to stress that a renewed Community method is needed which involves a more inclusive process and the establishment of multilevel governance;
to express its intention to draw up its European Union Charter for Multilevel Governance, which should lead to greater participation by local and regional authorities in the exercise of European democracy. Its drafting process will be participatory and inclusive, promoting a sense of ownership of the Charter on the part of local and regional elected representatives;
to call for further enhancement of the political consensus expressed regarding its view of European governance and the support of the European institutions for its initiative;
For the first time, the Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund covered by the Common Strategic Framework and laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 (COM (2012) 496 final - 2011/0276 (COD)) includes direct references to the notion of multi-level governance both in the preamble and in the operative part of the legislative proposal. The proposal places emphasis on Partnership Contracts involving local and regional authorities and provides for an extensive role for local and regional authorities throughout the preparation of Partnership Contracts and progress reports and in the preparation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programmes.
Building on the CoR's MLG opinions and dissemination efforts pursued over the last years, landmark milestones have been recorded in 2014:
The Charter for Multilevel Governance in Europe has been drawn up in partnership with the Congress of Local and Regional authorities of the Council of Europe and has been adopted by the CoR at its plenary session on 3 April 2014;
The Report on Multilevel Governance and Partnership has been drawn up by Luc Van den Brande and tabled on 6 October 2014 to European Commissioner for regional policy, Johannes Hahn. The report provides a first analysis of the respect of the MLG and partnership principles in the Partnership Agreements signed between the European Commission and the 28 Member States.
THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS
- believes, that a renewed Community method is needed which involves a more inclusive process and the establishment of multilevel governance;
- welcomes the political consensus expressed regarding its view of European governance and the support of the European institutions for its initiative;
- has taken the initiative of creating a Multilevel Governance Scoreboard at European Union level which will help to measure annually to what extent the main principles and mechanisms of this type of governance have been taken into account in the European Union's political cycle, focusing on the regional dimension of the policies and strategies analysed;
- believes that with a view to consolidating CoR monitoring activities, special attention could be paid to multilevel governance at the next conference on subsidiarity;
- over the coming months will draw up its European Union Charter for Multilevel Governance, which should lead to greater participation by local and regional authorities in the exercise of European democracy. Its drafting process will be participatory and inclusive, promoting a sense of ownership of the Charter on the part of local and regional elected representatives.