Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on The added value of participation by local and regional authorities in the enlargement process
Date: 2008-11-27
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: EU Member State, European Committee of the Regions, accession to the European Union, enlargement of the Union, regional and local authorities

C 76/48

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

31.3.2009

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on ‘The added value of participation by local and regional
authorities in the enlargement process’

(2009/C 76/10)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

— recommends that, insofar as they meet the set requirements by the European Commission, the group
of potential candidate countries should also be entitled to draw on the three other components and
thus be subject to the same terms and conditions as candidate countries,

— recommends that this opinion should be the starting point for a more comprehensive and thorough
evaluation of past experience as that would bring into focus — and document — the wide-ranging
and substantive work done by local and regional authorities in the course of earlier enlargements. In
this connection, the Committee of the Regions should, with the help of research funding, undertake a
thorough-going analysis of local and regional involvement in the IPA between 2007 and 2009,

— recommends that the Committee of the Regions should, at the start of 2009, launch a round-table
discussion, to which delegates from the Commission, the Parliament and the local and regional autho-
rities from the candidate and potential candidate countries, and other relevant players, would be
invited to discuss the issue in detail, thereby providing the starting signal for the re-evaluation process,

— asks that, as part of this evaluation, a political reference framework be drawn up between the
Committee of the Regions and the Commission on the involvement of local and regional authorities
in enlargement processes. The Committee should adopt this political reference framework as it repre-
sents a unique opportunity to reassess existing structures and types of collaboration,
in a bid to
further advance cross-border cooperation between local and regional authorities in Member States,
candidate countries and potential candidate countries.

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Rapporteur: Ms Helene LUND (DK/PES), Member of Furesø Municipal Council

I. GENERAL COMMENTS

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

Basic points

welcomes the successful conclusion of the fifth wave of
1.
enlargement,
in which the local and regional authorities in
Bulgaria and Romania played a key role in fostering the develop-
ment of sustainable local and regional democracy;

2.
underscores the importance of learning from the experi-
ence of past enlargements in the field of cross-border coopera-
tion so as to optimise and enhance efforts as part of the current
accession negotiations with candidate and potential candidate
countries;

3.
thus recommends that greater focus be placed on coopera-
tion between local and regional authorities in the Member
States, candidate countries and potential candidate countries;

welcomes the Instrument

for Pre-Accession Assistance
4.
(IPA) established under
the relevant Commission proposal
(COM(2004) 627 final) and Council Regulation (1085/2006),
subject
and would refer
(CdR 498/2004 fin). The Committee of the Regions backs the
structure of the IPA, which is made up of the following five
components: a) support for transition and institution-building,
b) cross-border cooperation, c) regional development, d) human
resources development, and e) rural development;

to its own opinion on the

5.
notes that the IPA, which runs from 2007 to 2013, is an
important tool in helping establish durable political and admin-
istrative structures in the candidate and potential candidate
countries, as it has, since 1 January 2007, brought together the
various different strands of pre-accession aid previously in place
for Turkey and the Western Balkans: Phare, Ispa, Sapard, Cards
and the financial instrument for Turkey;

welcomes the three-year indicative financial

6.
framework
under the IPA for the allocation of resources to each beneficiary
country, as this demonstrates a flexible approach, and points
out that it is not possible to come up with a single solution
appropriate to all — hence the need for flexible tools that are
able to meet the challenges and issues specific to each individual
country;

at

7.
the same time notes that beneficiary countries are
divided into two groups: (i) candidate countries — the Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Croatia and Turkey; and
(ii) potential candidate countries — Albania, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo. The Committee
of the Regions also notes in this regard that the first group

is able to seek support under all

(candidate countries)
five
components, while the second (potential candidate countries) is
able to do so only under the first two components (support for
transition and institution-building, and cross-border coopera-
tion);

recommends that, insofar as they meet the requirements
8.
set by the European Commission, the group of potential candi-
date countries should also be entitled to draw on the three
other components and thus be subject to the same terms and
conditions as candidate countries;

stresses the vital

9.
importance of putting in place tough
requirements for the subsequent documentation of the results
achieved under the IPA;

level

legislation is implemented at local and regional

10.
draws attention to the fact that, often, a large proportion
(as
of
much as 70 % of EU environmental legislation falls into this
category), thus making it vital for local and regional authorities
to have a genuine opportunity to secure IPA support so that
they can press ahead with their worthwhile and important work
and continue to play a constructive role in the development of
sound administrative structures and sustainable local and
regional democracy in the candidate and potential candidate
countries;

Importance of local and regional players' input into the
enlargement process

11.
underscores the fact that, to meet the requirements estab-
lished under the aquis communautaire, the Copenhagen criteria
and the December 1995 Madrid conclusions, candidate and
potential candidate countries must develop durable and decen-
tralised political and administrative structures;

that

points out

12.
local and regional authorities are
frequently citizens' first point of contact with the system and it
is thus vital that they should be able to provide the services citi-
zens require. Experience shows the importance of working
towards the development of strong, decentralised political and
administrative structures, as these are often weak in candidate
and potential candidate countries. This is one area in which EU
local and regional authorities have a great deal of experience,
given that the challenges involved are faced by such authorities
in all Member States. The Committee of the Regions also under-
scores the importance of ensuring that citizens do not experi-
ence any sustained deterioration in service levels in the course
of the enlargement process as that may cloud their opinion of
EU membership;

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13.
stresses, therefore, how important it is to focus on the
development of strong, decentralised structures since much of
the aquis communautaire is implemented at local and regional
level, and notes the vital need for the local and regional level to
engage with central government as an equal partner since a
well-developed administrative capacity at local and regional level
that is able to provide the requisite services and meet the chal-
lenges arising helps relieve pressure on central government;

14.
points that, if the political and administrative structures
level are to have a sound political and
at local and regional
administrative base, it is important to develop in cooperation
with civil society a local democracy that citizens can trust and
in which they feel they have a say. Local and regional authorities
have many years' experience in cross-border cooperation, for
instance through town-twinning schemes, which also bring
aspects of culture and identity into the development of democ-
racy and administrative structures. This in turn brings added
value to the Community;

intercultural cooperation as it

also draws attention to the local and regional
is that

level's
15.
expert grasp of
level
which, more often than not, is in direct contact with citizens
from different cultural backgrounds. Local and regional authori-
ties are thus experienced in working with different cultures at
close quarters. This is an asset that can be also be drawn on in
enlargement-related intercultural activities between Member
States, candidate countries and potential candidate countries;

Need for a cohesive approach to cross-border cooperation

considers it important to develop a cohesive approach to

16.
cross-border cooperation in any pre-accession processes;

issues involved The responses from all the countries that took
part constitute a strong, practical starting point for the work of
evaluating activities to date and provide a basis for developing a
set of political guidelines for future work;

II. Political recommendations

Political guidelines (1)

recommends that this opinion should be the starting
19.
point for a more comprehensive and thorough evaluation of
past experience as that would bring into focus — and document
— the wide-ranging and substantive work done by local and
regional authorities in the course of earlier enlargements. In this
connection, the Committee of the Regions should, with the help
of research funding, undertake a thorough-going analysis of
local and regional involvement in the IPA between 2007 and
2009. Research should be conducted in cooperation with
universities and organisations across the Member States and
applicant countries. It is also recommended that a follow-up
group be established, made up of representatives of the political
groups, the Commission and the local and regional authorities
from the candidate and potential candidate countries. Its task
would be to monitor the research work and report back to the
Committee and the working groups, thereby generating broad
commitment to the evaluation process;

recommends that the Committee of the Regions should,
20.
at the start of 2009, launch a round-table discussion, to which
delegates from the Commission, the Parliament and the local
and regional authorities from the candidate and potential candi-
date countries, and other relevant players, would be invited to
discuss the issue in detail, thereby providing the starting signal
for the re-evaluation process;

relations priorities

stresses that one of the Committee of the Regions' key
17.
to explain the enlargement
is
external
process to citizens (CdR 322/2006 fin). To facilitate the more
effective
the
its
Committee of the Regions should be systematically kept abreast
of
local and regional authorities' practical, constructive and
durable achievements in the enlargement process;

communication of

in this

efforts

area,

thanks all local and regional authorities in the Member
18.
States, candidate countries and potential candidate countries
that have taken part in the study underpinning this opinion.
They have made an outstanding contribution to the drafting of
this opinion by bringing in their experience of cooperation
between local and regional authorities in the Member States,
candidate countries and potential candidate countries. The
submission from the Croatian cities and regions was particularly
comprehensive and reflective of their strong commitment to the

that

the Regions secretariat,

the evaluation work should also
21.
recommends
involve the Committee of
the three
working groups for the Western Balkans, Turkey and Croatia,
which have to some extent already considered the relevant
aspects of enlargement, and the joint consultative committee
with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, as they will
be able to bring to bear considerable knowledge of the chal-
lenges facing candidate and potential candidate countries;

22.
asks that, as part of this evaluation, a political reference
framework be drawn up between the Committee of the Regions
and the Commission on the involvement of local and regional
authorities in enlargement processes. The Committee should
adopt
this political reference framework as it represents a
unique opportunity to reassess existing structures and types of
cross-border
collaboration,

in a bid to further

advance

(1) The political and practical guidelines have been drawn up on the basis
of the study conducted among Member States, candidate countries and
potential candidate countries. The relevant data are appended to the
opinion.

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cooperation between local and regional authorities in Member
States, candidate countries and potential candidate countries.
The purpose of the political reference framework is to act as a
the Commission and the
for
shared reference document
Committee of the Regions for the ongoing development of the
IPA, through defining a set of recommendations for enlargement
cooperation, so that this instrument can be better attuned to
meeting local and regional authorities' specific needs;

that

recommends

23.
local and regional authorities be
involved as an equal player in the enlargement process, given
their considerable expertise and knowledge in helping strength-
ening candidate and potential candidate countries
through
cross-border local and regional cooperation. This must be seen
as a common resource that also benefits the rest of the Union
and its institutions. The Commission and the candidate and
potential candidate countries are therefore asked to work with
local and regional authorities to develop the requisite legal and
financial framework for input of this kind. The political refer-
ence framework on the involvement of
local and regional
authorities could be a first step towards achieving this objective;

III. Project-related recommendations

Project-related guidelines

24.
notes that smaller cross-border projects conducted by
local and regional authorities provide vital added value since, as
past experience from a number of Member States shows, the
openness,
transparency and direct contact between partners
inherent in smaller projects engender mutual trust and produce
tangible results to practical problems;

notes that,

from experience, one fundamental

28.
factor
hindering the effective use of project funding is the insufficient
capacity of candidate and potential candidate countries to make
proper use of the support given to them. This applies to the
entire process — from application to implementation and
reporting — and is largely due to lack of experience. It should
be noted in this regard that language barriers and lack of tech-
nical know-how on the application procedures and project
management constitute major challenges for project start-up
and implementation. This further underscores the importance of
putting in place genuine support facilities under the IPA to help
local and regional authorities build up their administrative
capacity;

29.
would thus propose that the IPA incorporate a phased
approach that makes it possible to start off with smaller projects
before moving on to bigger ones once experience has been
gained and administrative capacity has increased;

recommends that a special budget heading be established
30.
within the IPA for small projects, as was the case in earlier
programmes such as the Phare Baltic Project Facility and the
Tacis Small Project Facility, and notes that, from 1998 to 2001,
259 projects were implemented under these programmes as
cooperative ventures between the Member States and Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova,
and that, in 2000, the European Court of Auditors' evaluation
of the Tacis programmes — and others — recommended that,
as it has proved so successful, more funding should be allocated
to the Tacis Small Project Facility;

25.
would stress in that connection that, as experience in
Romania and elsewhere has shown, resources accessible to fund
decentralised projects under the pre-accession instruments are
of key importance for institution-building at local and regional
level in the candidate and potential candidate countries;

31.
would at the same time draw attention, among other
things, to the experience from Turkey, which shows just how
smaller projects that frequently involve quite specific initiatives
do bring substantial added value to the Union as a whole, as
such projects are also a way to spread positive EU-related infor-
mation and knowledge at local and regional level and raise prac-
tical awareness of what the EU is about;

26.
recommends that all elements of the IPA be adjusted to
take account of local and regional authorities and NGOs, which
make a key contribution to enlargement processes. As experi-
ence from a number of Member States, including the UK and
Denmark, shows, local and regional authorities have difficulty in
reaching the lower support limit for cross-border projects under
the IPA;

27.
thus feels it is important that the IPA should devote
more attention to strengthening administrative capacity at local
and regional level rather than focusing solely on building up the
central administration. Unless local and regional authorities
have the requisite administrative capacity in place,
it will be
difficult to implement the aquis communautaire in any sustainable
way;

as

that,

points out

experience of past

32.
support
programmes shows, it is important that support under the IPA
should be provided with as little red tape as possible and should
not be split into too many phases, each with its own respective
grants, and thus feels that the programmes need flexible struc-
tures under which funding can be moved between the different
budget lines to reflect new developments, thereby helping to
build on and improve projects as they are implemented. In that
connection, the Committee of the Regions would also note that
cumbersome bureaucratic arrangements are particularly restric-
tive for smaller projects. The Committee of the Regions notes,
for instance, that, as experience in Serbia shows, delays in the
transfer of project funding to the appropriate authorities may
have untoward consequences;

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33.
notes that national organisations can help facilitate how
projects are run, for instance, by taking on an active role as a
contact point and information provider. Such organisations
often have the requisite know-how and are in a position to help
promote best practices in project management;

34.
draws attention to the successful cooperation between
Member States and Turkey, Croatia and the Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia under the EU's culture programme, and
between the Member States and Turkey under the EU's lifelong
learning programme, and also to the positive experience of
working together with Turkey, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia and Serbia under the EU's 7th frame-
work programme for research. The Committee of the Regions
notes that this approach — and the attendant exchange oppor-
tunities — should also be reflected in the IPA so as to more
readily facilitate local and regional-level exchanges of experts
from specific sectors between Member States, candidate coun-
tries and potential candidate countries;

notes the key importance of focusing on sector-specific
35.
expertise. As experience from Denmark and Poland shows,
involving local and regional experts who are engaged on a daily
basis with the specific issues at stake, facilitates focused dialogue
and is also conducive both to teamwork and to the learning
process. Experience from the UK indicates that exchanges of
experts must be seen as a positive two-way process, i.e. where
both sides learn from each other inasmuch as national sector-
based experts from the Member States are also able to benefit
from working together in this way. Experience from Italy and
Croatia shows that projects such as these, from which both
sides benefit, can pave the way for further projects and encou-
rage further cooperation;

36.
draws attention to the key importance of the lifelong
learning and training programmes, which are designed to ensure
learning does not stop at each individual project but
that
continues to develop and gain momentum, and notes that, as
experience from Romania and elsewhere shows, cooperation in
this field is vital to secure an effective and viable public sector;

37.
believes that a specific budget heading should be set
aside for interpretation, and notes that, as experience from
Estonia, Croatia and elsewhere shows, the planning and imple-
mentation of cross-border projects is hampered by lack of
access to professional interpreting since stakeholders are unable
to communicate in a way that is conducive to the success of the
project and to mutual understanding;

calls attention to the need for greater focus to be placed
38.
on project data as, in some cases, data have proved difficult to
access and to be of variable quality; this in turn can have an
adverse impact on project standards;

for

is vital

the development of

feels that a strong administrative capacity at all levels of
39.
government
institutional
reforms, and notes that such reforms risk being undermined if
there are weaknesses in the administrative structure. In Croatia
and Bosnia, for example, delays in the application of national
legislation are having a negative impact on project implementa-
tion at local and regional level;

notes therefore the need to focus on the potential chal-
40.
lenges involved in securing proper interplay between EU rules
and national legislation. In Serbia, for instance, inconsistencies
between tendering rules can result in misunderstandings and
delays in project implementation;

points out the importance of securing a viable balance
41.
between support for the various areas. As experience of past
enlargements shows, the development of the different sectors
involved has varied considerably. While progress has been made
in the aquis-based sectors that have been recognised as clear
political priorities, in other sectors, very little has been done.
This has resulted in a narrow focus on a small number of
sectors, so that other key public-sector areas have been deprived
both of resources and of the attention that is due them. For that
reason, a whole range of initiatives have been introduced in
these areas with undue haste and under enormous pressure of
time and resources. This in turn has compromised any scope for
achieving effective results;

would stress,

42.
in the light of the experiences outlined
above, that EU projects should be launched at an early stage of
the process so that
their implementation — and thus the
sought-for results — do not suffer needlessly because of pres-
sure of time;

43.
feels that a broader view must be taken of the political
criteria in order to take due account of the balance and interplay
needed between political criteria that are laid down by the EU
and those that are adopted at other, national levels. Past experi-
ence with the Phare programme has shown that some of the
support provided to meet the political criteria has proved inef-
fectual because of an overly narrow scope. The support has not
adequately reflected the need to address the interplay between
key areas such as public-sector reform, the development of civil
society, good governance and the fight against corruption.
Moreover the support has failed to reflect the key point that
many facets of the political criteria cannot be put into practice
without impacting on the economic criteria. It is thus important
that the local and regional level is involved in setting priorities
under the IPA so that support is determined on the basis of
that, as
genuine need. The Committee therefore points out
experience from Croatia makes clear, problems may arise if the
national development strategies fail to dovetail with the strate-
gies of external donors;

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44.
feels that, given the need for coordination between local,
regional and central tiers, the local and regional level should be
involved at an earlier stage in the process. Experience shows
that, where coordination is lacking, a great many activities are
launched from the central level that are not brought to bear at a
later stage in resolving issues arising at the local and regional
level. As a result, the potential of the activities and projects that
are launched is not exploited to the full;

45.
thus recommends enhanced coordination between the
central tier and local and regional authorities and would draw
attention inter alia to the Croatian regions of Sisak-Moslavina,
Slavonia, Osjecko-Baranjska, Lika-Senjand the cities of Varaždin
and Karlovac, which are seeking greater involvement in the
preparatory work for the operational programmes under the

Brussels, 27 November 2008.

IPA. This will also help secure consistency between what is actu-
ally needed and any activities that are launched;

therefore

proposes

as part of operative

46.
IPA
that,
programming, steps should be taken to encourage more input
from elected local and regional authorities, as has happened in
Croatia in relation to IPA component II (cross-border coopera-
tion). The Committee of the Regions notes that it is local and
regional authorities that have experience of — and are in touch
with — local and regional requirements and are thus in a posi-
tion to identify and help resolve the issues at hand. It is thus
recommended that this approach be extended to other applicant
countries and be expanded to include the other programme
priorities.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Luc VAN DEN BRANDE