EN Official Journal of the European Union C 271/1

Resolution of the Committee of the Regions

on the 20th Anniversary of the Committee of the Regions

‘Empowering regional and local authorities in the European Union’

2014/C 271/01

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

— having regard to the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which gave it new prerogatives and responsibilities in the European political system;

— having regard to its mission statement, which defines it as a political assembly of regional and local representatives with the dual function of both democratic and territorial representation in the Union’s decision-making process;

— having regard to the Cooperation Agreement signed with the European Parliament on 5 February, formalising the shared desire to increase democratic legitimacy in the Union;

— having regard to the protocol on cooperation between the European Commission and the Committee of the Regions signed on 16 February 2012, which consolidates its involvement in implementing the annual work programme and legislative planning;

— asserts the unique role it has been playing for 20 years in the service of the European Union and respect for the subsidiarity and proportionality principles, as well as advocating the goals of economic, social and territorial cohesion;

— highlights its growing impact on the drafting of European legislation through its advisory role; stresses that it has a political role in the EU legislative process: its core remit is to ensure that local and regional authorities’ expertise on the implementation and application of EU law is included in the legislative process;

— has decided to mark the celebrations for its 20th anniversary with a forward-looking exercise on its political and institutional role in the governance of the European Union and thus share its vision of the future of the European integration process;

— proposes, to this end, a roadmap built up around three strategic objectives for instilling new dynamics in the European Union;

1. Boosting public support for and confidence in the European Union

1.1. notes, in the light of the outcome of the recent European elections, that there is a need to boost confidence in relations between the European Union and the public, so that any action the Union takes matches public concerns more closely and brings genuine added value;

1.2. highlights the strategic role played by the CoR as the voice of regional and local authorities for the success of the European venture — and with a view to a ‘Europe of the Regions’; underlines that it is a vital conduit for expressing the interests concerned and representing the level of governance that is closest to the people and enabling these interests to be reflected in the EU policy-making process;

1.3. considers, given the competences legally established at European and national level, that it is the European institutions’, Member States’ and local and regional authorities’ collective responsibility to boost the European Union’s regulatory fitness by establishing more transparent procedures, reducing administrative burdens and putting mechanisms in place to analyse the impact of its action on the everyday life of the general public;

1.4. underlines the findings of Eurobarometer surveys which show public confidence in local and regional councillors, as well as expectations of greater involvement for them in European governance; therefore deems it essential to consolidate its status as a political assembly, capitalising on the European, local and regional mandates of its members, in not only the European, but also in the national, regional and local context;

1.5. will affirm its democratic legitimacy and political identity as a European institution being the European Union’s political assembly of regional and local representatives and intends to raise its profile and the political impact of its opinions and stances; undertakes to step up its political activities in conjunction with political parties and groups at all levels;

1.6. likewise intends to make full use of its specific territorial nature so as to exert a multiplier effect on its capacity for influencing the decision-making process and thus combine the contribution of its national delegations and networks of regional and local experts in carrying out its tasks;

1.7. calls on the Member States, when appointing its members, to secure political representativeness reflecting the outcome of local and regional elections and compliance with the principle of gender equality and equal opportunities, and stresses the need to speed up nomination procedures;

1.8. aims to encourage gender equality in all areas where it is active in order to guarantee the EU’s democratic legitimacy;

1.9. reiterates that the European Union needs a true multi-level governance system whereby effective cooperation between towns, regions and Member States is guaranteed; stresses that the EU should address areas where action is necessary, while refraining from new rules in matters where the most appropriate level is local, regional or national;

The Committee of the Regions helps to embody Europe in concrete terms

1.10. intends to fully support its members in playing the role of Europe’s ‘ambassadors’ in regions, towns and municipalities and vice-versa so as to reinforce their links with the general public in Europe;

1.11. therefore deems it vital to set up a mechanism for supporting its members’ activities, within European Parliament information offices and European Commission representation offices in Member States, promoting CoR members’ interaction with European MEPs in their constituencies; is ready to provide its support for organising decentralised communication campaigns on European Union priorities for action and on the impact of its legislation at local and regional level, taking account of the official languages of each region;

1.12. intends to do more to support its members in their regional or local authority, inter alia, by organising debates with the general public and at special sessions of local and regional councils debating topical European issues and, where appropriate, proposals for European Citizens’ Initiatives (ECI);

1.13. highlights its political activities, which constitute a platform for dialogue on the regional and local dimension of the European Union, including the summits of regions and cities, which offer the opportunity to debate the future of Europe and the development of regional and local authorities from a longer-term perspective;

1.14. intends to step up its interinstitutional communication strategy and calls for an overhaul of the European Union’s communication strategy and advocates a new way of communicating with the public through clear and understandable language; underlines the key role of local and regional media and the social networks in order to refocus the perception of the European Union and to promote its policies and concrete achievements;

2. Pursue European integration based on a renewed community method which fully takes into account the shared responsibilities between the different levels of governance

The Committee of the Regions, advocate of a new way of operating for the European Union

2.1. deems multi-level governance to be one of the principles on which a renewed community method to pursue European integration should rely;

2.2. intends to ensure that the principles of multi-level governance are taken on board through adherence to the Charter for multi-level governance which it adopted in April 2014;

2.3. is particularly in favour of expanding the potential of the code of conduct on implementing the partnership principle, already established in legislation on the cohesion policy, to other areas of European Union action;

The Committee of the Regions, defender of the prerogatives and competences of regional and local authorities

2.4. deplores the direct impact of the crisis on local and regional authorities’ autonomy and capacity for action; will as a consequence use the country reports of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe to follow the development of the decentralisation and regionalisation process within the European Union;

2.5. will ensure that the prerogatives of local and regional authorities are respected in coordination mechanisms at European level; considers, therefore, that it is crucial for local and regional authorities to have at their disposal financial resources commensurate with the decentralisation of competences;

2.6. advocates more account being taken of the local and regional dimension of the European Union’s strategy for enlargement, neighbourhood policy and development policy;

The Committee of the Regions, promoting the principles of subsidiarity, proportionality and multi-level governance

2.7. reiterates the scope of subsidiarity as a fundamental democratic principle and essential means of increasing the quality of European Union regulations and the EU’s added value, as well as reducing administrative burdens; underlines the importance of increasing the emphasis on compliance with the proportionality principle; draws attention to the CoR’s work, through its monitoring strategy and local and regional consultation mechanism, in ensuring these principles are upheld;

2.8. underlines the corollary nature of the partnership principle and multi-level governance;

2.9. will shoulder its responsibilities in the debate on the revision of competences within the European Union; this has to lead to greater added value from European Union action and should not boil down to a confrontation between different stances advocating ‘more’ or ‘less’ Europe;

2.10. will consolidate the impact of its opinions by activating its mechanism for consulting its territorial base and for coordinating with, amongst others, regions with legislative powers and associations representing regional and local authorities;

2.11. intends to step up its involvement all through the legislative cycle so as to be able, if necessary, to make use of its right to bring cases before the European Union Court of Justice;

2.12. will therefore put in place more structured cooperation with the European Parliament, national parliaments and if appropriate with second chambers representing the regional and local dimension at national level, but also with regional parliaments, and will support the early warning system from regional authorities;

The Committee of the Regions, contributor to the analysis of the territorial impact of European legislation

2.13. welcomes the progress allowing its involvement far upstream in the drafting of legislation; will therefore pay particular attention to territorial impact analyses and the development of territorial indicators; reiterates that there is, as a consequence, a need to secure the involvement of local and regional authorities in institutional cooperation mechanisms making for ‘better law-making’;

2.14. will further develop its capacity in this and will seek to increase its expertise in support of its advisory role, by involving local and regional authorities’ and European territorial associations’ expertise in the consultation process related to its opinions, analyses of territorial impact and the respect of the subsidiarity and proportionality;

2.15. recommends that local and regional authorities be involved in the REFIT programme (Regulatory Fitness and Performance) in order to improve the quality of legislation and ensure that it is better accepted by people;

3. Consolidating institutional representation of local and regional authorities in the decision-making process

3.1. asserts its legitimate, unique and complementary role within the European Union’s institutional set-up and intends to defend its political independence and operational autonomy by affirming its role as political institution in support of its advisory role, following up its opinions more effectively and strengthening its contact and cooperation with the Parliament, the Commission and the Council;

3.2. will concentrate on its core remit; focusing its attention and resources on the European Union’s legislative process will strengthen the CoR’s political role as an advisory body and justify any additional prerogatives that the CoR might request in future;

3.3. envisages its future strategy in stages, in the short term making use of all the potential offered by the Treaty of Lisbon, and in the long term as part of an overhaul of the treaties;

The role of policy shaper strengthened under the Lisbon Treaty

3.4. asks that consultation of the CoR, in keeping with the principle of sincere cooperation, commit the institutions consulting it to respecting its institutional competences and not exonerate them from their duty of giving the reasons for adopting or not adopting the CoR’s main recommendations;

3.5. welcomes the increasing cooperation with the European Parliament and is expecting from the positive impact of the political cooperation established with the conclusion of the cooperation agreement that there be a system of reciprocal arrangements for rapporteurs’ participation in the respective activities of CoR commissions and EP committees;

3.6. stresses, with regard to the European legislator, the need to increase the quality and amount of its cooperation with the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union; intends to boost its impact on legislative proposals and step up its rapporteurs’ involvement throughout the legislative process so as to support follow-up to its proposals for amending the legislative texts on which it is issuing opinions;

3.7. claims observer status in negotiations when there is trialogue on those subjects where it is mandatory to consult the CoR;

3.8. advocates the organisation of inter-parliamentary sessions where members of the CoR, the European Parliament and regional parliaments could discuss topical European issues and the impact of European legislation;

3.9. intends to become more involved in the process of elaborating and implementing the points of the presidency programmes that are relevant for local and regional authorities and will better interact with the Council as a whole and in particular with regional minsters attending Council meetings;

3.10. calls for representatives of local and regional authorities, where relevant those with legislative powers, to be involved in Commission and Council working groups where the policies concerned are of significant local and regional interest;

3.11. welcomes the links set up with the European Council presidency, which should be structured so as to secure the added value of territorial consultation, in particular as part of preparations for European Council meetings;

3.12. is especially pleased with developments in its cooperation with the European Commission, particularly in the pre-legislative consultation phase; nevertheless reiterates its request that oral and written questions be systematically put to the European executive regarding its political recommendations, by providing the opportunity to raise topical issues;

3.13. stresses the need to involve the CoR as far upstream as possible in the European Union’s annual and multi-annual planning so that it is able to make a contribution to the definition of strategic and political choices for Europe; asks, moreover, to be involved from the outset in the process of appointing the commissioner responsible for regional policy, as of the next term of office, namely for the 2014-2019 period;

3.14. advocates involving local and regional authorities in economic governance mechanisms and thinks it would be legitimate for them to be involved in the economic dialogue between the European Commission and the European Parliament, and for its members to be guaranteed participation in European Parliamentary Week alongside MEPs and national MPs;

3.15. asks that, when the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union is incorporated into the legal framework of the European Union, a horizontal clause be introduced which allows the CoR to be consulted in areas of shared competence for measures coordinating economic and employment policies and in areas of support, coordination and ancillary action;

3.16. reiterates, in the event of a review of the treaties addressing the EU’s institutional set-up, its requests: — to be formally granted the status of an institution; — o be given the right to use the assent procedure for legislative proposals relating to economic, social and territorial cohesion;

3.17. proposes to add the word ‘European’ to its current denomination, so that the complete title would be ‘European Committee of the Regions’;

3.18. stresses that a convention put together for revising the treaties should include Committee of the Regions representatives so as to ensure as much democratic legitimacy as possible;

3.19. instructs its president to forward this resolution to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Commission and the president to the European Council.