Resolution of the Committee of the Regions on "The preparations for the Laeken European Council and the further development of the European Union in the context of the next intergovernmental conference in 2004"
Date: 2001-11-14
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: European Union, intergovernmental conference (EU)

C 107/36

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

3.5.2002

Resolution of the Committee of the Regions on ‘The preparations for the Laeken European
Council and the further development of the European Union in the context of the next
intergovernmental conference in 2004’

(2002/C 107/13)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the Treaty of Nice approved by the Conference of Representatives of the Governments
of the Member States at the European Council meeting of 7-11 December 2000 and to the Protocol on
the Enlargement of the European Union, the Declaration on the Enlargement of the European Union and
the Declaration on the Future of the Union to be included in the Final Act of the Conference, which are
appended to the Treaty of Nice;

having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 31 May 2001 on the Treaty of Nice and the
future of the European Union and the outcome of the European Council meeting in Nice on 7-
11 December 2000 (A5-0168/2001);

having regard to its resolution of 4 April 2001 on the outcome of the 2000 intergovernmental conference
and the discussion on the future of the European Union (CdR 430/2000 fin) (1);

having regard to the resolution adopted by the CoR on 20 September 2001 on the participation of the
CoR in the convention responsible for preparing the next revision of the Treaties (CdR 320/2001 fin);

having regard to its opinion of 15 September 1999 on the institutional aspects of enlargement — Local
and regional government at the heart of Europe (CdR 52/99 fin) (2);

having regard to its resolution of 3 June 1999 on the next intergovernmental conference (CdR 54/1999
fin) (3) and its opinion of 17 February 2000 on the 2000 intergovernmental conference (CdR 53/1999
fin) (4);

having regard to its resolution of 16 October 2000 For a European constitutional framework (CdR
144/2000 fin) (5);

having regard to its opinion of 16 February 2000 on the process of drawing up a Charter of Fundamental
Rights of the European Union (CdR 327/1999 fin) (6), its resolution of 20 September 2000 on the Charter
of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CdR 140/2000 fin) (7) and its resolution of 13 December
2000 on the approval of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CdR 381/2000
fin) (8);

having regard to the decision of its Bureau of 12 June 2001, in accordance with the fifth paragraph of
Article 265 of the Treaty establishing the European Community and Rule 42(2) of its Rules of Procedure,
to draw up a resolution on the preparations for the Laeken European Council and the further development
of the European Union in the context of the next intergovernmental conference in 2004 and to instruct
the Commission for Institutional Affairs to prepare the resolution;

having regard to the draft resolution unanimously adopted by the Commission for Institutional Affairs at
its meeting on 5 October 2001 (Rapporteur: Edmund Stoiber [D-PPE]),

unanimously adopted the following resolution at its 41st plenary session of 14 and 15 November 2001
(meeting of 14 November).

1.

Introduction

The Committee of the Regions

agrees with the aim of preparing for

1.2.
the next
intergovernmental conference by organising a deeper and
wider debate on the future of the European Union;

1.1.
welcomes the decision by the intergovernmental con-
ference in Nice to convene a further such conference in 2004;

(1) OJ C 253, 12.9.2001, p. 25.
(2) OJ C 374, 23.12.1999, p. 15.
(3) OJ C 293, 13.10.1999, p. 74.
(4) OJ C 156, 6.6.2000, p. 6.
(5) OJ C 22, 24.1.2001, p. 4.
(6) OJ C 156, 6.6.2000, p. 1.
(7) OJ C 22, 24.1.2001, p. 1.
(8) OJ C 144, 16.5.2001, p. 42.

supports the intention to boost public support for the
1.3.
European Union with the help of the 2004 intergovernmental
conference. Above all, there is to be clear division of political
responsibilities, and the democratic legitimacy and trans-
parency of the Union and its institutions are to be monitored
in order to bring the European Union closer to the citizens of
the Member States.

3.5.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 107/37

2. Procedure for preparing for the 2004 intergovern-

mental conference

— submits interim results and options at fixed dates, which
can then be discussed in the European Parliament and
national and regional parliaments.

The Committee of the Regions

2.1.
refers to the task entrusted by the intergovernmental
conference to the Laeken European Council, namely to specify
the preparatory procedure and subject matter of the next
intergovernmental conference; and calls for the involvement
of the regions and local authorities in this process;

2.2.
stresses that the preparations for the next intergovern-
mental conference must ensure that broad public support for
European integration is restored;

in a bid to boost public support for integration, calls

2.3.
for

— in particular, the organisation of a broad public debate
on the reform options facing the next intergovernmental
conference; such a debate must be backed by the Euro-
pean Parliament and national and regional parliaments,
and by local and regional authorities; and

— a discussion — as part of the public debate — of
the European Union’s objective, the importance of the
subsidiarity and proportionality principles as the ground
rule for a transparent division of powers, the resultant
need for reform and the requisite Treaty amendments;

2.4.
stresses that the procedure to be used to prepare for
the 2004 intergovernmental conference must take account of
the position — under both the Treaty and constitutional law
— of Member States’ governments and parliaments in the
further development of the Treaty. A procedure must therefore
be selected which provides for close monitoring of the debate
by the Member States and their parliaments and regional and
local authorities. This requires that the debate be completely
transparent. At the end of the preparatory phase, suggestions,
recommendations and options should be drawn up on the
basis of the proposals put forward, and submitted to the
intergovernmental conference;

advocates entrusting the procedural management and

2.5.
coordination of the preparations to a convention;

2.6.

proposes the establishment of a convention, which:

— is made up of representatives of the Member States and
the national parliaments, a representative of the European
Commission, representatives of the European Parliament
and of the candidate countries, and two full members of
the Committee of the Regions; specialists should be
responsible for dealing with technical issues;

3. Object of the 2004 intergovernmental conference

The Committee of the Regions (1)

3.1.
supports the mandate issued at the Nice European
Council stipulating that a further intergovernmental confer-
ence should address:

— how to establish and monitor a more precise delimitation
of powers between the European Union and the Member
States, reflecting the principle of subsidiarity;

— the status of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the
European Union, proclaimed in Nice, in accordance with
the conclusions of the European Council in Cologne;

— a simplification of the Treaties with a view to making
them clearer and better understood without changing
their meaning;

— the role of national parliaments in the European architec-

ture;

3.2.
points out that the 2004 intergovernmental conference
must adapt the division of responsibilities between the Euro-
pean Union and the Member States as defined by the Treaties,
to the requirements of the 21st century,
in particular the
challenges of globalisation and enlargement;

3.3.
draws attention to the fact that enlargement, and the
the number of Member States, will
almost doubling of
considerably alter the nature of the European Union and that
accession of the twelve candidate countries will increase the
European Union’s population by a third and its area by half;

3.4.
points out that enlargement will considerably widen
existing economic, social and territorial differences in the
enlarged Union and make for much greater social and cultural
diversity;

3.5.
calls for a debate on what tasks an European Union of
currently 15 and later more than 25 Member States is to, and
can, perform jointly;

(1) The indents recapitulate the issues raised by the heads of
government at the Nice European Council in the Declaration on
the Future of the Union.

C 107/38

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

3.5.2002

3.6.
is convinced that European Union enlargement must
go hand in hand with a concentration of the Union’s tasks on
genuinely European challenges for which the European Union
is to be provided with the requisite set of tools;

4. Delimitation of powers

The Committee of the Regions

3.7.
nevertheless advocates broadening these four topics by
including them within other, more open-ended, issues. The
new intergovernmental conference cannot be framed without
a clear vision of the aims to be pursued in an enlarged Europe,
and of how the responsibilities which flow from them should
be organised. The Laeken terms of reference should therefore
include among the issues for discussion in the run-up to 2004
the question of how to promote a sustainable, solidarity-based
development model which opens the way to further progress
towards the goal of economic, social and territorial cohesion
and establishes a more participatory model of governance;

highlights

3.8.
intergovernmental conference:

the

following

goals

for

the 2004

— in the light of the progress of the European project, to
identify and clarify the policies to be implemented in
order to ensure its success;

— to bring the European Union closer to the citizen (1). This
means that the subsidiarity principle must serve as the
yardstick for the redefinition of European Union tasks. In
this connection, the principles governing apportionment
of responsibilities and powers between central, regional
and local government in the individual Member States
must be respected. Wherever Community action is not
absolutely essential, Member States, regions and local
authorities should, as decision-making levels that are in
touch with citizens’ concerns, be reinvested with more
political responsibility;

— to strengthen the Community’s capacity to act in the field

of foreign and security policy;

— to strengthen the principle of democracy in the European

Union;

— to clearly allocate political responsibility e.g. by redefining
the European Union’s powers under the Treaty. Neither
the transfer of further powers — nor the transfer back of
powers — should be taboo in this context;

— to establish transparency in the decision-making process-
es of the European Union’s legislative institutions, with
appropriate public involvement;

— to maintain national, regional and local powers protected
by the subsidiarity principle, as laid down in the Treaty,
when applying open coordination and comitology.

(1) Cf.: the Committee of the Regions’ report on proximity, CdR

436/2000.

considers it necessary in this context to clarify which
4.1.
tasks must and can be carried out jointly by a considerably
enlarged Union. It should be made clear which European
Union interests can only be acted on jointly, and the enlarged
Union’s tasks should be concentrated on those areas. However,
this re-examination may, in certain areas, lead to a transfer
back — or to an extension — of European Union powers;

advocates clarification of which Treaty reforms are

4.2.
required for the European Union tasks thus defined;

calls for the concentrated and reformed tasks of the
4.3.
European Union to be set out clearly in the Treaty. However,
the European Union should also continue to be able to react
flexibly to the growing challenges;

4.4.
in the interests of a more citizen-centred approach,
calls for greater transparency as to those tasks for which the
European Union bears political responsibility. The European
public also needs to be able to recognise which political player
does what. This is a prerequisite for securing the necessary
public support for integration and enlargement and making a
significant improvement in the European Union’s democratic
legitimacy;

warns against confining the delimitation of powers to

4.5.
a purely technical revision of the Treaty;

4.6.
supports the European Commission in its annual
review of the European Union’s set of tasks in the light of the
subsidiarity principle.

5. Charter of Fundamental Rights

The Committee of the Regions

5.1.
regards the Charter of Fundamental Rights as a key
contribution to European integration which makes it clear that
the European Union is a community of values;

5.2.
advocates the incorporation of the Charter of Funda-
mental Rights of the European Union proclaimed at the Nice
summit into the Treaty revised in line with the points that
have been made.

3.5.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 107/39

6. Role of the Committee of the Regions

The Committee of the Regions

6.1.
calls for recognition of its institutional legitimacy, its
special status as representative of local and regional players
and its political role in the debate on the future of the Union,
and thus asks that it be given the explicit right to take part as
a full member in the proceedings of the convention tasked to
prepare the 2004 intergovernmental conference;

6.2.
proposes a reassessment of the role of the Committee
of the Regions and regional and local authorities in the future
architecture of Europe in the light of the subsidiarity principle;

6.3.
considers that, in order to boost its influence in the
European decision-making process, the Committee of the
Regions should be given more comprehensive powers, which
extend beyond a consultative remit;

6.4.
considers that the Committee of the Regions must be
granted institutional status and the right to institute proceed-
ings in the Court of Justice of the European Communities in
order to defend its rights and in cases where the subsidiarity
principle has been infringed;

6.5.
asks that the European Commission and the Council
be required to explain how Committee of the Regions opinions
have been taken into account or, if not, why not;

6.6.
urges that the Committee of the Regions be empowered
to address written and oral questions to the European Com-
mission in its own right;

thinks that local and regional authorities should be
the

6.7.
more involved in European-level decision-making at
Council as part of national delegations.

7. Role of national parliaments

The Committee of the Regions

7.1.
calls for the greater informal involvement of Member
State parliaments in the framing of Treaty amendments and
the preparation of European Union projects designed to
strengthen debate on European policy in the Member States;

Brussels, 14 November 2001.

7.2.
considers that the establishment of a new European
Union institution made up of representatives of national
parliaments is neither advisable nor necessary; but thinks that,
if a further chamber is set up nonetheless alongside the
European Parliament and the Council, it should consist of
representatives of local and regional authorities, and evolve
from the Committee of the Regions.

8. Simplification of the Treaties

The Committee of the Regions

8.1.
calls for Treaty law to be made clearer and more readily
understandable; and in this respect advocates a constitutional
process to consolidate all the Treaties into a single text
comprising a core part and a separate part governing European
Union policies. A simplified procedure could be applied to
modifications to this latter part. This proposal also reflects the
views of the European Parliament;

stresses that the right to determine the European

8.2.
Union’s tasks must remain a matter for the Member States;

opposes proposals for procedures enabling Treaty
8.3.
revisions to be made by the Community in its own right, and
especially proposals to abolish the required ratification by the
national parliaments.

9. Conclusion

The Committee of the Regions

9.1.
calls on the Laeken European Council to take account
of this opinion in its declaration on initiatives relating to the
preparation and organisation of the 2004 intergovernmental
conference;

9.2.
instructs its President to forward this resolution to the
President of the European Parliament, the President of the
Council, the President of the European Commission and the
heads of state or government of the Member States of the
European Union.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Jos CHABERT