EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1.CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL

•Reasons for and objectives 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.

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".

As of 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 and Article 24(2) provided for a temporary increase of the number of the Committee members to 353 to take account of the accession of the Republic of Croatia. For the period 2015-2020, the Council adopted on 16 December 2014 the decision determining the composition of the Committee in order to comply with the maximum number of 350 provided for in the Treaty. It led to the reduction by one seat each for the Estonian, Cyprus and Luxembourg delegations.

The current term of office of the Committee will come to an end on 25 January 2020. 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 for the period 2020-2025.

The withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 30 March 2019 will result in 24 vacant seats in the Committee.

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 restitute to Estonia, Cyprus and Luxembourg the three seats they lost following the last decision determining the composition of the Committee and leave the rest of the vacated seats as a reserve for possible future enlargements. As a result, for the period 2020-2025, the Committee would be composed of 329 members.

•Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area

N/A

•Consistency with other Union policies

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 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 Communication ‘The principles of subsidiarity and proportionality: Strengthening their role in the EU’s policy making’ shows ways to ensure that local and regional authorities and their organisations can more effectively engage in the preparation and implementation of Union policies, and sees an important role of the Committee of the Regions in facilitating this.

2.LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY

•Legal basis