# EUR-Lex - 52014PC0226 - EN

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# 52014PC0226

**Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION determining the composition of the Committee of the Regions /* COM/2014/0226 final - 2014/0128 (NLE) */**

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1.           CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL

Article 305 of the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) provides that the number of members of
the Committee of the Regions (hereinafter "the Committee") shall not
exceed 350.

Until the entry into force of the Lisbon treaty, the composition of the Committee was laid down in the Treaties. Henceforth,
the second paragraph of Article 305 TFEU provides that the Council, acting
unanimously on a proposal from the Commission, shall adopt a decision
determining the Committee's composition.

Article 8 of the Protocol (No 36) on
Transitional Provisions maintained the composition of the Committee as it was
previously determined in Article 263 EC treaty "until the entry into force
of the decision referred to in Article 305 TFEU". From 1 July 2013, the
composition of the Committee was adapted by Article 24(1) of the Act concerning
the conditions of accession of the Republic of Croatia. Article 24(2) of that
Act provides that the number of members of the Committee "shall be temporarily
increased to 353 to take account of the accession of Croatia for the period
running from the date of accession until the end of the term of office during
which Croatia accedes to the Union or until the entry into force of the
decision referred to in Article 305, second paragraph, TFEU, whichever comes
first".

The current term of office of the Committee
will come to an end on the 31st of January 2015. Therefore, it is necessary
that the Council adopts the decision on the composition of the Committee in
time before the Council launches the procedure for the renewal of the Committee
of the Regions for the period 2015 - 2020.

It should be recalled that Article 300(5)
TFEU provides that the rules governing the nature of the composition of the
Advisory Bodies "shall be reviewed at regular intervals by the Council to
take account of economic, social and demographic developments within the Union. The Council, on a proposal from the Commission, shall adopt decisions to that
end".

2.           RESULTS OF CONSULTATIONS
WITH THE INTERESTED PARTIES

The Committee of the Regions adopted, on 6
October 2010, recommendations to the European Commission and the Council on the
future composition of the Committee of the Regions of the European Union.[1] It recommends a
permanent "system for transferring seats to meet future enlargement needs,
i.e. all delegations, starting with the smallest, would give up one allocation
until enough seats have been put together to meet the needs of the enlargement
concerned. With each further enlargement, the process would continue starting
with the next delegation in order. However, no delegation should end up with
fewer than five members, in order to preserve proportionality, plurality and
solidarity between the delegations."

The Committee also "believes that, in
line with [the] principles [defined by the Committee], the minimum number of
members should be set at five for the least populous Member State, with a
ceiling of 24 members for the most populous Member State."

The Commission also considered the opinions
that some Member States addressed to it arguing for a higher number of seats
for the most populous Member States as well as the views recorded in the
protocols of and submissions to the European Convention 2002-2003.

Moreover, no economic, social and
demographic development has taken place since the Intergovernmental Conference that
adopted the text of the Lisbon treaty that would justify a significant change
in the nature of the composition of the Committee. Therefore, the current
proposal is limited to the determination of the number of members of the
Committee for each Member State.

3.           LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE
PROPOSAL

3.1         Legal basis

The proposal is based on the second
paragraph of Article 305 TFEU which provides for a unanimous Council decision
determining the Committee's composition.

3.2         Explanation of the
proposal

The present composition of the Committee,
following the accession of Croatia, cannot be maintained in its entirety beyond
the term of office of the current members, as it would exceed the maximum
number of seats as provided for in the treaty.

The Treaties make no provisions on the method
of composition of the Economic and Social Committee or the Committee of the
Regions within the maximum number of 350 members. This is in contrast to the
criteria for the composition of the European Parliament that are laid down in
Article 14(2) of the Treaty on European Union. Whereas the Parliament is
composed of directly elected representatives of the Union's citizens, the
Committee consists of representatives of regional and local bodies (Article
300(3) TFEU). Therefore, ensuring that the voice of regions and local bodies is
heard in the Committee should be the primary concern as opposed to establishing
a direct link to the size of the respective populations of the Member States.

The Commission is of the view that the
current balance in the composition of the Committee should be maintained as far
as possible, as it is the result of successive Intergovernmental Conferences.

Therefore, it is proposed to provide for
the fewest possible modifications, to reduce the current number of seats
allocated to a Member State by maximum one, and, while respecting a minimum
number of five seats per Member State (the current number of seats for Malta) in
order to enable the involvement of members of each Member State in the whole
range of activities of the Committee, to apply these reductions first to the
least populous Member States (Luxembourg, Cyprus and Estonia).

The Commission adopts this proposal in
parallel to the proposal on the composition of the Economic and Social Committee.
The parallelism with regard to the allocation of seats between Member States in
both Committees is to be maintained.

The Commission considers that it would not
be appropriate to establish a methodology that would pre-determine the
reallocation of seats in the event that a new Member State accedes to the Union, given that the Treaty provides for a regular review and does not provide criteria on
which a permanent methodology could be based.

3.3         Entry into force

It is proposed that the Council postpones
the entry into force of this decision until the day after the end of the
current term of office of the Committee. If the entry into force was not
deferred Article 24(2) of the Act concerning the conditions of accession of the
Republic of Croatia would imply that the temporary increase to 353 members
would no longer be legal as of the day of entry into force.

2014/0128 (NLE)

Proposal for a

COUNCIL DECISION

determining the composition of the
Committee of the Regions

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 305 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the
European Commission,

Whereas:

(1)       Article 300(3) of the
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union provides that the Committee of
the Regions shall consist of representatives of regional and local bodies who either
hold a regional or local authority electoral mandate or are politically
accountable to an elected assembly.

(2)       Article 305 of the Treaty
on the Functioning of the European Union provides that the Council shall
determine the composition of the Committee of Regions. The number of members
shall not exceed 350.

(3)       The Committee of the
Regions adopted, on 6 October 2010, recommendations to the European Commission
and to the Council on the future composition of the Committee of the Regions of
the European Union[2].

(4)       The current balance in the
composition of the Committee of the Regions should as far as possible be maintained
as it is the result of successive Intergovernmental Conferences.

(5)       In order to allow the
Committee of Regions to be composed in accordance with Article 24 of the Act
concerning the conditions of accession of the Republic of Croatia until the end
of the term of office of the current members, the entry into force of the
present decision should be deferred until that date,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

The number of members of the Committee of
the Regions shall be as follows:

Belgium                                                                       12

Bulgaria                                                                       12

Czech Republic                                                           12

Denmark                                                                     9

Germany                                                                     24

Estonia                                                                        6

Ireland                                                                         9

Greece                                                                         12

Spain                                                                           21

France                                                                         24

Croatia                                                                        9

Italy                                                                             24

Cyprus                                                                         5

Latvia                                                                          7

Lithuania                                                                     9

Luxembourg                                                                5

Hungary                                                                      12

Malta                                                                           5

Netherlands                                                                 12

Austria                                                                        12

Poland                                                                         21

Portugal                                                                       12

Romania                                                                      15

Slovenia                                                                      7

Slovakia                                                                      9

Finland                                                                        9

Sweden                                                                       12

United Kingdom                                                         24.

Article 2

This Decision shall enter into force on the
date of day following the end of the term of office of the current members of the
Committee of the Regions.

Done at Brussels,

For
the Council

The
President

[1]               Committee of the Regions, R/CdR 137/2010 fin, Recommendations
to the European Commission and the Council on the future composition of the
Committee of the Regions of the European Union, 6 October 2010.

[2]               CdR 137/2010 fin