To react to the European Commission's communication on The EU Internal Security Strategy in Action: Five steps towards a more secure Europe [COM (2010) 673 final], by highlighting the contribution of local and regional authorities to the achievement of the strategy's objectives. The opinion has particularly focused on the bottom-up fight against corruption and on the contribution of local authorities and the CoR to counter radicalisation.
THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS:
- hopes that the strategy at EU level will indeed provide real added value, vis-à-vis the equivalent initiatives of individual Member States, in relation to the increasingly cross-border nature of the issue to be addressed;
- points out the urgent need for internal security and public safety requirements, particularly with regard to protecting privacy, to go hand in hand, when the proposed measures are implemented, with the parallel requirement to respect fundamental rights;
- proposes that the EU should also promote the possibility of setting up one-stop contracting shops involving institutional coordination at regional level, the aim being to harmonise award procedures within a given geographical area, which would also make it possible to cut the number of public bodies with contracting powers via public procedures for works, services and supplies;
- supports the Commission's decision to announce forthcoming legislation to strengthen the EU legal framework on confiscation and recommends that the legislative proposal in the pipeline should specify, in preference to other possible solutions, the municipality in which the confiscated property is located as the natural recipient of the right of ownership thereof;
- is pleased that provision is made for partnership with the Committee of the Regions in the planned (for this year) creation of an EU radicalisation-awareness network;
- wishes to be involved in the process of reviewing the financial instruments in the home affairs and security field for the years beyond 2013 and to play a significant part in shaping the possible financing instruments.