EN Official Journal of the European Union C 164/87

Resolution of the Committee of the Regions on the ‘European Commission's work programme and the Committee of the Regions' priorities for 2005’

(2005/C 164/12)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

HAVING REGARD TO the Commission's work programme for 2005 (COM(2005) 15 final);

HAVING REGARD TO the Strategic Objectives 2005-2009 (COMC2005) 12 final);

HAVING REGARD TO the operational programme of the Luxembourg and UK presidencies for 2005;

HAVING REGARD TO the priorities of the Luxembourg presidency;

HAVING REGARD TO the 2004-2006 multi-annual strategic programme of the six presidencies;

HAVING REGARD TO the protocol on the arrangements for cooperation between the European Commission and the Committee of the Regions (DI CdR 81/2001 rev. 2);

HAVING REGARD TO the resolution of the Committee of the Regions on revitalising the Lisbon Strategy (CdR 518/2004);

HAVING REGARD TO the European Parliament resolution of 23 February 2005 on the Commission's strategic guidelines/Legislative and work programme for 2005;

WHEREAS the European Commission has committed itself to promoting new forms of governance;

WHEREAS regional and local governments are the authorities responsible for implementing an important part of EU policies;

WHEREAS regional and local governments help to define the EU's priorities, which greatly enhances the democratic legitimacy of EU policies;

adopted the following resolution at its 58th plenary session of 23 and 24 February 2005 (meeting of 24 February):

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

General observations

1. considers that the priorities of the Committee of the Regions are identical with those of the Commission, in particular regarding the contribution to the campaign for the ratification of the Constitutional Treaty; the strengthening of economic, social and territorial cohesion; commitment to the Lisbon Strategy for growth and employment, solidarity and sustainable development; the strengthening of the area of freedom, security and justice; and commitment to enlargement of the Union and the European neighbourhood policy, which must involve the active participation of regional and local governments;

2. underlines the role and the place of regions and cities in the enlarged European Union and asks that European policy, beyond the promotion of Economic, Social and Monetary Union, concentrate today more than ever on the accomplishment of a real political Union based on the support of its citizens and on the European Constitution signed on 29 October 2004 in Rome;

3. stresses its commitment alongside the European Commission to assess jointly the results of the implementation of the cooperation protocol in force since 2001 and to begin work as of now to prepare a new cooperation protocol between the two institutions;

4. calls upon the European Commission from now on to be mindful of the spirit and the letter of the Constitutional Treaty in the preparation of Community legislation, for example regarding the application of subsidiarity and proportionality principles, and to formalise these in the new cooperation protocol;

5. shares the Commission's view that it is unrealistic to argue for more Europe with less money; the new areas of Community policy require additional resources commensurate with publicly stated aims;

6. stresses the importance of promoting cultural diversity in the European Union; looks forward to actively pursuing its priorities to respect and promote cultural and linguistic diversity as a source of wealth to be preserved;

Ratification of the Constitutional Treaty

7. considers that the ratification of the Constitutional Treaty is a vital stage in the political integration process as part of European integration, has committed itself to this process, therefore, by joining in the Thousand Debates for Europe initiative and invites local and regional governments to become even more involved in the information and awareness campaign on the European Constitution;

8. considers it necessary to better inform citizens about European integration and the European Constitution and therefore invites the European Commission to re-invigorate this campaign;

9. recalls the vital role of the local and regional press in the necessary network of information and communication to promote and explain Community action and the Union's values, and in consequence invites the European Commission to involve the Committee of the Regions in the new communication strategy;

European Governance

10. welcomes the priority strategic objective that the European Commission has set itself concerning the ‘Better lawmaking’ action and the inter-institutional cooperation initiated on the issue; regrets, however, that the local and regional dimension has not been adequately recognised in this initiative and urges the presidencies of the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission to involve it more closely; also regrets that the European Commission in its annual planning document does not consider the added value provided by a preventive consultation of local and regional governments regarding respect of subsidiarity;

11. requests an explicit involvement of its representatives in the minimum consultation procedures, as is the case for civil society;

12. welcomes the introduction of a new method of impact analysis for all the European Commission's major initiatives, but notes that it does not take sufficient account of the impact on regional and local governments;

13. calls upon the European Commission to renew the signing of tripartite conventions and contracts and to extend the use of this instrument to other Community policies;

Re-invigoration of the Lisbon strategy

14. welcomes and shares the focus on delivery in the proposals for the revision of the Lisbon strategy, as stated in the CoR resolution on the renewal of the Lisbon Strategy. It perceives the Mid-Term Review as a crucial moment in time, not only for the strategic direction of the policies concerned but also for the future of the multi-level governance needed in the view of the challenges the European Union is facing. The costs of not achieving the objectives set out with this strategy will also be driven by a missing involvement of regional and local actors in agenda–setting and implementation;

15. considers that the success of the Lisbon Strategy depends on the political involvement of local and regional actors in shaping and implementing it; regrets, however, that regional and local governments, as well as the Committee of the Regions, are not included in the Lisbon Strategy's new approach to governance; insists on the integration of the local and regional dimension not only into the national action plans but also when deliberating the new approach to governance; invites the Commission, therefore, to take account of the regional dimension in the conception and implementation of the Strategy at Union level and at the level of Member States;

16. welcomes the idea of a Partnership for Growth and jobs and the central underlying concepts of focusing Europe's actions, mobilising support for change and simplifying reporting. It cautions, however, against basing the Lisbon action plan exclusively on actions at Member State and at European level and losing a balanced approach between the economic goals, sustainable development and the modernisation and advancement of Europe's social model; furthermore considers that the new social agenda must be an integral part of the Lisbon Strategy's social pillar;

Knowledge-based society

17. welcomes the announcement of the European Commission concerning the EU Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration activities for the period 2007-2013 (FP7) and the Framework Programme for Competitiveness and Innovation to reinforce the momentum towards the realisation of a knowledge-based society. The Committee of the Regions stresses the need of a regional chapter in FP 7 to stimulate regional initiatives that contribute to the European Research Area. It furthermore underlines the necessity to provide for a mechanism to enable all regions to benefit from increased investment in research and innovation by interactive ‘learning’;

18. supports the view of the European Commission that achieving the EU's goals for lifelong learning is essential for creating a knowledge economy in the EU, and stresses that lifelong learning should be viewed both in terms of competitiveness and developing people's capacity to take part in economic life and in terms of promoting people's personal development through education and training and their capacity to take part in social and civic life;

19. aims to contribute actively to the framing of the new initiative to continue the eEurope agenda, i2010, which will promote a borderless European information space and stimulate innovation through investment in research, the development and deployment in ICT. It underlines in particular the need to ensure that all groups of society benefit from new Technologies, not only in terms of economic growth, but also in terms of participation, transparency and accessibility;

20. looks forward to the updating of the regulations in the audiovisual sector, more specifically of the Directive ‘Television without Frontiers’. The audiovisual media is not only a cultural industry or primary importance but also central to the development of European social values, the growth of regional and local cultural identity and the functioning of democratic societies;

Territorial cohesion

21. reiterates its conviction that the reference criterion for the European Union's work programme in 2005 must remain the strengthening of economic, social and territorial cohesion in order to promote a harmonious development of the Community as a whole and a narrowing of the gaps, further increased by the last enlargement, between the levels of development of various regions and the lagging behind of the most disadvantaged regions;

22. commits itself to supporting the attainment of this priority through an extensive examination of the cohesion policy reform aimed at achieving a greater consistency between Community sectoral policies with a substantial territorial impact and the cohesion objective;

23. recalls the indissoluble link that exists between an effective regional policy at European level and the implementation of the Lisbon agenda. The prosecution of the EU regional policy, which involves all the regions, will encourage future growth and competitiveness in all the regions of Europe; the Union's competitiveness depends on the competitiveness of each of its regions;

24. worries for the future of regional state aids especially in connection with cohesion policy and stresses the risk that the Competitiveness Objective is relativised or neglected only in order to find a minimalist compromise during the negotiations of the financial perspectives; requests to avoid any inconsistency between the Convergence Objective and regional state aids granted to less developed regions; consequently calls upon the European Commission to add to the rules; on state aids a scheme differentiating between regions, so that public investments can be targeted to correct actual market malfunctions and thus achieve the goal of territorial cohesion;

25. stresses the importance of solidarity for the success and the full application of the subsidiarity and proportionality principles. To ensure that the transfer of tasks and responsibilities from Europe to the regions or from the state to the regions is fair and effective, it should be accompanied by a transfer of resources and a transfer of powers: ‘vertical’ solidarity between the centre and the peripheries, but also a horizontal solidarity between stronger (richer, better performing, more able) regions and weaker regions;

26. reiterates its conviction that the development of transport infrastructures is a vital agent in European integration: by facilitating trade (a source of economic growth), by contributing to territorial cohesion and by building a Europe of ‘proximity’. Re-adjusting the balance of transport modes is an indispensable prerequisite for the sustainable development of trans-European networks, with a particular stress on the regulation of the maritime, rail and air sectors;

Sustainable development

27. calls on the Commission to recognise the role of local and regional government when drawing up the seven thematic strategies emanating from the sixth environmental action programme and encourages the European Commission to examine the merits of greater use of urban development agreements or tripartite agreements as in the case of the thematic strategy on the urban environment, to complement current legislation;

28. welcomes the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol and calls upon local and regional authorities to fully support the achievement of the targets set out in the protocol;

29. endorses the Commission's strategic approach to rural development and underlines that the added value of a European strategy must be clearly identified and that it should be up to the Member States, the regions and local authorities to flesh out the implications of this framework in respect of rural areas and rural development policy;

30. advocates that the proposal for a Solidarity and Rapid Reaction Instrument follows a holistic approach covering all aspects of civil disaster protection, such as preventive measures, rescue services and follow-up measures and that it provides the means to facilitate integration and coordination of highly specialised forces from different Member States and regions;

31. welcomes initiatives to support sustainable development and stresses in particular that Community actions and funding for improving the environment should have knock-on effects at the national, regional and local levels;

32. encourages the EU to champion a sustainable model of food production and distribution which takes account of environmental resources, the preservation of biodiversity and the quality of products and means of production;

33. welcomes the recognition by the European Commission of the need to propose a horizontal, integrated approach to European Union maritime policy;

Area of Freedom, Security and Justice

34. welcomes the European Union's proclaimed intention to consolidate the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, for example by applying the Community method, and therefore endorses the strategic objective of security for the citizens set by the European Commission;

35. supports the overall aims of the Hague Programme on strengthening freedom, security and justice in the EU, profoundly regrets the lack of any mention of the involvement of the European Union's local and regional governments in the implementation of the policies concerned and urges the European Commission to bear in mind this institutional, political and operational reality in the various action plans which will be drafted over the next few month;

36. renews its recommendation to use structural funds to sustain and develop instruments implementing the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice and invites the European Commission to put into practice the spirit of the Third Cohesion Report;

37. welcomes the enhanced focus on stepping up the fight against terrorism, whilst always bearing in mind that it should not translate in practice into a violation of civic liberties, and calls for the envisaged reinforcement of networks and capabilities to include local and regional authorities;

38. calls upon the European Commission to consider the CoR's proposal on the new Community action plan to promote an active European citizenship;

The European Union enlargement process

39. recalls its commitment to the enlargement process, particularly to ensuring intercultural political dialogue between the representatives of local and regional governments of the Member States and the accession and pre-accession states;

40. calls upon the European Commission to more actively promote democratic devolution in the enlargement process and the pre-accession policy, recommends, in this regard, increasing pre-accession aid to bolster administrative capacity at the local and regional levels, and encourages to this end an exchange of Best Practice experiences and twinning with local authorities;

41. considers it appropriate to give greater prominence to the contribution of local and regional democracy in the democratic consolidation process in the western Balkans, for which the protection of ethnic minorities is a precondition;

42. regrets that the establishment of a Joint Mixed Committee Croatia–Committee of the Regions is not envisaged in the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States and the Republic of Croatia and asks the European Commission to propose an operational solution as soon as possible;

Neighbourhood policy

43. endorses the European Commission's commitment to the neighbourhood policy and fully shares its analysis of its challenge for the security, stability and prosperity of the European continent;

44. calls upon the European Commission to take account of the contribution of cross-border and interregional cooperation both in the provisions of the new neighbourhood instrument and in the action plans, and asks to be involved in the drafting, implementation and evaluation of this new policy;

45. calls upon the EUROMED conference, on the tenth anniversary of the Barcelona Declaration, to grant local and regional assemblies a more active involvement in the Euro-Mediterranean partnership and recalls its proposal to create a body which would represent the devolved sub-state assemblies of the Member States and the partner countries in the Mediterranean basin;

46. stresses the strategic importance of a partnership with Russia and the opportunity to examine the possibilities for cross-border cooperation at local and regional level with the autonomous region of Kaliningrad;

47. considers that the democratic processes initiated in some neighbouring countries, such as the Ukraine and Georgia recently, should be supported by the European Union and stresses the importance of an economic, administrative and cultural cooperation to which the union's regional and local governments could make their contribution;

48. instructs its president to submit this resolution to the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council, and the Luxembourg and United Kingdom presidencies.