Communication from the Commission - Dialogue with associations of regional and local authorities on the formulation of European Union policy
Date: 2003-12-19
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: administrative cooperation, drafting of EU law, regional and local authorities

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 19.12.2003
COM(2003) 811 final

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION

Dialogue with associations of regional and local authorities
on the formulation of European Union policy

EN

  EN

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION

Dialogue with associations of regional and local authorities
on the formulation of European Union policy

INTRODUCTION

In response to the wishes expressed by regional and local actors in the consultation
process  for  its  White  Paper  on  European  Governance1,  the  Commission  committed
itself  to  establish  “a  more  systematic  dialogue  with  European  and  national
associations  of  regional  and  local  government  at  an  early  stage  of  policy  shaping".
When  adopting  its  report  on  European  Governance2  and  its  communication  on  a
reinforced  culture  of  consultation  and  dialogue3  on  11  December  2002,  the
Commission  announced  the  adoption  of  a  communication  laying  down  the
framework,  goals  and  modalities  governing  this  dialogue  with  associations  of
regional and local authorities.

In  March  2003,  to  prepare  this  communication,  the  Commission  adopted  a  staff
working  paper4  which  defined  the  scope  of  the  dialogue.  Between  28  March  and
23 May 2003 this paper was published on the Internet as part of a process of public
consultation, eliciting comments and reactions from a large number of European and
national  associations  of  regional  and  local  authorities5.  The  richness  and  quality  of
these  contributions  were  an  important  support  for  the  Commission  in  drafting  this
communication.

In the light of the results of the public consultation, this communication:

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stresses  that  this  dialogue  is  additional  and  complementary  to  all  the
other methods it uses to consult regional and local authorities;

more clearly sets out the role the Committee of the Regions is to play in
the proposed dialogue;

establishes  a  reference  framework  for  identifying  the  associations  that
may participate in the dialogue.

This  dialogue  is  complementary  to  the  other  consultation  processes  laid  out  in  the
Treaty  and  secondary  legislation  and  the  Commission  communication  on  a
reinforced culture of consultation and dialogue.  In accordance  with the principle of
proportionality, the Commission has also taken care that the proposed measures will
in  no  case  generate  disproportionate  administrative  workloads  or  budgetary
expenditure.

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3

4

5

COM(2001) 428 final of 25 July 2001.
COM(2002) 705 final of 11 December 2002.
COM(2002) 704 final of 11 December 2002.
C(2003)927 of 27 March 2003
All  the  reactions  received  by  the  Commission  during  the  public  consultation  stage  can  be  found  at
http://europa.eu.int/comm/regional_policy/consultation/territorial_fr.htm

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The goals of the new dialogue are as follows:

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to  involve  regional  and  local  actors  -  via  European  and  national
associations  of  regional  and  local  authorities  -  by  giving  them  the
opportunity to express their views on the European policies they help to
implement before the formal decision-making processes start;

to ensure  a better understanding of  the  policy  guidelines  of  the  EU  and
European  legislation,  thereby  making  the  activities  of  the  Union  more
transparent and meaningful to the public.

The proposed systematic dialogue will be based upon a presentation of:

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the Commission's annual work programme, and

the  major  policy  initiatives  that  have  a  significant  direct  or  indirect
regional and local impact.

To achieve these goals, it is necessary to:

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identify the aims of the dialogue;

identify the participants;

decide the subjects to be covered;

set the rules of the dialogue.

1.

PURPOSE OF THE DIALOGUE

The Commission is seeking to make more systematic the dialogue it already carries
out in an ad-hoc manner with associations  of  regional  and  local  authorities  prior to
the decision-making process.

The dialogue will complete and deepen the consultation process, in accordance with
the general principles and minimum consultation standards already established by the
Commission, enabling it to implement the principles of  good  governance set  out in
the  White  Paper.  These  principles  are  openness,  participation,  coherence  and
effectiveness.

1.1.

Openness

The  principle  of  openness  stems  from  the  Commission's  desire  to  ensure  improved
information and ownership of its political position and of Community legislation.

To  better  explain  Community  activities  it  is  not  sufficient  to  improve  the
Commission's  communication  and  information  activities,  though  this  is  clearly
necessary.  Since  they  are  democratically  elected  and  close  to  the  ground,  regional
and  local  authorities  are  well  placed  to  provide  the  citizen  with  the  information  he
needs  to  gain  a  better  understanding  of  European  policies  and  decisions.  It  is
important,  therefore,  that  these  authorities  are  able  to  play  an  active  role  in

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formulating EU policy. Their activities will raise the Union's profile with its citizens
and increase their support for its policies.

1.2.

Participation

In  its  White  Paper  on  European  governance,  the  Commission  stressed  that  "the
quality (…) of EU policies depend(s) on ensuring wide participation throughout the
policy  chain,  from  conception  to  implementation".  The  Commission  has  therefore
committed itself to an approach that seeks the participation of all in conceiving and
implementing EU policy. This implies the broadest consultation possible on its main
policy initiatives.

Highlighting  the  increased  role  of  local  and  regional  government  in  implementing
Community  policy,  the  Commission's  White  Paper  stresses  that  "[…]  At  EU  level,
the Commission should ensure that regional and local knowledge and conditions are
taken  into  account  when  developing  policy  proposals.  For  this  purpose,  it  should
organise a systematic dialogue with European and national associations of regional
and  local  government,  while  respecting  national  constitutional  and  administrative
arrangements.  The  Commission  welcomes  ongoing  efforts  to  increase  co-operation
between those associations and the Committee of the Regions […]".

It  is  this  principle  of  participation  that  the  Commission  intends  to  apply  by
establishing the dialogue proposed in this communication.

1.3.

Coherence

The  consultations  undertaken  for  the  preparation  of  its  White  Paper  on  European
Governance, and various studies and reports commissioned or drawn up by the EU
institutions,  allowed  the  Commission  to  understand  the  need  to  better  assess  the
effect  at  regional  and local  level  of  Community  policies  in  areas  such  as  transport,
energy and the environment.

The  Commission  has  already  established  an  integrated  impact-assessment  method
that integrates "all the sectoral analyses of the direct and indirect implications of a
proposed measure [to form] one comprehensive instrument, thus moving away from
the  existing  situation  of  a  number  of  partial  and  sectoral  assessments"6.  This
instrument  will  also  allow  the  Commission  to  establish  a  dialogue  and  debate  with
the various interested parties.

In  this  way,  impact  assessment  can  contribute,  on  the  one  hand,  to  informing  the
community actors of the effects of Community  activities, and on the other  hand, to
guide and prepare national, regional and local actors for the adoption of the measures
necessary for an optimal implementation of Community decisions.

In  addition,  the  Commission  has  adopted  a  set  of  general  principles  and  minimum
standards  for  consulting  non-institutional  parties  that  have  an  interest  in  the  main
political  initiatives  it  proposes.  Where  relevant,  Commission  services  involved  in
preparing a new policy, for which an impact assessment is required, will launch such
consultations.

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COM(2002) 276 final of 5 June 2002.

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This  communication  proposes 
these  provisions  for  specific
to  complement 
consultations,  by  adding  regular  hearings  with  European  and  national  associations
representing  regional  and  local  authorities,  and  calls  on  the  Committee  of  the
Regions to play a role of intermediary in this dialogue. Employing this approach will
enable the Commission to incorporate the specific needs and experiences of regions
and local areas more consistently into its policy proposals.

1.4.

Effectiveness

It is at territorial level that certain Community policies are implemented or have the
greatest effect. Regional and local authorities are therefore well placed to assess the
coherence and effectiveness of policies that have a marked regional and local impact.

If  the  Union  wants  to  improve  the  effectiveness  of  its  activities,  in  terms  both  of
coherence and of the public's perception of its political position, it must be able to get
informed about the regional and local impact of its activities at the earliest possible
stage, before they are implemented. This will put it in a position to better identify the
nature and intensity of the measures to adopt, and to assess the outcome and future
impact of activities that will ultimately affect regions and local areas.

By establishing the tools for a dialogue with the associations representing local and
regional government, allows the Commission to improve the involvement at the right
time  –  i.e.  prior  to  the  formal  decision-making  process  -  of  authorities  that  help
implement or which are affected by policies decided at EU level

2.

PARTIES TO THE DIALOGUE

The choice of participants in this dialogue, which will take the form of hearings, will
have to take account of the following elements:

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the current Treaty provisions, in particular the subsidiarity principle;

the Union's institutional architecture (e.g. the Commission's right of initiative,
the  legislative  powers  of  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council,  the  new
consultative role of the Committee of the Regions following the signing of the
cooperation protocol with the Commission);

the principle of respecting the constitutional autonomy of the Member States,
which order their relations with regional and local authorities in different ways.

In addition, the post-enlargement Union will include some 250 regions and 100 000
local  authorities.7  In  the  interests  of  effectiveness,  and  as  pointed  out  in  the  White
Paper  on  European  Governance,  this  means  that  the  appropriate  partners  for  a
dialogue prior to the formal decision-making processes can only be the national
and European associations of regional and local authorities. Attention will have
to be paid to the representation of all the interests of regional and local authorities in
this dialogue, to reflect the diversity of situations on the ground throughout the EU.

7

Source: Committee of the Regions.

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The  experience  gained over  many  years in regional  policy  and  policies  such  as  the
environment, transport, research and rural development could help identify the 'target
groups'8 for  the  dialogue, without, nevertheless limiting participation  along  sectoral
lines. The  input and specific  contributions  of the various sectoral organisations  can
justify several  associations  grouping  together  and  presenting  a  common  position  in
the meetings, where a theme generates a common interest.

The Commission considers it important that the new dialogue should serve to the ties
between  the  Committee  of  the  Regions  and  the  regional  and  local  authorities  it
represents. To this end, in accordance with the recommendations in the White Paper
on  European Governance, it  calls on each of  the regional and  local  authorities  and
their  associations  to  strengthen  their  respective  ties  with  the  Committee  of  the
Regions.

The  Committee  of  the  Regions  already  plays  an  essential  role  in  consulting  these
actors,  as  envisaged  in  the  Treaties.  Its  function  as  intermediary  between  the  local
and  regional  authorities  and  the  EU  institutions  has  been  enhanced  by  the
cooperation  protocol  it  has  signed  with  the  Commission,  under  the  terms  of  which
the  Commission  may  call  on  the  Committee  to  hold  consultations.9  The  proposals
made  in  this  communication  are  without  prejudice  to  the  arrangements  for  these
consultations.

As regards the rules for selecting associations, therefore, the Commission considers
that  the  Committee  of  the  Regions  is  best  placed  to  help  it  identify  which
associations  have  an  interest  in  which  policies,  and,  for  each  meeting,  to  propose
indicative  lists  of  European  and  national  associations  relevant  to  the  subjects  to  be
discussed.  However,  the  Commission  reserves  the  right  to  invite  whichever
associations its sees fit to the various dialogue meetings, amending and/or adding to
the lists proposed by the Committee of the Regions.

In this way the Commission seeks to contribute to enhancing the intermediation role
played  by  the  Committee  of  the  Regions  between  it  and  the  regional  and  local
authorities,  thereby  increasing  its  cooperation  with  the  associations  of  regional  and
local authorities.

It  is  the  task  of  the  Committee  of  the  Regions  to  co-operate  with  the  different
associations  in  order  to  establish  the  selection  criteria.  In  any  case,  such
organisations  must  be  representative  bodies  that  are  able  both  to  deliver  a  jointly
agreed  opinion  from  their  members  and  to  pass  on  to  them  the  Commission's
proposals and policy guidelines. The associations that are selected will be required to
ensure  that  they  are  represented  at  the  highest  level.  In  addition,  their  selection
procedures  should  be  transparent,  clear  and  in  compliance  with  the  minimum
standards of consultation that apply in the Commission.

Thus the associations that should participate in the dialogue are those:

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concerned by the policy in question;

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9

Information  on  local-government  associations  in  the  EU  can  be  found  in  the  CONECCS  database  at
http://europa.eu.int/comm/civil_society/coneccs/index_fr.htm. This is not, however, an exhaustive list.
Cooperation protocol concerning the arrangements for cooperation between the European Commission
and the Committee of the Regions, signed in Brussels on 20 September 2001.

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whose members are involved in implementing the policy;

and which, given their own aims, have a direct interest in the policy.

Furthermore, the following aspects should also be borne in mind:

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the possible need for specific experience, expertise or technical know-how;

the  need  to  keep  a  fair  balance  among  associations  representing  different
categories of regional and local authorities.

any contributions made by participants in previous consultation rounds on the
same policy, although this should not prevent newly created associations from
taking part;

the number of associations selected must remain operable and be coherent with
the effectiveness goal pursued by the dialogue.

3.

SCOPE AND CONTENT OF THE DIALOGUE

The dialogue will start prior to the formal decision-making process. It will, however,
be different from the  contacts  made  by the  Commission  with  the  representatives of
civil society.

The dialogue will be without prejudice to the specific consultation provided for in the
Treaties (for example, the consultation of the institutional advisory bodies10, or social
dialogue  within  the  meaning  of  Articles  137-139  of  the  Treaty)  or  in  other
Community 
the
consultation  arrangements  described  in  this  document  will  complement,  without
replacing,  the  provisions  adopted  by  the  Commission  on  11  December  2002  in  its
communication on general principles and minimum standards for consultation.12

texts,  as  part  of  “comitology”  procedures11.  Furthermore, 

Finally,  this  new  process  will  not  replace  the  ad  hoc  contacts  or  consultation
arrangements  between  the  Commission  and  the  associations.  As  a  complement  to
these  contacts,  the  dialogue  allow  for  the  enrichment  of  Commission  proposals
because it will be regular, more organised and more political.

It  is  hereby  proposed  that  a  systematic  dialogue  be  instituted  based  on  the
presentation of :

(1) 

the Commission's annual work programme

(2) 

the  major  policy  initiatives  that  have  a  direct  or  indirect  territorial  impact
(economic  and  social  cohesion,  regional  policy,  social  policy,  employment
policy, transport, energy, environment, technology research and development,

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12

In  particular  as  regards  the  Committee  of  the  Regions  and  the  European  Economic  and  Social
Committee, the dialogue proposed in this document will be without prejudice to their new consultative
role (outlook opinions, exploratory opinions, etc.) under the cooperation protocols concluded  with the
Commission in September 2001.
Under Council Decision 1999/468/EC.
COM(2002) 704 final of 11 December 2002.

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common  agricultural  policy,  trans-European  infrastructure  networks,  health,
education and culture, vocational training, justice and home affairs, consumer
policy, etc.).

4.

RULES FOR AND ORGANISATION OF LOCAL AND REGIONAL DIALOGUE

Responsibility  for  organising  and  holding  the  meetings  will  rest  with  the
Commission.  It  intends  to  make  this  dialogue  a  process  of  mutual  exchange.
Interaction  between  the  dialogue  and  the  Community  policy  agenda  could  take  the
following form:

(1) through an  annual meeting  at  which  political  dialogue  would  be  initiated  at  the
highest level between the President of the Commission and/or the vice-presidents
and  the  representatives  of  the  associations.  Alongside  the  Commission’s
presentation of the annual work programme to the Committee of the Regions, this
extra  meeting  will  be  an  opportunity  for  in-depth  discussion  with  the
representatives of the regional and local authorities’ associations on the planned
guidelines of EU actions;

(2) through  meetings  with  the  Commissioners  responsible  for  policies  that  have  an
impact  at  territorial  level.  These  meetings,  which  could  be  on  a  yearly  basis,
where justified by the work programme, would be an opportunity to discuss the
major initiatives proposed for the policy in question.

The agenda of these meetings will thus be determined by the Commission's general
work  programme,  as  well  as  by  the  timetable  of  those  initiatives  likely  to  have  a
marked  regional  and  local  impact.  The  list  of  associations  participating  in  these
meetings  will  be  decided  by  the  Commission  for  each  meeting  on  the  basis  of
proposals  made  by  the  Committee  of  the  Regions  and  depending  on  the  specific
initiative in question.

In  the  interests  of  transparency  and  to  ensure  associations’  participation,  the
Commission  should  ensure  that  the  dates  of  the  meetings  are  fixed  six  weeks  in
advance. It will also provide the associations with all the necessary documents.

5.

CONCLUSION

The  Commission's  approach  in  proposing  to  introduce  a  more  systematic  political
dialogue with regional and local associations is to give the parties in question the
opportunity  to  express  their  views  without  undermining  the  decision-making
process.  It  seeks  to  allow  the  Commission  to  sound  out  their  views  on  those
Community policies which they help to implement and which ultimately will have an
impact at regional and local level,  before the formal decision-making processes  get
started.  Additionally,  the  proposed  working  method  will  help  strengthen  the  ties
between the Committee of the Regions and the various associations of regional and
local authorities.

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