Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on "New Forms of Governance: Europe, a framework for citizens' initiative"
Date: 2000-12-14
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: European Union, access to EU information, decision-making, democracy, operation of the Institutions, public awareness campaign

16.5.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 144/1

II

(Preparatory Acts)

COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

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) Unofficial translation of title.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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1. General remarks

The Committee of the Regions

elected assemblies at national, regional and local levels’; and
welcomes the recognition of ‘the new context of interdepen-
dence and interaction between various levels of government’
as an important starting point for the debate on governance.

welcomes the initiative of the Commission and intends
1.1.
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;

2.

Subsidiarity and proximity

1.2.
urges the Commission to involve the candidate Mem-
ber 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
from
governance in Europe in the course of
the perspective of
inviting
representatives, civil society, the media, international business-
es, the social partners, national and European political parties
and political bodies, both from EU Member States and
candidate countries;

local and regional authorities,

this year,

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;

notes that the agreed work programme for the White

1.5.
Paper aims to

considers that the subsidiarity principle must be linked
2.1.
more closely with the principles of proximity and interdepen-
dence, 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;

believes that

in the interest of

transparency and
2.2.
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 trans-
parent . In this way it will create the framework for citizens
participation and initiatives at European level.

— encourage discussion amongst citizens of European valu-

es, issues and decisions;

3.

Local and regional authorities

— reform the processes for preparing and implementing
Community rules and policies to ensure they are pertinent
and coherent, including the need to improve the interac-
tion 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

3.1.
is convinced that the involvement of local and regional
authorities in the EU is essential for successful further inte-
gration 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;

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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;

in the evaluation of the data to be collected using indicators
and benchmarking. This would enable the planning service
local service providers —
and monitoring procedures of
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.

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

4.

Political parties

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

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

— formal dialogue on a pan-European basis, between rep-
resentatives 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;

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.

— 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 govern-
ment 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;

5.

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

5.1.
underlines the crucial importance of access to infor-
mation 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;

welcomes the impulse given by the Commission and
5.2.
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 pro-
grammes 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 com-
puter or language skills;

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

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

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underlines the crucial

5.5.
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;

current Intergovernmental Conference, or in general to the
method applied so far to the institutional reforms.

7. New decision making procedures in EU

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.

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;

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

Brussels, 14 December 2000.

believes that shorter and simpler procedures for
7.2.
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;

encourages the use of alternatives to legislation, based
7.3.
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

reiterates its opinion that the Charter of Fundamental
8.1.
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.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Jos CHABERT