Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on "New Forms of Governance: Europe, a framework for citizens' initiative"

(2001/C 144/01)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the Strategic Objectives 2000-2005 of the European Commission (COM (2000)154 final);

having regard to the Intergovernmental Conference 2000;

having regard to the Commission initiative Dialogue with the Citizen;

having regard to the communication from the President of the European Commission on a White Paper on Governance - Deepening democracy in Europe (SEC(2000) 901)(1);

having regard to the decision by its Bureau on 11 April 2000, in accordance with Article 265(5) of the Treaty establishing the European Community, to issue an opinion on this matter and to instruct the Commission for Institutional Affairs to draw up this opinion;

having regard to the opinion of the Commission for Institutional Affairs of 27 October 2000 (rapporteur: Lord Tope (UK, ELDR) (CdR 182/2000 rev. 2);

whereas the integration of the European Union has arrived at a crucial stage, a turning point in its development;

whereas it has become clear that the traditional models of governance no longer match the complex reality of today's society and political credibility and legitimacy everywhere are in a deep crisis;

whereas institutions and systems that prove unable to adapt to changes in society make themselves redundant;

whereas the debate on new forms of governance must be held jointly by EU Member States and candidate Member States,

adopted the following opinion at its 36th plenary session of 13 and 14 December 2000 (Session of 14 December).

1. General remarks

The Committee of the Regions

1.1. welcomes the initiative of the Commission and intends to contribute actively to the debate; advocates a wide public debate on all aspects of governance and on political culture, that goes beyond mere institutional reforms;

1.2. urges the Commission to involve the candidate Member States closely in this debate from the outset, in particular representatives from local and regional government;

1.3. wishes to give an impulse to a wide public debate and proposes to co-organize with the European Commission a series of seminars or conferences on various aspects of governance in Europe in the course of this year, from the perspective of local and regional authorities, inviting representatives, civil society, the media, international businesses, the social partners, national and European political parties and political bodies, both from EU Member States and candidate countries;

1.4. proposes to set up a working group to prepare a contribution to the planned White Paper, composed of at least representatives of the EU institutions, the Committee of the Regions and other organs, and of national parliaments, democratically elected local and regional assemblies, and representatives of various sectors of society, from EU as well as applicant countries;

1.5. notes that the agreed work programme for the White Paper aims to

- encourage discussion amongst citizens of European values, issues and decisions;

- reform the processes for preparing and implementing Community rules and policies to ensure they are pertinent and coherent, including the need to improve the interaction between public and private actors, and "between different geographic levels of responsibility", and

- lay the ground for overhauling the objectives of the common policies need by the EU to meet its continent-wide aspirations;

further notes that the statement that these challenges do not concern the Commission alone but all the European institutions, and that "the search for a more participative and transparent democracy also affects the governments and elected assemblies at national, regional and local levels"; and welcomes the recognition of "the new context of interdependence and interaction between various levels of government" as an important starting point for the debate on governance.

2. Subsidiarity and proximity

2.1. considers that the subsidiarity principle must be linked more closely with the principles of proximity and interdependence, and not be seen as an hierarchical principle for the distribution of powers between vertical levels, in which local and regional government may be seen as "lower" and therefore less important; advocates rather a relationship on the basis of a horizontal and equal partnership between spheres of government, and designed to secure effective, integrated decision-making;

cautions that lack of transparency and of clear allocation of political responsibility will undermine public confidence in the European Union. The Committee therefore calls for transparency in the assignment of responsibilities to the European Union, in line with the subsidiarity principle;

2.2. believes that in the interest of transparency and accountability a clarification of the responsibilities of different spheres of government is urgently required, which leaves at the same time sufficient flexibility to adapt to new situations and which ensures that the principles of subsidiarity, proximity and interdependence are upheld;

2.3. feels that the European Union should make its policy and decision making structures more democratic and transparent. In this way it will create the framework for citizens participation and initiatives at European level.

3. Local and regional authorities

3.1. is convinced that the involvement of local and regional authorities in the EU is essential for successful further integration and that the diversity of local and subnational regional organisations in EU countries is an asset that must be protected, particularly insofar as local democracy and grassroots public action are concerned; feels that the role of the COR in the policy making process must be strengthened considerably; reiterates in this respect its proposal that Commission, Council and European Parliament should explain their reasons if they do not follow the recommendations of the Committee of the Regions; Calls for greater cooperation with the local actors who will be implementing European decisions at local level, including an evaluation of the costs of implementation and the additional financial burden on local and regional authority budgets;

3.2. reiterates its call for recognition of the principle of local and regional self-government, and wishes for these principles to be enshrined in the Treaties;

3.3. calls for a detailed elaboration of the role of local and regional authorities in the scenarios for reinforced cooperation;

3.4. to this end, calls for new forms of European Governance which, as regards matters of European significance, would provide for involvement of the local and regional authorities in:

- formal dialogue on a pan-European basis, between representatives of the Commission, Council of Ministers and Parliament, and the Committee of the Regions on behalf of regional and local government, to discuss the "big issues" facing Europe's citizens, and the role of each sphere of governance;

- regular consultation, electronically and as required via meetings, between the Commission and local and regional government associations, on issues falling within the remit of the European Union that affect local and regional government substantially, at and from a formative stage;

- appointment of experts from regional and local government on all relevant Commission working groups to ensure that our spheres of government are involved at a formative stage;

- a programme of secondments, exchanges and internships of officials, across all of the spheres of government, to ensure better understanding of their respective roles and issues;

3.5. considers that such new forms of governance would enable the spheres of governance to co-operate more fully and effectively, in particular in relation to the major issues - such as employment creation, social inclusion and cohesion, the environment, urban policy and rural development, and cohesion and support policies for the weakest areas - which cannot be successfully resolved by any one "level", but require the contribution of all, in line with the principles of proximity and proportionality, in a partnership of equality;

3.6. The development of new forms of governance also involves the adoption of a so-called "open coordination procedure". It is important for all decision-making levels of government in the Member States to be involved in the preparation and implementation of this procedure, as well as in the evaluation of the data to be collected using indicators and benchmarking. This would enable the planning service and monitoring procedures of local service providers - namely, the social, health and education departments of local and regional authorities - to be taken into account in the development of the European open coordination procedure.

4. Political parties

4.1. endorses the proposals of the European Parliament regarding the recognition, statute and funding arrangements of European political parties;

4.2. urges the European political parties to take more of a lead in the European public debate, as they are among the main players, and without them a political consensus for the inevitable process of decentralising tomorrow's Europe will never materialise.

5. The importance of information: old media, new media and education

5.1. underlines the crucial importance of access to information in a society where participation in democratic decision making is increasingly a matter of individual choices and the nature of collective representation is evolving; Consequently, efforts to frame a European public access principle should be speeded up;

5.2. welcomes the impulse given by the Commission and the Lisbon Summit to improving access to Internet and training in computer literacy; warns however against an exclusively technical approach and points out that the skills necessary to select and use information are equally important; and calls upon the Member States to exercise their remit by taking measures in this field;

5.3. calls on all spheres of government to increase programmes to enable citizens of all ages and backgrounds to acquire computer literacy and language skills, as they are elementary tools for participation in European democracy and the public debate; At the same time, participation in the European debate should not depend on an individual's computer or language skills;

5.4. encourages all national, regional and local authorities to ensure that the subject of European citizenship and knowledge of the integration process up to the current enlargement phase are explicitly included in the school curriculum and teacher-training programmes;

5.5. underlines the crucial importance of access for all citizens to objective, complete and reliable information for a vital democracy; notes that television, radio and newspapers, as well as to an increasing extent the Internet, are the main sources of information on what is going on in the world;

5.6. draws attention to the need for the EU institutions to conduct effective media initiatives to publicise as widely and objectively as possible the topics under consideration and the decisions adopted.

6. A new political and administrative culture

6.1. believes a new political culture is needed to govern a complex society like 21st century Europe; the focus must be on the process, as well as on procedures, on issues, as well as on institutions; points out however that this requires new definitions and clear rules on transparency and accountability that apply generally to all actors in the process;

6.2. believes that the question of the further development and activities of the EU should be discussed to a greater extent than hitherto by the parliaments of the Member States in order to launch a broad debate on European policy. The COR would caution against continuing to conduct European policy over the heads of citizens. European policy must no longer be restricted to the communication after the event of decisions already taken;

6.3. recommends the introduction of new selection criteria for EU officials, a flatter organization within EU institutions and more mobility;

6.4. deplores the fact that, despite growing public criticism on the lack of democracy and transparency in EU institutions, the principles of a modern political culture - democracy, transparency and accountability - are not applied to the current Intergovernmental Conference, or in general to the method applied so far to the institutional reforms.

7. New decision making procedures in EU

7.1. invites the Commission, the European Parliament and other institutions to continue to develop, on the basis of democratic representation, instruments for interactive political dialogue and for participatory democracy;

7.2. believes that shorter and simpler procedures for decision making and revising legislation must be devised, in order to allow the EU institutions to react more adequately and promptly to developments, while ensuring that there is a democratic basis for the decisions taken; this would not be possible if existing decision-making mechanisms were to be applied in an enlarged Europe;

7.3. encourages the use of alternatives to legislation, based on the widest possible consultation of the interested parties, and calls on the EU bodies and other parties to show more restraint in calling for EU measures. Attention must also be paid to principles of autonomy.

8. Institutional reforms

8.1. reiterates its opinion that the Charter of Fundamental Rights must be integrated into the Treaty and should be legally enforceable, and that the principles of local and regional self-government should be laid down in the Treaty;

8.2. feels that the role and identity of the Commission should be clarified and made less ambiguous; linking it directly to the European Parliament which, being the democratic body directly elected by the citizens, should take on a key political role in the EU.

Brussels, 14 December 2000.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Jos Chabert

(1) Unofficial translation of title.