Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on The role of regional parliaments with legislative powers in the democratic life of the Union
Date: 2005-11-16
Institutions: Committee on Constitutional Affairs, European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: European Constitution, appeal to the Court (EU), division of powers, drafting of EU law, inter-parliamentary cooperation, politics, region-EU relationship, regional parliament, relations between the State and the regions

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Official Journal of the European Union

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Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on The role of regional parliaments with legislative
powers in the democratic life of the Union

(2006/C 115/07)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the decision of its Bureau, on 15 June 2004, to ask its Commission for Constitutional
Affairs and European Governance to draw up an own-initiative opinion on The role of regional parliaments in
the democratic life of the Union;

having regard to the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe and, more particularly, its provisions
concerning the application of the principle of subsidiarity;

having regard to its opinion on The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (CdR 354/2003 fin (1));

having regard to its opinion of 13 October 2005 on The period of reflection: the structure, subjects and
context for an assessment of the debate on the European Union (CdR 250/2005 fin);

having regard to the declaration of its Bureau of 26 October 2001 on The role of the regions with legislative
powers in the Community decision-making process (CdR 191/2001 fin);

having regard to the 2003-2004 joint action plan of the Committee of the Regions and the Conference
of European Regional Legislative Assemblies (CALRE);

having regard to the statements adopted on 27 and 28 October 2003 at Reggio di Calabria, on
26 October 2004 in Milan and on 24-25 October 2005 in Barcelona by the presidents of the European
Regional Legislative Assemblies;

having regard to the Oviedo declaration establishing the Conference of European Regional Legislative
Assemblies (CALRE) in 1997 and laying down its objectives and principles;

having regard to the draft opinion (CdR 221/2004 rev. 3) adopted on 22 April 2005 by its Commission
for Constitutional Affairs and European Governance (rapporteur: Mr Luc Van den Brande, BE-EPP, Senator,
Belgian Parliament, member of the Flemish Parliament);

1)

2)

3)

4)

whereas in some Member States regions have legislative powers and are consequently empowered
to apply European legislation;

whereas the specific competences of regions with legislative powers have been explicitly expanded
by the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe to include those relating to the process of moni-
toring and applying the subsidiarity principle, giving them a special role in the European Union's
democratic decision-making process as a result;

whereas the limits of this opinion, which deals with the specific case of regional parliaments with
legislative powers, are determined by the competences which have thus been devolved to these
parliaments by the Constitutional Treaty; whereas this opinion therefore does not detract from
levels of decision-making; and whereas this
recognition of
levels of decision-
opinion's recommendations also apply mutatis mutandis to the other political
making;

the importance of other political

whereas the regional parliaments with legislative powers are fully responsible for executing their
decisions and are expressly mentioned on this account in the protocol on the application of the
principles of subsidiarity and proportionality annexed to the Constitutional Treaty;

(1) OJ C 71, 22.3.2005, p.1.

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5)

6)

whereas the discussions at the hearing on The role of regional parliaments and regional assemblies
with legislative powers in the democratic life of the Union held by the Commission for Constitu-
tional Affairs and European Governance on 3 March 2005 confirmed the growing involvement of
regional parliaments with legislative powers in the European unification process;

whereas the pause in the process of ratifying the Constitutional Treaty must on no account hold
back the initiatives undertaken with a view to involving the regional parliaments more in the demo-
cratic life of the Union and to their participation in drafting Community legislation and in the
implementation and monitoring thereof in line with the political consensus surrounding the Consti-
tutional Treaty;

adopted the following opinion at its 62nd plenary session, held on 16 and 17 November 2005
(meeting of 16 November).

1. Views of the Committee of the Regions

The Committee of the Regions:

1.7
the
regrets that the intention to take into account
decentralised powers of regional parliaments with legislative
powers, for which the Laeken Declaration had provided a posi-
tive boost, has not led to a direct right of appeal by the regions
concerned in the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe;

1.1
recommends the incorporation into the current Trea-
ties of the protocol on subsidiarity and proportionality and the
protocol on the role of national parliaments in the European
Union, as these could substantially improve democracy and
public involvement in the European Union's decision-making
process;

1.8
is pleased to have obtained the right to appeal to the
Court of Justice concerning legislative acts which have to be
referred to it under the Constitution, but at the same time, it
regrets that
regions with legislative powers are (still) not
entitled to bring suit before the Court of Justice;

1.2
thinks that regional democracy makes a fundamental
contribution towards involving the citizen in policy and that it
therefore deserves all necessary attention within the framework
the contribution of
of
elected regional and local assemblies towards bringing Europe
closer to the citizen should be upgraded, in particular by invol-
ving these decentralised entities fully in decision-making;

the European Union; consequently,

1.9
notes therefore that regional assemblies, and particularly
those with legislative powers, will be able to call on the CoR, if
necessary through national parliaments, to bring such a suit
where appropriate;

1.3
feels that regional parliaments help to underpin Euro-
pean citizenship in terms of European cultural and linguistic
diversity;

1.10
supports the efforts of the Conference of European
Regional Legislative Assemblies (CALRE) to get regional parlia-
mentary authorities involved in the European decision-making
process;

is convinced that

the strengthening of

1.4
local and
regional autonomy in several Member States represents an
important contribution towards building a Europe that
is
governed, inter alia, by the principles of democracy, proximity
and decentralisation;

notes that all

the Member States of

1.5
the European
Union have experienced major developments as regards decen-
tralisation, in which the regions have become major political
and economic players in the European arena;

1.11 would like to stress once again that, in accordance
with the recommendations of the White Paper on European
Governance, all the levels of power responsible for the imple-
mentation of European legislation should be involved fully in
its preparation and in the development of EU policy, and
considers that this applies all the more to regional legislative
assemblies given that they have to adopt regional laws applying
European legal texts; it therefore supports their active partici-
pation in the pre-legislative consultation process and involve-
ment through their representative associations in structured
dialogue;

points out that local and regional assemblies are an
1.6
integral part of the way in which European countries give form
to their democracy. The subnational political level should there-
fore be given its place in the European debate;

1.12
has noted the various proposals and initiatives to
strengthen inter-parliamentary cooperation at European level,
which, in its view, can encourage European integration;

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1.13
feels, however, that there should be closer investiga-
tion of whether these suggestions are desirable and realistic
and, above all, an assessment of whether they can boost the
political impact of the regional assemblies;

2. Recommendations of the Committee of the Regions

The Committee of the Regions:

1.14
stresses also that the EU's current period of reflection
on the constitution should under no circumstances constitute a
step away or a withdrawal from these objectives;

1.15
emphasises that the protocol on the application of
the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality annexed to
the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, which stipu-
lates that, in the course of monitoring application of the subsi-
diarity principle, national parliaments will have to consult,
appropriate,
where
regional parliaments with legislative
powers,
is a first and important step towards the effective
recognition of these assemblies;

1.16
also notes that all regional assemblies depending on
the powers assigned to them, are affected by mechanisms for
applying and monitoring the subsidiarity and proportionality
principles;

1.17
points out that the European Commission's proposals
on European governance, as well as the Treaty establishing a
Constitution for Europe, undeniably confirm that the EU has
adopted a system of multi-level governance. This requires the
relationship between the different spheres of government to be
based on a horizontal partnership and designed to ensure effec-
tive,
integrated decision-making and that the distribution of
powers between the various political levels must be clarified, in
order to know who does what and at what level political
responsibility lies;

1.18
points out that the participation of regional parlia-
ments with legislative powers within the Committee of the
Regions represents an added advantage, reflecting the great
diversity of the territories within the EU, and thus enabling
closer cooperation between the Committee of the Regions and
the regional legislative assemblies, with the shared objectives of
strengthening regional democracy in Europe and contributing
more to the exercise of new responsibilities in this field, as
provided for in the treaty establishing a Constitution for
Europe, and correctly applying the subsidiarity and proportion-
ality principles, in coordination with regional executives;

2.1 would like regional parliaments, regional assemblies
and local authorities, in line with the powers granted to them,
to be actively involved at an institutional level and to partici-
pate fully in the European debate and decision-making process,
while shouldering their responsibilities vis-à-vis the public,
particularly in the context of the current period of reflection;

recommends, in this connection, that regional parlia-
2.2
ments be involved in the parliamentary forums planned by the
European Parliament as part of the period of reflection with a
view to fostering the European dialogue in order to overcome
the constitutional crisis;

2.3
recommends that local and regional authorities and
especially regional parliaments with legislative powers are actu-
ally involved at the pre-legislative phase, in preliminary consul-
tations on European legislation, and also recommends that they
are consulted in the course of implementing the early warning
system;

2.4
insists on regional parliaments being fully involved in
the European Commission's Plan D, with regard to both Com-
munity initiatives and planned national debates, to discuss the
future of Europe and the public's expectations;

intends to enter into more intensive collaboration and
2.5
dialogue with regional parliaments with legislative powers with
a view to optimising such involvement;

2.6
notes that it will carefully consider any requests stem-
ming from its networking with regional and local authorities
and their associations to bring actions about EU legislative acts
under internal procedures to be established;

2.7 will endeavour to ensure that regional parliaments
with legislative powers, in accordance with the powers exer-
cised by the European Union, act as components of the parlia-
mentary machinery in their country or as chambers of the
national parliament, and can also turn to their national parlia-
ment in the course of lodging an appeal with the Court of
Justice for violation of the subsidiarity principle;

sees the ratification of the Treaty establishing a Consti-
1.19
tution for Europe by regional parliaments with legislative
powers as an important opportunity to clarify their role and
place in the European integration process.

2.8
requests regional parliaments with legislative powers
and the regional assemblies to contribute to regular updates of
the directory of terms of reference on The division of powers
between the European Union, the Member States and regional
and local authorities (CdR 104/2004) drafted by the CoR;

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2.9
urges the regional parliaments with legislative powers
to consider setting up parliamentary committees with responsi-
bility for monitoring application of the subsidiarity principle.
As a result, these would then be privileged negotiating partners
in the above-mentioned networks;

2.10
argues that in Member States where powers are shared
level a binding internal
between the national and regional
agreement should be concluded on the procedure envisaged by
the early warning system for monitoring compliance with the
subsidiarity principle, in order to ensure the clarity and trans-
parency of this procedure, and proposes to draw up a list of
these procedural agreements adopted in the Member States;

2.11
recommends that the subsidiarity monitoring process
should be accompanied by an internal reform process within
Member States, in line with existing constitutional structures,

to consolidate the involvement of regional parliaments with
legislative powers in the mechanisms envisaged by the protocol
on the application and monitoring of
the subsidiarity and
proportionality principles;

2.12
recommends that regional parliaments with legislative
powers should use them in the European decision-making
process, on the basis not only of their institutional capacity but
also that of their fiscal capacity;

2.13
finally, strongly urges the European Union to under-
take to give teeth to the regional debate in Europe, which,
whatever happens, has to take the form of collaboration
between the European Parliament, the national parliaments, the
local and regional authorities and especially the regional parlia-
ments with legislative powers; this collaboration will need to
show clearly that it offers added value for European democracy,
and the conditions under which this collaboration takes place
must be the subject of close consultations.

Brussels 16 November 2005.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Peter STRAUB

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on Guidelines for the application and monitoring of the
subsidiarity and proportionality principles

(2006/C 115/08)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

HAVING REGARD TO the decision of its Bureau of 20 June 2004 to instruct its Commission for Consti-
tutional Affairs and European Governance, under Article 265(5) of the EC Treaty, to draw up an own-
initiative opinion on the application and monitoring of the subsidiarity and proportionality principles;

HAVING REGARD TO the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe signed by the heads of state or
government on 29 October 2004, and in particular to the provisions of the Protocol on the application of the
principles of subsidiarity and proportionality (hereinafter referred to as the subsidiarity protocol) (CIG 87/04 rev.
1, CIG 87/04 Add 1 rev. 1, CIG 87/04 Add 2 rev. 1);

HAVING REGARD TO the Commission Communication on the Implementation of the Framework
Action Updating and simplifying the Community acquis (COM (2004) 432 final);

HAVING REGARD TO its opinion on the Revision of the Treaty on European Union (CdR 136/1995)
and its additional opinion on The application of the principle of subsidiarity in the European Union (CdR
136/1995 appendix);

HAVING REGARD TO its resolution on the Outcome of the Intergovernmental Conference (CdR 305/1997
fin);