Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on "The Committee of the Regions' place and participation in the European decision-making process"
Date: 2001-11-14
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: European Committee of the Regions, decision-making

C 107/40

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Official Journal of the European Communities

3.5.2002

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on ‘The Committee of the Regions’ place and
participation in the European decision-making process’

(2002/C 107/14)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the Resolution on the outcome of the 2000 intergovernmental conference and the
discussion on the future of the European Union (CdR 430/2000 fin);

having regard to the 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
(CdR 104/2001 fin — now adopted);

having regard to the Report on proximity (CdR 436/2000 fin);

having regard to the Salamanca Declaration (CdR 107/2001 fin);

having regard to the Opinion on the participation of regional government representatives in the work of
the Council of the European Union, and of the CoR in informal Council meetings (CdR 431/2000 fin);

having regard to the Memorandum on involvement of the Committee of the Regions in the structured
debate on the future of the Union (CdR 325/2001 fin);

having regard to the Opinion on New forms of governance: Europe, a framework for citizens’ initiative
(CdR 182/2000 fin) (1);

having regard to the Opinion on EU citizenship (CdR 226/99 fin) (2);

having regard to the Commission’s White Paper on European governance of 25 July 2001 (COM(2001)
428 final);

having regard to the Joint Declaration of the President of the European Commission and the President of
the Committee of the Regions on the appended protocol (CdR 81/2001);

having regard to the Declaration on Regionalism of the Assembly of European Regions (Basle, 4 December
1996);

having regard to the position of the CEMR set out in the Oulu Declaration on good governance in Europe
today, adopted at Oulu on 17 June 2000;

having regard to the charter on local autonomy and the draft charter on regional autonomy of the CLRAE
(Council of Europe);

having regard to the decision of its Bureau of 13 June 2000, in accordance with the fifth paragraph of
Article 265 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, to draw up an opinion on the subject
and to instruct the Commission for Institutional Affairs to carry out the preparatory work;

having regard to the draft opinion adopted on 5 October 2001 by the Commission for Institutional
Affairs (rapporteur: Mr Van Den Brande, B/EPP) (CdR 105/2001 rev.);

whereas the progressive integration of Europe has reached a point where in-depth discussion of its future
objectives is needed;

whereas the institutional architecture is of great importance here, but is merely a means and an instrument
for consolidating Europe’s democratic dimension;

whereas Europe must once again become the common project of all its citizens, with their involvement
and participation playing a key role;

(1) OJ C 144, 16.5.2000, p. 1.
(2) OJ C 156, 6.6.2000, p. 12.

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whereas good, credible and responsible governance is a precondition for this;

whereas in accordance with the decisions of the Nice European Council the necessary agreements were
reached to launch and map out a path for the 2004 intergovernmental conference in the Laeken
Declaration;

whereas it is necessary for the Committee of the Regions, in addition to its various contributions on the
future of Europe, to state its views on its place and participation in the European decision-making process;

whereas this statement of views requires discussion of the nature and role of the Committee, its internal
operation, its attitude to the EU institutions and its institutional position in the light of the 2004
intergovernmental conference;

whereas this discussion must not be restricted to a purely technical analysis, and thought needs to be
given to the broader issue of the regions’ and local authorities’ own, recognisable responsibilities in the
framework of European decision-making;

whereas it would appropriate for the Committee to be assisted in the task by a committee of experts;

whereas the Committee wishes, through this exercise, to provide added value with a view to higher-
quality and more efficient governance in Europe, particularly in the light of the forthcoming major
enlargement of the Union,

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

Views and recommendations of the Committee of the
Regions

1. General comments

The Committee of the Regions

1.1.
notes that at the end of its second four-year term of
office there is a need for a fundamental discussion of its place
and participation in the European decision-making process;

considers it appropriate that this discussion should
1.2.
extend to the nature and role of the Committee, its internal
operation, its relationship with the Commission, the Council
and the European Parliament, as well as to the Committee’s
institutional position in the light of the 2004 intergovern-
mental conference;

1.3.
is nonetheless convinced that the debate on the future
of Europe cannot focus purely on institutional issues, powers
and financing, but that the tasks of the European Union and
the allocation of responsibilities to the Member States and the
regional and local authorities need to be based on, and
evaluated in the light of, the subsidiarity principle and the
principles of proportionality and allocated powers for the EU
and on the obligation to respect Member States’ national
identity; that this exercise must lead to greater transparency
and responsibility, as well as to a more efficient and democratic
decision-making process focusing on policies offering the
greatest added value and increasing involvement of the general
public;

1.4.
considers that, in the course of this exercise, it should
be assisted by a committee of experts in order to enable it to
make a useful contribution to the debate on European
governance and the future of the European Union, particularly
with a view to the forthcoming major enlargement of the
Union;

wishes, in the light of the forthcoming enlargement, to
1.5.
make the special experience and expertise of the Union’s
regional and local authorities available to their counterparts in
the applicant countries.

2. Nature and role of the Committee

The Committee of the Regions

2.1.
notes at the end of its second four-year term of office
that its position in the Union’s institutional framework and its
role in the European decision-making process has been
gradually strengthened, with the Treaty of Amsterdam marking
an important new stage in granting the Committee organis-
ational and financial autonomy and extending its consultative
powers;

2.2.
points out that, whilst the Treaty of Nice fulfilled the
Committee’s request that its members should be required to
be elected representatives of regional or local bodies or
politically accountable to an elected assembly, it did not satisfy
the Committee’s other claims, such as greater participation in
the European decision-making process;

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2.3.
endorses the analysis contained in the White Paper on
European governance on the subject of reaching citizens
through regional and local democracy and the action points
which the Commission suggests the Committee undertake in
this area: playing a more proactive role in examining policy,
organising the exchange of best practice on how local and
regional authorities are involved in the preparatory phase of
European decision-making at national level and reviewing the
local and regional impact of certain directives with a view to
more flexible application;

2.4.
notes however that these action points go beyond the
Committee’s current advisory role and that no mention is
made of the financial and human resources to be made
available to the Committee to this end, or of strengthening the
Committee’s institutional position in the European decision-
making process;

2.5.
believes that in the course of the European debate on
governance it will be difficult to discuss specific issues in
isolation and wishes to prevent this debate resulting in the
Committee’s current advisory role being ‘cast in stone’ given
that
the Committee, as a democratic body, also has an
important role to play as a discussion forum, communications
channel and policy-making, or at least policy-assessment,
body;

3. The Committee’s internal operation

The Committee of the Regions

wishes to examine its internal operation in depth and
3.1.
assess it in order to contribute to the implementation of the
principles of governance referred to in the White Paper,
namely openness, participation, accountability, effectiveness
and coherence;

3.2.
considers that the key question is whether the Com-
mittee succeeds in carrying out the advisory tasks assigned to
it by the Treaty both in qualitative and quantitative terms, and
that in this connection the following questions arise:

— Are the areas in which the Committee has been assigned
advisory responsibilities in keeping with the Committee’s
potential, its political priorities and the responsibilities of
the local and regional authorities?

— Are the deadlines laid down by the Treaty sufficient to
enable the Committee to make a useful contribution?

— Are the Committee’s internal procedures, including the
urgency and simplified procedures, appropriate to the
tasks assigned to the Committee by the Treaty?

considers

2.6.
resources be made available for:

it necessary that

sufficient

scope and

— Does the Committee need greater continuity in its work,

e.g. by setting up a standing committee?

— the holding of political debate and discussions at all levels
in order to awaken the public’s interest in politics;

— Does the Committee need to restructure its internal
organisation in accordance with the powers of the regions
and local authorities represented therein?;

— additional information and awareness-raising efforts;

should set about rationalising its internal procedures

3.3.
with regard to the referral of its opinions;

— a special focus on the subject in school and further

education curricula;

— increasing citizens’ on-going contribution to European
policy, e.g. by involving the social players and civil society
in European policy in a structured way;

legitimacy and ethical code of

considers it necessary, with a view to greater account-
3.4.
to pay particular attention to the
ability and coherence,
mandate,
its members in
order to ensure greater coherence between their activities as
Committee members, which they have to perform completely
independently, in the general interest of the Community, and
their activities as representatives on local and regional bodies;

2.7.
wishes to make a constructive contribution to the
debate on European governance from this point of view and
believes that
to this end it needs to consider its own
internal operation, its inter-institutional relationships and its
institutional position with a view to the 2004 intergovern-
mental conference.

considers that a thorough analysis of these issues
3.5.
should be carried out by the committee of experts referred to
in point 1.3 of this opinion, in order to enable the Committee
to determine its standpoint on the matter in good time and,
wherever and whenever necessary, to assist the Committee in
its further contribution to the debate on the future of the
European Union.

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4. Relationship between the Committee and the Com-
mission, the Council and the European Parliament

The Committee of the Regions

4.1.
welcomes the Joint Declaration of the president of the
European Commission and the president of the Committee of
the Regions and the appended protocol with a view to more
intensive cooperation between the two bodies, but considers
that the protocol needs to be interpreted dynamically in order
to take account of the action points referred to above, set out
in the White Paper on European Governance, particularly
playing a more proactive role in examining policy, so that the
Committee will be able to provide useful input even before the
adoption of the Commission’s annual work programme;

considers it necessary for the efficient performance of
4.2.
its consultative function that substantial changes be made to
the formalism of
the procedure for consultation by the
European Commission and that the Committee’s effective and
systematic involvement be guaranteed at all stages of the
process of drawing up European Commission policy docu-
ments such as white and green papers;

4.3.
calls on the Council to draw up a code of conduct with
the Committee on the arrangements for consultation of the
Committee and the political
its opinions on
Community legislation, covering deadlines etc., with due
regard for the specific arrangements of the co-decision pro-
cedure;

impact of

4.5.
also calls on the European Parliament, in parallel with
the existing cooperation between it and the Committee at
rapporteur level, to agree with the Committee arrangements
for consultation, whether mandatory or on the Parliament’s
initiative;

4.6.
reiterates its view, expressed in the context of the 2000
intergovernmental conference, that, if the Commission and the
Council choose not to act on the Committee’s recommen-
dations made in the context of a mandatory referral, they
should state their reasons and that the Parliament should also
be able to do this on a voluntary basis;

4.7.
stresses the need for a permanent and fruitful dialogue
between the institutional players, particularly in the light
of the recommendations of the White Paper on European
governance.

5.

Institutional position of the Committee with a view
to the 2004 intergovernmental conference

The Committee of the Regions

wishes to examine its institutional position in depth
5.1.
with a view to 2004 intergovernmental conference, with due
regard to the analyses and recommendations of the committee
of experts referred to in point 1.3 of this opinion;

4.4.
recommends that the one month deadline imposed on
the Committee for the issue of opinions under Article 265 of
the EC Treaty be extended to three months to bring it into line
with the Committee’s working methods;

5.2.
supports in this connection improvement of local and
regional authorities’ possibilities to participate and the special
position of the regions with legislative powers in the frame-
work of the Union’s institutional machinery.

Brussels, 14 November 2001.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Jos CHABERT