR and former CoR
President, led the delegation of local and regional
authorities at the COFE Plenary. He added: "
Europe's citizens have spoken. Now we share the
duty of delivering together the Conference's 49
recommendations to make Europe more efficient and
green. Regional and local leaders are ready to take
on their responsibility to improve the lives of our
citizens and European leaders and civil servants
must never forget that a distant and top-down
Europe, will never be supported by the level of
government most trusted by the people: our regions,
cities and villages. It is time to call this House
with the name that reflects our political mandate
and our legal competences: European Assembly of
Regions and Municipalities".
Member of the European Parliament Guy Verhofstadt (BE/Renew Europe), who
was one of the three co-chairs of the Conference,
participated in the debate with CoR members at the
Plenary. He commented:
“The Committee of the Regions and the European
Parliament worked hand in hand in the Conference on
the Future of Europe. Now we must do the same on
follow-up: no cherry picking but consistently
implement all of the conclusions including, I would
say even starting with the hardest parts, where the
Treaty needs to be updated to make Europe more
tangible, effective and democratic.”
Other key elements of the CoR resolution are:
- The support of the COFE proposals aimed at
complementing representative democracy by increasing
citizens' participation in European democracy at all
levels: a permanent and place-based mechanism for
dialogue with citizens, supported by local and regional
authorities would ensure a two-way communication and a
meaningful interaction between the citizens and the EU
institutions and lead to a better understanding of the
local and regional impact of EU policies across the EU.
The CoR has organised structured citizens' dialogues
with the Bertelsmann Foundation the last 2 years and it
has put together a good practice on which basis the
next generation of citizens' dialogues could be
implemented.
- The call for enhanced inter-institutional synergies
involving the CoR in the work of the European
Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of
the European Union because of its ability to provide a
good knowledge and better understanding of how the EU
functions on the ground;
- The support of the COFE proposal
that "active subsidiarity and multi-level governance are
key principles and fundamental features for EU
functioning and democratic accountability
" and the plea for a "systematic use a subsidiarity definition commonly
agreed by all EU institutions"
to clarify the level - European, national, regional or
local level at which decisions to have to be taken.
These proposals should help to clarify that
subsidiarity is not about preventing the European level
from taking action, but about identifying which level
of government should have the lead role for an
efficient legislation.
- The support of the COFE proposal to "create a system of local EU Councillors" as a
way to reduce the distance between the EU institutions
and citizens. In fact the CoR had already launched a
European Network of Regional and Local
Councillors
in May 2021 and will
build synergies with the European Commission
which launched last week the project "Building Europe
with Local Councillors".
- The support of the COFE proposal suggesting changing
the names of the EU institutions, to clarify their
functions and respective role in the EU decision-making
process for citizens; to this end, the Committee
proposes to change its own name in order to better
reflect the political and legal responsibilities of its
members as well its role as the European assembly of
regions and municipalities;
Contact:
Marie-Pierre Jouglain
Tel. +32 473 52 41 15
mariepierre.jouglain@cor.europa.eu