Regions & cities of Europe. No 87, May-June 2014.
Date: 2014-07-21
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: European Union, municipality, region, regional development, regional policy, serial publication, urban area

ISSN 1681-3235

EUROPEAN UNION

Committee of the Regions

News from the EU’s assembly of regional and local representatives

20th Anniversary
of the Committee
of the
Regions

 Interview with President
Ramón Luis
Valcárcel Siso

6th European Summit 
of Regions  
and Cities  
in Athens

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Table of ConTenTs

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1 Editorial2Interview with Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso, President of the Committee of the Regions4 Special Feature: 20th Anniversary6Interview with Jacques Blanc,  First President of the Committee  of the Regions (1994-1996)126th European Summit of Regions  and Cities in AthensCharter forMultilevel Governancein Europe14Multilevel governance15Multilevel governance: Best practices17 Rapporteurs have their say21Brief News and Events24A traineeship at the Committee of the Regions Regions & Cities of Europe — N° 87Director of Publication: Laurent Thieule Editor-in-Chief: Branislav StanicekCommittee of the Regions Communication, Press and Events DirectorateRue Belliard/Belliardstraat 99–101 1040 Bruxelles/Brussel BELGIQUE/BELGIËTel. +32 222822211www.cor.europa.euRegions & Cities of Europe is a magazine of the Committee of the Regions, published by the Communication, Press and Events Directorate.The content of this magazine does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the European Union institutions. Neither the institutions/bodies of the European Union, nor any person acting on their behalf, can be held responsible for any misuse of the information provided here.© European Union, 2014Printed in BelgiumNº 87 –  May-JuNe 2014

ediTorial

The Committee of the Regions  
20 years on 

to ensure sustainable growth and quality jobs in 
the future. Cohesion amongst the Member States 
needs to be restored and the widening gap been 
the EU’s richest regions and those that are lagging 
furthest behind must be reduced.

The crisis has demonstrated very clearly that in 
the 21st century all levels of governance in the EU 
are interdependent and interconnected. Only by 
working together and building a European Union 
based  on  multilevel  governance  will  political 
leaders at all levels have a chance to restore and 
consolidate the European model of social market 
economy and our way of life for the future. It is 
against this background that I am calling for the 
strengthening  of  the  political  and  institutional 
role of the Committee as the sole EU Assembly 
of Regional and Local Representatives, embodying 
a  Europe  of  closer  cooperation,  legitimacy  and 
proximity. 

Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso (ES/EPP),  President of the Committee of the Regions

During  its  plenary  session  of  25-26  June, 

the  Committee  of  the  Regions  will  be 
celebrating its 20th anniversary. One week 
before  the  inauguration  of  the  newly  elected 
European Parliament and just a few months before 
the installation of the new College of European 
Commissioners, this will be an excellent occasion 
both to look back and think about what we have 
achieved  and  to  discuss  the  Committee’s  future 
role.

Looking  back,  the  Committee  has  indubitably 
made good use of the prerogatives provided for in 
the Treaties. As a consultative body, the Committee 
has  succeeded  in  influencing  the  key  pieces  of 
EU  legislation  with  a  direct  administrative, 
regulatory  or  financial  impact  on  regional  and 
local authorities. Over time, it has reinforced its 
role as a political assembly that gives expression 
to regional and local democracy at the European 
level. By encouraging the EU institutions and the 
Member States to engage actively with regions and 
cities, the Committee of the Regions has helped 
to build trust and close the ‘delivery gap’ of EU 
policies on the ground.

Since  its  inaugural  plenary  session  in  1994,  the 
Committee of the Regions’ tasks have gradually 
increased.  Strongly  advocating  a  subsidiarity-
based European Union, the Committee has seen 
itself  entrusted  with  the  task  of  working  with 
national  parliaments  to  uphold  the  subsidiarity 
principle. The Lisbon Treaty widened the policy 
areas for which the Committee must be consulted. 
Today,  not  only  the  European  Commission  but 
also the European Parliament and the Council of 
the European Union are making use of the CoR’s 

expertise, asking for its formal opinion on priority 
issues with local and regional relevance.

Meanwhile, the Committee has also taken steps 
to strengthen its ties with other EU institutions 
and organisations active within Europe’s borders 
and beyond. In line with its mission statement, the 
Committee has set up the networks and platforms 
needed to bring in the expertise of regional and 
local authorities for priority dossiers and engage 
more closely with the EU’s wider neighbourhood.

“As a consultative body, the 
Committee has succeeded in 
influencing the key pieces of 
EU legislation with a direct 
administrative, regulatory or 
financial impact on regional and 
local authorities.”

However, since the outbreak of the crisis in the 
autumn of 2008, the EU institutions, the Member 
States and regional and local authorities have all 
been called upon to revise the way they relate to 
each other and in particular the way they cooperate, 
in order to address the deep social and economic 
impact of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe. The 
EU needed to get back on the path towards recovery 
and sustainable growth. Certainly, the process of 
completing Economic Monetary Union has tested 
the resilience of public authorities at all levels, but 
it is my belief that ‘more Europe’ is indispensable 

Regions and Cities of euRope 1

inTerview

Interview with Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso, President of the Committee  
of the Regions 

Time to empower regions  
and cities in Europe
On the OccasiOn Of the 20th anniversary Of the cOmmittee Of the regiOns and at the end Of his mandate,  president ramón Luis 

vaLcárceL sisO shares his views Of the recent past and On the future Of the cOmmittee. in this interview he stressed that, after the 
mOst difficuLt financiaL crisis since the big depressiOn Of the 1930s, we nOw have a better understanding Of what it means tO wOrk 
tOgether at eurOpean, natiOnaL and regiOnaL LeveL tO find a sOLutiOn fOr the cOmmOn gOOd. Over the Last few years, we have cOme tO a much 
a better understanding Of the significance Of Our pOLiticaL uniOn as the apprOpriate LeveL fOr finding sOLutiOns tO Our shared ecOnOmic and 
financiaL wOes. eurOpe is based On respOnsibiLity and sOLidarity, twO cOncepts which must aLways be tO the fOrefrOnt when it cOmes tO finding 
respOnsibLe ways fOr OvercOming cOnfLicts and crises.

How  do  you  see  the  current  role  of  the 
Committee two years after the beginning of 
your mandate as its president and 20 years 
after its creation?  

First and foremost, we have no grounds for being 
pretentious: the Committee of the Regions is the 
one  of  the  smallest  EU  bodies.  Each  European 
pays around 20 cents a year to run our assembly, 
a  price  that  represents  good  value  for  money, 
because,  in  return,  we  ensure  that  the  voice  of 
regional and local authorities is heard in Brussels 
during all phases of the legislative process - before 
a legislative act is proposed by the Commission, 
during the legislative phase in the dialogue with 
the  Parliament,  Council,  and  even  with  the 
national parliaments on subsidiarity  issues, and at 
the end of the process, through  impact analyses 
and ex post evaluations of EU legislation, What 
makes the Committee unique is that the territorial 
diversity of Europe and multi-level governance are 
represented in Brussels. 

that the institutions that prepare EU legislation 
take note of our proposals.

What are the lessons we have learned from 
the current crisis? 

The  last  two  years  of  my  mandate,  have  shown 
that responsibility is the twin sister of solidarity. 
After  the  most  difficult  financial  crisis  since 
the  big  depression  of  the  1930s,  we  now  have  a 
better  understanding  of  what  it  means  to  work 
together at European, national and regional levels 
to find a solution for the common good. During 
the recent crisis, we have come to a much better 
understanding  of  the  meaning  of  our  political 
Union  as  our  common  destiny.  The  crisis  has 
shown that all levels of government in Europe are 
interdependent, and as a representative of regions 
and  cities,  I  have  clearly  advocated  for  “more 
Europe”.  It  is  by  acting  together,  particularly  at 
the European level, that we can support economic 
growth and the creation of new jobs.

As a politician at the regional level, I am a strong 
defender of the only body representing interests 
of regions in the institutional setting of Brussels, 
but I am never entirely satisfied. Since regions and 
cities have gained greater responsibilities over time 
in  the  Member  States,  we  should  call  for  more 
power  for  the  Committee  that  is  representing 
their interests and views at the EU level, at least as 
regards certain specific topics, in order to ensure 

I  am  convinced  that  an  increasingly  efficient 
Europe is the solution to our problems. We can 
agree  or  disagree  about  the  austerity  measures 
deployed during the crisis, but we cannot deny that 
standing together and never abandoning a country 
has saved the whole Union. I consider it necessary 
now to step up the political process to ensure that 
the Union can react to future stress and crises by 
completing the European Monetary Union with a 

genuine banking and fiscal Union. The European 
Central  Bank  should  secure  the  financial  and 
political  tools  to  be  used,  subject  to  democratic 
control,  to  defend  the  common  currency,  the 
internal market and the future of our economy. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  time  for  delivering 
results has come and employment policy should 
be  the  priority  for  all  levels  of  governance.  The 
Committee of the Regions approved the Athens 
Declaration last March in which we defended the 
need to reinforce the “territorial dimension” of the 
revised EU 2020 Strategy. We will only succeed if 
we include local and regional policy in the drafting 
and implementation of growth and jobs policies to 
take into account the diversity of our regions. 

Our work on the new Financial Perspective 2014-
2020 and the new cohesion policy has enabled us 
to help all of the regions and cities to find solutions 
for  coming  out  of  the  crisis.  We  have  clearly 
demonstrated in every case that solutions are built 
on a combination of responsibility and solidarity. 
This is the main message for our citizens: to stay 
connected  with  European  ideal  and  to  prevent 
the danger of populism. It is clear, that alongside 
good  policy  proposals,  we  need  to  think  about 
how best to communicate with our citizens and 
constituencies.

2

News  from the EU’s assembly of regional and local representatives

Nº 87 –  May-JuNe 2014

You  mentioned  peace  and  prosperity,  it  is 
clear that the European Union still has a big 
power of attraction but its own people have 
doubts… 

Partners, such as Ukraine or Georgia, where there 
are internal struggles and stability and freedom are 
under threat from outside. 

You  are  right.  Sometimes  we  are  too  pessimistic 
about our own fate. The Nobel Peace Prize for the 
European  Union  awarded  in  2012  showed  what 
an important role our common project has played 
for the welfare of the Europeans. But in a much 
more  tangible  and  concrete  way,  the  past  decade 
of  European  integration  and  enlargement  has 
yielded a good many results. For example, despite 
some  outstanding  problems,  in  some  countries, 
such as Slovakia, the GDP per capita has doubled 
since their accession to the EU in 2004. Poland has 
experienced high levels of growth and led the way in 
increasingly involving the regional level. 

The  current  aspirations  of  the  people  of  the 
Western Balkans, or of our Southern and Eastern 
neighbours, show that Europe is a Union that can 
provide  encouragement  and  support,  including 
financial help, for the struggle to overcome social 
and political challenges. Europe’s freedoms are the 
main  magnet  for  young  democracies.  European 
citizens have the right to discuss and that clearly 
gives them the right to object and criticise, as well as 
the right to defend different models for managing 
the European internal market, fiscal policies and 
the  common  currency,  but  they  must  remember 
that  the  essential  starting  point  is  freedom  and 
democracy, which many of them were deprived of 
before becoming citizens of the Union. What is the 
alternative? Take a look at what is happening in our 
neighbour countries, beginning with our Eastern 

It  is  obvious  that  Europe  can  still  attract  and 
inspire. When we look at what is happening today 
on  our  Eastern  border,  I  am  reminded  of  this 
historic  experience  of  democratic  transition.  At 
the  April  Plenary,  we  had  a  fruitful  debate  with 
the Commissioner in charge of Enlargement and 
European Neighbourhood Policy, Stefan Füle, and 
Volodymyr  Groysman,  Ukraine’s  Deputy  Prime 
Minister responsible for regional development. We 
are happy to contribute to the administrative reform 
initiated  by  the  interim  government  in  Ukraine, 
proposing European standards for their multilevel 
governance  and  decentralisation  based  on  the 
principle of subsidiarity. 

How do you see the future of the Committee 
and its institutional role? 

After 20 years, the Committee’s DNA is clear for all 
to see – we are here to promote and protect the local 
and regional dimension in Europe. This is why we 
are calling for a strict application of the principles 
of  subsidiarity,  proportionality  and  multilevel 
governance. It is possible that the Committee will 
further develop its consultative works and become 
increasingly involved in the legislative process with 
the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council.  The 
cooperation agreement I signed with the president 
of the European Parliament shows us path in that 
direction.

The path that we should follow to achieve these 
objectives  is  clear:  we  need  to  develop  a  sound 
strategy of partnerships with the Parliament and 
the  Council.  Our  assembly  is  a  political  body 
which by nature has a mandate to shape European 
legislation. Opinions alone would not be enough if 
the main political stakeholders were not prepared 
to give due weight to our deliberations. Therefore 
the Committee must engage in a high-level political 
debate with both the Parliament and the Council 
to identify together the best way to ensure that the 
voice of the regions and cities is taken into account 
when  the  moment  comes  to  make  decisions.  I 
would like to stress that only by exercising this right 
in practice in the long term will the real political 
consequences  for  the  European  decision-making 
process and the Committee itself be revealed. 

Finally, the Committee must also develop closer ties 
with national parliaments and legal assemblies of 
regional authorities, such as the German Bundesrat. 
I addressed the German Länders’ representatives 
at the Bundesrat plenary session last December in 
Berlin. There I confirmed the role of the Committee 
as the guarantor of the subsidiarity principle and 
stressed the need for a concerted effort to reaffirm 
core European values, starting with the crucial role 
of the regions in contributing to economic recovery 
and social cohesion.  

We are taking the right road forward. We will continue 
to encounter fresh obstacles but, with commitment 
and determination, I have no doubt that we will once 
again find new solutions to overcome them. 

Regions and Cities of euRope 3

4

News  from the EU’s assembly of regional and local representatives

Nº 87 –  May-JuNe 2014

20th Anniversary of the 
Committee of the Regions

EstablishEd 20 yEars ago in 1994, thE CommittEE of thE rEgions was sEt up to addrEss two main issuEs. firstly, about thrEE-

quartErs of Eu lEgislation is implEmEntEd at loCal or rEgional lEvEl, so it madE sEnsE for loCal and rEgional rEprEsEntativEs to 
havE a say in thE dEvElopmEnt of nEw Eu laws. sECondly, thErE wErE ConCErns that thErE was a widEning gap bEtwEEn thE publiC 
and thE proCEss of EuropEan intEgration; involving thE ElECtEd lEvEl of govErnmEnt ClosEst to thE publiC was onE way of Closing thE 
gap. in this spECial fEaturE wE intErviEw JaCquEs blanC, thE first Cor prEsidEnt (1994-1996), who givEs us his aCCount of thE Cor’s 
birth and first fEw yEars, and rEprEsEntativEs of thE politiCal groups givE us thEir viEws rEgarding thE most important ChallEngEs that 
thE Cor will faCE in thE nExt 20 yEars.

Regions and Cities of euRope 5

SpecIal Feature   |   20th anniveRsaRy

20Th anniversary

Interview with Jacques Blanc,  
First President of the Committee of the Regions (1994-1996)

The Committee must continue to be 
Europe’s voice in the regions

eLected  president  Of  the  cOmmittee 

Of  the  regiOns  in  march  1994, 
Jacques bLanc, the epp mayOr Of La 
canOurgue  (france),  LOOks  back  Over  the 
institutiOn’s  deveLOpment  and  its  first  steps 
after becOming part Of the eurOpean uniOn’s 
institutiOnaL  architecture.  as  sOmeOne 
whO has served the cOmmittee as a member 
cOntinuOusLy frOm the very beginning, he aLsO 
shares his views On what the future hOLds fOr 
this pOLiticaL assembLy.

Delors had temporarily set up. I made considerable 
efforts at the time to ensure that the Treaty put 
in place a genuine Committee of the Regions that 
was recognised as an institution. I even went to see 
Chancellor Kohl in Bonn to make him aware of 
the situation. But, it has to be said that this was 
not a priority for European Heads of State and 
Government at the time.

Of  course,  the  federal  states  viewed  it  as  the 
seeds  of  a  “European  Senate”,  but  many  of  the 
countries  that  were  still  centralised,  including 
France,  needed  to  understand  that  the  regional 
aspect could not be disregarded because anything 
that brought Brussels closer to the grass roots was 
essential for making Community policies effective 
and for overcoming the remote, impersonal and 
technocratic image that the European Union still 
all too frequently projects.

Were  you  happy  with  the  definition  of  the 
Committee’s  role  as  set  out  in  the  1992 
Maastricht Treaty?

You know, negotiations on creating a new body 
are  never  easy.  In  the  process  of  drafting  the 
Maastricht Treaty which created the Committee 
of the Regions, the members of the Consultative 
Council of Regional and Local Authorities set the 

Jacques Blanc with José Manuel Barroso, Mercedes Bresso and Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso

Can you describe the French and European 
political background that set the scene for 
the preparations to establish the Committee 
of the Regions?

for the Single European Market to become widely 
accepted. Regional development was essential for 
everyone to iron out the imbalances between the 
different regions in Europe.

We  have  to  go  back  to  1986  and  France’s  first 
direct election of regional presidents by universal 
suffrage,  when  I  became  leader  of  Languedoc-
Roussillon and then president of the Association 
Nationale des Elus Régionaux (ANER) (National 
Association of Elected Regional Representatives), 
a  body  which  provided  a  forum  for  regional 
representatives  to  work  on  bold  European 
approaches and beliefs.

This  was  also  a  period  that  coincided  with  the 
opening of the first regional offices in Brussels, 
which were followed by many others in the wake 
of the Committee’s establishment.

So 
the  Committee  was  a  political 
metamorphosis of the Consultative Committee 
set up by the European Commission under the 
presidency of Jacques Delors? 

The  Single  Act  of  1987  sealed  Europe’s  shared 
destiny, since it was clear that greater economic 
and social cohesion in the Community was needed 

When the negotiations on the Maastricht Treaty 
began, I was a member of the Consultative Council 
of  Regional  and  Local  Authorities  that  Jacques 

6

News  from the EU’s assembly of regional and local representatives

Nº 87 –  May-JuNe 2014

Wanting to remove the Committee of the Regions 
from the map would be to cut the Union off from 
its local level of governance. It would be leaving 
the  field  open  for  national  capitals  to  settle 
matters  between  themselves  and  would  widen 
the  gap  between  the  Union  and  its  citizens.  By 
stigmatising  the  EU  and  its  institutions  and 
portraying Brussels as being solely responsible for 
the causes and effects of the economic crisis in the 
Member States, the eurosceptics are doing their 
voters a grave disservice. They are making them 
believe that the solution is entirely in the hands of 
the Member States and are glossing over the major 
contribution that cities and regions make to the 
EU structure.

How  do  you  see  the  future  and  the  role  of 
the Committee over the next twenty years? 

To  be  honest,  I  have  never  been  in  favour  of  a 
federalist shift towards a Europe of the regions, 
but I want the regions to help present a positive 
image  of  Europe  -  of  a  Europe  made  up  of  its 
regions and cities. In that respect, I believe that 
pursuing greater interinstitutional and legislative 
cooperation  would  allow  the  Committee  of 
the  Regions  to  wield  greater  influence  over  the 
European  Union’s  decision-making  process; 
the  Committee  must  step  up  its  involvement 
throughout the legislative cycle and use its right of 
recourse to the European Union’s Court of Justice 
if necessary.

There is one clear option and that is to put in place 
more structured cooperation with the European 
Parliament, the national parliaments, the second 
chambers representing the regional dimension at 
national  level  and  the  regional  parliaments  and 
to  use  the  early  warning  system  in  the  form  of 
reasoned opinions from the regional authorities. 
Moreover,  the  Committee  of  the  Regions  and 
its  members  have  a  fundamental  role  to  play 
in  restoring  confidence  between  the  European 
institutions and the people of Europe and in re-
defining  the  Union’s  political  priorities  so  that 
they meet the people’s concerns and are seen to be 
in tune with them. 

The people of Europe clearly expect their local and 
regional representatives to be more closely involved 
in European governance. That is why we need to 
call on the Member States to give the Committee 
of the Regions the resources to fully exercise its 
role  as  Europe’s  ambassador  and  spokesperson 
in the regions, cities and municipalities so as to 
maintain  and  consolidate  close  links  with  the 
people of Europe. 

And so I found myself heading a committee with 
an impressive list of members: minister-presidents 
of German federal states and Belgian regions, the 
presidents of Spanish autonomous communities, 
presidents of Italian regions, the mayors of Rome, 
Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, Hamburg, Helsinki...

What  were  relations 
like  between  the 
Committee, the European Commission and 
the European Parliament during your term 
of office? 

One of the very first things I did on taking office 
as president of the Committee of the Regions was 
to set the agenda, which was to define subsidiarity 
and make it meaningful, because people need to 
feel that decisions are being taken as close to them 
as possible. This principle enabled the Committee 
to establish its boundaries and its positions within 
the European legislative process. The Committee’s 
prerogatives in this area are clear and the Lisbon 
Treaty  made  it  possible  to  clarify  our  relations 
with the other European institutions. My first job 
as president of the Committee of the Regions was 
to put across this message to my counterparts in 
the other European institutions.

“The Committee of the Regions  
and its members have a 
fundamental role to play in 
restoring confidence between the 
European institutions and the 
people of Europe.”

There was another issue close to my heart during 
my  term  of  office  from  1994  to  1996  and  that 
was preparing Europe for the process of coming 
together with the countries of the Mediterranean 
that  was  bound  to  happen  at  some  point:  the 
Barcelona process was launched in 1995 and I was 
part of it, but the North-South balance is still an 
issue and I am pleased that the Committee of the 
Regions set up ARLEM, the Euro-Mediterranean 
Regional  and  Local  Assembly  which  allows  for 
decentralised cooperation in the Mediterranean.

There are calls from time to time, particularly 
from the populist members of the European 
Parliament, to abolish the Committee. What 
would you say to these eurosceptics? 

The desire to do away with a European institution 
such  as  the  Committee  of  the  Regions,  which 
was set up precisely to bring the European Union 
closer to its regions, is part of a populist political 
approach that I am proud to oppose, both as an 
elected regional representative, a European citizen 
and  a  politician  who  is  convinced  that  we  need 
more Europe, not less.

Regions and Cities of euRope 7

First issue of the CoR newsletter, 1994

bar a little higher than the level that was finally 
approved. The desire to play a fully legislative role 
was erased beneath the consultative powers that 
were  finally  granted  to  the  Committee  of  the 
Regions. 

We  should  also  not  forget  the  fact  that  certain 
elements  within  the  European  Parliament  were 
looking  on  with  curiosity  if  not  concern  at  the 
prospect  of  an  assembly  made  up  of  political 
heavyweights, including presidents of large regions 
and mayors of major cities, becoming part of the 
European architecture.

I  believe  that  the  Treaty  of  Maastricht  created 
the  right  framework  for  addressing  the  need  to 
provide an appropriate level of representation for 
local  and  regional  authorities  in  Brussels.  The 
treaties of Amsterdam, Nice and Lisbon in turn 
consolidated and enhanced this framework, giving 
the Committee of the Regions a broader remit.

What  was  the  atmosphere  like  during  the 
inaugural plenary session that elected you 
as president of the Committee?

I have to say that my election as president of the 
Committee  of  the  Regions  in  1994  came  as  a 
surprise to quite a few people as I had no support 
from  the  EPP,  the  main  political  force  of  the 
centre and right, nor from the PES of course, nor 
even the unanimous support of the Assembly of 
European Regions. I waged a personal campaign 
that  brought  me  face-to-face  with  more  than 
half  of  the  189  members  of  the  Committee  of 
the Regions. This enabled me to secure the post 
ahead of my friend Luc Van den Brande, the then 
president of Flanders, and the Socialist mayor of 
Barcelona, Pasqual Maragall, who became my first 
vice-president.

SpecIal Feature   |   20th anniveRsaRy

1988

European 

Commission 
The 
presided  by  Jacques  Delors  sets 
up  the  Consultative  Council  of 
Regional  and  Local  Authorities, 
thereby inaugurating the method 
of consultation with intermediary 
levels of government.

1992
is  officially  created 
The  CoR 
by  the  Maastricht  Treaty  as  a 
consultative assembly which will 
provide regions and towns with a 
voice  in  the  EU  decision-making 
process.  189  members  are  to  be 
nominated by the governments of 
Member States and will serve for 
four years. 

1994
The  CoR  holds  its  first  plenary 
session in Brussels. Jacques Blanc 
(ES/PES), president of the French 
region  of  Languedoc-Roussillon, 
is elected first CoR president.

1995
Addressing  the  plenary  session, 
European  Parliament  president 
Klaus Hänsch hails the Committee 
as  a  “major  political  assembly,” 
the  Committee 
adding 
and 
not 
“are 
competitors but partners, with a 
complementary role.”

that 
Parliament 

1996
Pasqual Maragall i Mira (FR/PES), 
mayor of Barcelona, is elected CoR 
president. He pledges to focus on 
building a transparent, legitimate 
for 
internal  organisation  and 
the  CoR  to  be  given  institutional 
status.

1997
The Amsterdam Treaty is signed. 
The  Treaty 
consolidates  and 
extends  the  CoR’s  role  as  an  EU 
consultative  body.  By  abolishing 
the  Amsterdam 
Protocol  16, 
Treaty 
establishes 
administrative  and  budgetary 
autonomy for the CoR.

also 

I am pleased to note the success of the Committee of the Regions,  
after a difficult and turbulent start

Jacques Delors,  Former President of the European Commission (1985-1995)

In  the  early  1990s,  after  the  adoption  of  the 

Single European Act and the creation of cohe-
sion policy, it quickly became clear to me that 
a new institution was needed in which the regions 
and all other authorities at local level could make 
their voice heard, and play a role – complementary 
to that of the Parliament – in relaying the views 
of Europeans. Indeed, it is essential that the Eu-
ropean project and its policies take on a tangible 

form close to everyday life, with local projects. All 
elected representatives, and not just those at na-
tional and European levels, must take ownership 
of the EU and its policies and communicate them 
to Europe’s cities, towns and villages.

While the Committee of the Regions had a difficult 
and turbulent start, I am pleased to see that it is 
now a success. It is playing an increasing role in 

alerting all who work in Brussels to what is feasible 
and what is not, to the problems that need to be 
resolved, and of course to the depth of inventiveness 
among Europe’s people. I remain convinced that 
Europe  cannot  move  forward  unless  it  is  deeply 
rooted in its cultural and regional diversity. The 
Committee of the Regions has a pivotal role to play 
in accomplishing this task. 

We could undoubtedly become the Senate of Europe!

Mercedes Bresso (IT/PES),  First Vice-President of the Committee of the Regions

On the eve of our 20th anniversary, and look-

ing forward to the future, it is crucial to 
clarify the Committee of the Region’s role 
as  a  political  assembly.  The  ‘added  value’  of  the 
Committee of the Regions and its members is that 

their involvement in EU legislation and in com-
municating on European integration provides po-
litical legitimacy, which is complementary to that 
of the directly-elected members of the European 
Parliament and that of the national governments 

represented in the Council of Ministers. We could 
undoubtedly become the Senate of Europe! Our 
democratic legitimacy is bolstered by our regular 
dialogue at local and regional level! 

8

News  from the EU’s assembly of regional and local representatives

Nº 87 –  May-JuNe 2014

1998
Manfred  Dammeyer 
(DE/PES), 
minister for federal and European 
affairs in the German federal state 
of  North-Rhine-Westphalia, 
is 
elected  CoR  president.  He  calls 
for  the  regions,  federal  states 
or  provinces 
to  have  greater 
autonomy in the management of 
the Structural Funds. 

1999
The  euro  is  officially  launched. 
Austria, 
Finland, 
Belgium, 
France,  Germany,  Ireland,  Italy, 
Luxembourg,  The  Netherlands, 
Portugal and Spain adopt the euro 
as their official currency.

2000
Jos  Chabert  (BE/PES),  minister 
for  public  works  and  transport 
in  the  Brussels-Capital  Region 
is  elected  CoR 
government, 
the 
urges 
He 
president. 
Committee  to  forge  closer  links 
with the European Parliament and 
the Council of Ministers. 

2001
The  Laeken  Summit  sets  up  the 
Convention  on  the  Future  of 
Europe, 
tasked  with  drawing 
up  a  draft  EU  Constitution.  CoR 
member Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, 
chairman of the Regional Council 
of  the  Auvergne,  is  appointed 
convention chairman.

2002
Sir  Albert  Bore  (UK/PES),  leader 
of  Birmingham  City  Council, 
is  elected  CoR  president.  He 
identifies  two  key  aims  for  his 
tenure:  to  ensure  that  regional 
policy  remains  a  driving  force  at 
the  heart  of  the  EU  agenda;  and 
to tackle the “democratic deficit”. 

2003
Addressing  the  plenary  session, 
European  Commission  president 
Romano Prodi calls for the CoR to 
have  a  role  in  the  future  system 
for monitoring subsidiarity.

The Committee is now a true 
political partner 

Over  the  last  20  years,  the  EPP  Group  in 

the  Committee  of  the  Regions,  together 
with  the  European  People’s  Party,  have 
encouraged  a  strong  position  for  the  regions 
as  key  actors  in  the  EU  for  responding  to  the 
vital  need  for  better  law-making,  strengthening 
European democracy and reducing its democratic 
deficit.  Adopted  in  2012,  the  Political  Platform 
of  the  EPP  formally  supports  the  contribution 
of  the  Committee  of  the  Regions  as  a  political 
assembly and as an institutional body of the EU 
that  defends  the  interests  of  regions  and  cities 
throughout the legislative process. Moreover, the 
EPP is the political family represented most widely 
throughout European cities and regions. We see 

the promotion of regional and local authorities as 
an added value for further European integration. 

In the past 20 years, the Committee of the Regions 
has seen its role as a true political partner recognised 
by the EU’s main institutions. However, this would 
not  have  been  possible  without  the  committed 
work  of  the  five  CoR  Presidents  from  the  EPP 
Group: Jacques Blanc, Jos Chabert, Peter Straub, 
Luc Van den Brande and Ramon Luis Valcárcel 
Siso. Over the years, we have stepped up our work 
with the EPP Group in the European Parliament. 
In this context, we warmly welcome the signature 
of the cooperation agreement between the EP and 
the  CoR  whose  political  section  focuses  on  the 
political synergies between the two institutions for 
ensuring better framing of EU legislation. 

The first EPP/CoR external Group meeting took 
place in Santiago de Compostela on 21 July 2001 

and the last one was held on 25 April 2014, just 
one month before the European elections. This last 
event, organised in Poznan (Poland), provided the 
opportunity for leading political figures, including 
the  Polish  Prime  Minister,  Donald  Tusk,  and 
the candidate for the EC President, Jean Claude 
Juncker, to fight for a strong role for the Committee 
of the Regions throughout the legislative process. 
Furthermore,  Jean  Claude  Juncker  expressed 
his  full  support  for  the  Charter  for  Multilevel 
Governance in Europe adopted at the CoR plenary 
session on 3 April 2014.

Michael Schneider (DE/EPP), 
President of the EPP Group  
in the Committee of the Regions

The Committee helps to turn 
territorial cohesion into reality

In the twenty years of its existence, the Commit-

tee of the Regions has gained considerable insti-
tutional and political standing in the European 
decision-making arena thanks to the tireless efforts 
of its members and the support of its administra-
tion to make the voice of local and regional authori-
ties heard in the EU. I am proud to have been part 
of this endeavour for the last 16 years and I firmly 
believe that political groups have played a crucial 
role throughout this process: they have been bring-
ing together CoR members who belong to the same 
European political family, offering them a platform 
for exchanging good practices and a political lever 
for connecting with the other political institutions 

of the European Union. In practical terms, politi-
cal groups in the CoR have been bridging the gap 
between local and regional political realities on the 
one hand and the European political sphere on the 
other.

The  Group  of  the  Party  of  European  Socialists 
(PES) I have the honour of leading has been striving, 
ever since the CoR’s inception, to turn territorial 
cohesion into reality so that no European region 
is left behind and to ensure that cohesion policy is 
firmly anchored in the priorities of all European 
institutions.  It  is  no  coincidence  that  the  PES 
Group has been a key actor in two of the CoR’s 
major political achievements - the creation of the 
European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation 
(EGTC) and the establishment of an intermediate 
funding category in the new cohesion policy 2014-
2020.

The PES Group has also continuously prioritised 
fair economic governance that empowers regions 
and  cities  to  invest  in  public  services  and  in  job 
creation,  which  has  been  a  challenge,  given  the 
indiscriminate application of austerity measures in 
the wake of the crisis. To give a concrete example: 
at our group’s initiative, social housing has been 
put on the agenda of this house and consequently 
that of the European Parliament. The CoR’s focus 
on  state  aid,  which  until  recently  was  a  kind  of 
democratic no man’s land, also largely reflects our 
approach. 

Karl-Heinz Lambertz (BE/PES), 
President of the PES Group  
in the Committee of the Regions

Regions and Cities of euRope 9

SpecIal Feature   |   20th anniveRsaRy

2004
Peter Straub (DE/EPP), speaker of 
the  German  regional  parliament 
of 
is 
Baden-Württemberg, 
elected  CoR  president.  His  key 
aims include strengthening inter-
institutional relations and raising 
awareness about the work of the 
CoR in the new Member States. 

2005
A  co-operation  agreement  was 
signed with the Congress of Local 
and  Regional  Authorities  of  the 
Council  of  Europe.  Local  election 
observation  missions  carried  out 
by the Congress have been open 
to members of the Committee of 
the Regions.

2006
Delebarre 
(FR/PES), 
Michel 
mayor of Dunkirk, is elected CoR 
president. He states his desire to 
make the CoR a genuinely political 
European assembly.

2007
The Treaty of Lisbon is signed. It 
states that the CoR has the right 
to  bring  legal  actions  before  the 
Court  of  Justice  to  protect  its 
powers or to annul EU legislation 
that  violates 
subsidiarity 
the 
principle.

2009
Around 300 representatives from 
local  and 
regional  authorities 
from  all  over  the  world  meet 
with  their  CoR  counterparts  in 
the  first  Assizes  of  Decentralised 
Cooperation in Brussels.

2008
Luc  Van  den  Brande  (BE/EPP), 
is  elected  CoR  president.  His 
priorities are the implementation 
of  the  Lisbon  Strategy,  the  EU 
and 
Neighbourhood 
the  Euro-
the  setting-up  of 
Mediterranean 
of 
Local  and  Regional  Authorities 
(ARLEM). 

Assembly 

Policy 

A strong voice of localism  
in the EU

We can be proud of the results  
we have achieved

In the coming 20 years, we must strive for a more 

effective, efficient and influential Committee 
of the Regions. Our 20 year anniversary offers 
an important opportunity to celebrate our mile-
stones and a chance to reflect on our future goals. 

We  must  be  a  strong  voice  of  localism  and 
realism in the EU. We must pass on our local and 
regional  hands-on  experiences  to  the  EU  level 
and ensure that the decisions taken in Brussels 
are taken as close to the people as possible. We 
must also be critical and ensure that what the EU 
does  addresses  concrete  challenges  rather  than 
producing administrative burdens. 

The  ECR  Group,  which  was  set  up  under  my 
leadership  in  2013,  has  flourished  through  the 
mandate. With the continued hard work of our 
growing membership, we will be working hard for 
an effective, efficient and influential Committee 
of the Regions.

When  the  Committee  of  the  Regions 

was established as the parliamentary 
assembly of local and regional politi-
cians 20 years ago, it was done to ensure that they 
would have a voice in the EU decision-making 
process.  A natural progression of any political 
assembly is to create political groups and there 
were four groups set up in the CoR’s infancy, one 
of which was the European Alliance group.  

Our predecessors created the European Alliance 
group for members who wanted to ensure that 
those  who  sought  a  greater  identity  for  their 
nations,  regions,  languages  and  culture  had  a 
voice, for those who were members representing 
small farming communities to secure a balanced 
urban  –  rural  agenda  and  for  those  who  had 
a  clear  view  as  to  how  long  term  sustainable 
social and environmental development could be 
achieved.  These remain part of our core values.  
Our group believes in consensus politics, where 
the views of individual members are respected, 
and for this reason many independent members 
of local and regional authorities across the EU 
have joined and are continuing to join our group.

After 20 years, we can be proud of the results 
we  have  achieved,  but  as  always  there  is 
more  to  be  done  to  create  a  Europe  for  our 
future  generations.  As  a  result  of  the  broader 
responsibilities acquired by the CoR under the 
Lisbon Treaty, our institution has been widely 
recognised  as  the  guardian  of  the  principle  of 
subsidiarity. Many of our former members, after 
serving the CoR, have moved forward in their 
political careers and hold important positions in 
their countries or in the European Parliament.

However,  there  is  no  room  for  complacency. 
There is a crisis to fight which is as important 
as  the  economic  and  financial  crisis.  It  is  a 
about  our  citizens  and  it  is  about  economic 
and social cohesion. The European Alliance is 
committed  to  strengthening  the  role  the  CoR 
and its members play in developing the European 
Union’s policies.

Gordon Keymer (UK/ECR), 
President of the ECR Group in the 
Committee of the Regions

Uno Silberg (EE/EA), 
President of the European Alliance Group in the Committee of the Regions

10

News  from the EU’s assembly of regional and local representatives

Nº 87 –  May-JuNe 2014

2010
Mercedes  Bresso  (PES/IT),  a  member 
of  the  Piedmont  regional  council,  is 
elected  CoR  president.  Her  priorities 
are  implementing  the  provisions  of  the 
Lisbon Treaty, the reform of the cohesion 
policy and the Europe 2020 strategy. 

2011
The  Conference  of  Regional  and  Local 
Authorities  for  the  Eastern  Partnership 
(CORLEAP)  is  inaugurated  in  the  Polish 
city  of  Poznań.  The  new  platform 
brings  together  36  local  and  regional 
representatives 
the  EU  and 
from 
Armenia,  Azerbaijan,  Belarus,  Georgia, 
Moldova and Ukraine.

2012
Luis  Valcárcel  Siso 

(EPP/
Ramón 
ES),  president  of 
the  Autonomous 
Community  of  Murcia,  is  elected  CoR 
president.  In  his  speech  to  the  plenary 
session,  he  says  that  “our  main  goal 
remains to increase the capacity of local 
and regional authorities to drive growth, 
and  create 
jobs  contributing  to  the 
deepening of the economic union.”

2013
The CoR reaches a milestone anniversary 
–  100  plenaries.  This  plenary  session 
also sees the formation of a fifth political 
group  at  the  CoR  –  the  European 
Conservatives  and  Reformists  Group 
(ECR)  chaired  by  Councillor  Gordon 
Keymer  from  the  UK.  He  joins  the  four 
chairmen  of  the  established  political 
groups at the CoR . 

2014
During its 107th plenary session, the CoR 
celebrates its 20th anniversary. Following 
Croatia’s accession to the EU, it now has 
353 members.

The CoR must work with even 
greater determination

The Committee of the Regions has come a long 
way since its early days two decades ago. Its impact 
on EU policy is steadily growing, and its level of 
responsibility  has  increased  significantly  over 
the years, and with the various treaty changes. It 
has taken considerable time, but the recognition 
that  municipalities  and  regions  have  become 
vital partners in the multilevel governance of the 
European Union as well as in the delivery of the 
EU’s  key  economic,  social  and  environmental 
goals, is now widespread. 

This  is  thanks  to  the  valuable  expertise  that 
local  and  regional  representatives  bring  to  the 
development  and  implementation  of  EU  policy, 
based on their unique experience on the ground. 
However, the CoR must work with even greater 
determination  and  effectiveness  to  continue 
demonstrating its added value and to guarantee 
a strong future for local and regional authorities 
in the EU policy process. The ALDE Group will 
continue to press for the CoR to focus all its efforts 
towards bringing about this important goal.

Bas Verkerk (NL/ALDE), 
President of the ALDE Group 
in the Committee of the 
Regions

1994 - 2014
A T   A   G L A N C E

2700
Members

Since 1994

107
Plenary sessions 

0,20€
Annual costs

Per EU citizen

1159
Opinions adopted

And 79 resolutions

11
OPEN DAYS

Welcoming each year
6000 participants

Regions and Cities of euRope 11

6th EUROPEAN
SUMMIT
OF
REGIONS
AND CITIES

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7-8|3|2014

Opening speech by Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso, President of the Committee of the Regions

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6th European Summit 
of Regions and Cities 
in Athens
The Committee of the Regions, together with 

the Region of Attica, organised the 6th Euro-
pean Summit of Regions and Cities in Ath-
ens on 7 and 8 March 2014. The objective of the 
Summit was to take stock of the efforts made at 
European, national, regional and local level to de-
liver job-rich recovery. It also brought a high-level 
debate with European political leaders about the 
2014 European elections and the future of the EU. 
Participants adopted an “Athens Declaration on 
the mid-term review of Europe 2020 – a Territo-
rial Vision for Growth and Jobs”. 

The event welcomed a total of 1400 participants 
including  members  of  the  CoR  and  of  national, 
regional and local parliaments and councils, stake-
holders from the Greek civil society, representa-

12

News  from the EU’s assembly of regional and local representatives

tives of associations, journalists and experts from 
the  EU  institutions.  Among  keynote  speakers 
were  José  Manuel  Barroso,  President  of  the  Eu-
ropean Commission, Werner Hoyer, President of 
the European Investment Bank, Evangelos Veni-
zelos, Deputy Prime Minister of Greece, Yiannis 
Michelakis, Minister of the Interior of Greece and 
host of the event Ioannis Sgouros, Governor of the 
Attica Region. 

A large collection of speeches, presentations and 
background  documentation  has  been  published 
on  the  Summit’s  website.  Most  of  the  key  note 
speeches  and  panel  debates  were  also  video  re-
corded and are available online: www.cor.europa.
eu/athens2014 

 In his opening speech, Ramón Luis Valcárcel 

Siso, President of the Committee of the Re-
gions,  noted  that  the  latest  economic  forecasts 
showed that while there had been some signs of 
growth in Europe, unacceptable disparities still ex-
isted between the regions. If we wanted to ensure 
that  the  European  growth  strategy  did  not  fail 
once again, there was a need for regional targets, 
partnerships between all levels of government and 
adequate funding to make recovery a real prospect 
for all EU citizens.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Nº 87 –  May-JuNe 2014

 In  his  welcome  speech,  Ioannis  Sgouros, 

President of Attica region, discussed the sit-
uation from the perspective of the Greek regions. 
Noting the critical situation in his own country 
and in the rest of the EU, he called for a review of 
the role of the Committee of the Regions and of 
regional and local government in economic devel-
opment, innovation and social welfare.

 Debate with José Manuel Barroso, President 

of the European Commission, and Ramón 
Luis Valcárcel Siso, President of the Committee of 
the Regions on the EU’s future challenges and pri-
orities. Commission President Barroso’s answer to 
the question of the EU’s top priority was: “Jobs, 
jobs and jobs”. He also congratulated the Commit-
tee of Regions on its 20th anniversary and thanked 
the committee for the extremely constructive co-
operation which it had developed over the years 
with the European Commission.

 EIB President Werner Hoyer warned that 

reality was often harder to handle than sta-
tistics, and that the disparities within the EU had 
never been so large, especially as regards employ-
ment rates and levels of private investment. Over 
the past seven years, Europe had been forced to 
manage  the  crisis  while  much  of  the  rest  of  the 
world had continued moving forward. To tackle 
this situation, he emphasised that convergence and 
subsidiarity should be the key principles for shap-
ing the EU’s growth eff orts in the coming months 
and years.

 Mercedes Bresso, First Vice-President of the 

Committee  of  the  Regions  with  Malcolm 
Harbour MEP and Werner Hoyer, President of 
the European Investment Bank. Mercedes Bresso 
presented the results of the intensive and complex 
analysis which the CoR had delivered over the past 
15  months  on  the  achievements  of  the  Europe 
2020 strategy so far. Based on stakeholder surveys 
and consultations, thematic conferences and other 
assessments,  the  CoR  Bureau  had  adopted  the 
Athens Declaration shortly before the Summit be-
gan, setting out the main observations and recom-
mendations for Europe’s growth strategy from a 
local and regional perspective. Malcolm Harbour, 
MEP recalled the work done by the EP committee 
he chaired to strengthen the internal market so 
that it helped Europe 2020 to deliver.

 Debate with Yves Leterme, deputy secretary-

general of the OECD, Ramón Luis Valcárcel 
Siso, President of the Committee of the Regions, 
and Antonio Costa, Mayor of Lisbon. Addressing 
the critical importance of regions and cities in de-
livering, inclusive, sustainable and job-rich growth 
for  Europe,  Yves  Leterme  started  by  admitting 
that the path from crisis to recovery had already 
been long. One of the consequences was a signifi 
cant drop to a record low of 40% in the level of 
public trust in politicians, authorities and institu-
tions. The economic recovery remained very frag-
ile and everyone was worried by high unemploy-
ment and in particular by youth unemployment.

Regions and Cities of euRope 13

Charter for
Multilevel Governance
in Europe

MulTilevel governanCe
Charter for Multilevel Governance opened for signatures

On the OccasiOn Of eurOpe day On 9 may, the eu’s cOmmittee Of the regiOns caLLed aLL LOcaL and regiOnaL authOrities tO sign up tO the 
“charter fOr muLtiLeveL gOvernance in eurOpe”. with this charter, the cOr urges aLL LeveLs Of gOvernment tO use “muLtiLeveL gOvernance” 
as a guiding principLe in pOLicy design, heLping tO Learn frOm each Other, share best practices and further deveLOp participatOry demOcracy. the 
charter is avaiLabLe OnLine and is Open fOr eLectrOnic signature by cities and regiOns at www.cOr.eurOpa.eu/mLgcharter.

Adopted by the CoR on 3 April and support-

ed by the Congress of Local and Regional 
Authorities of the Council of Europe, the 
Charter  is  a  political  manifesto  from  European 
cities and regions inviting all public authorities to 
make “multilevel governance” a reality in day-to-
day policy-making and delivery. This primarily in-
volves working in partnership between the differ-
ent levels of government (local, regional, national 
and European) and applying a set of principles that 
should guide efficient policy-making, such as par-
ticipation,  cooperation,  openness,  transparency, 
inclusiveness  and  policy  coherence,  all  of  which 
are essential conditions to guarantee the success of 
public policies in the interest of the citizens.

President of the CoR Ramón Luis Valcárcel said: 
“On Europe Day, the launch of the signatory cam-
paign on the Charter for Multilevel Governance 

marks  the  strong  will  of  regional  and  local  au-
thorities all across Europe to become fully-fledged 
partners in EU policy making. Only together can 
actors at all levels of governance close the ‘delivery 
gap’ ensuring the EU meets its objectives on sus-
tainable growth, quality jobs and territorial cohe-
sion”. 

Although  not  legally  binding,  the  Charter  will 
commit its signatories to use multilevel governance 
in the management of public policies, to launch 
projects in partnership with both the public and 
private sectors, to further develop territorial co-
operation and to modernise their administration. 
This is all part of the CoRs’ commitment to ensur-
ing a good application of the subsidiarity principle, 
which places decisions at the most effective level 
and as close to citizens as possible. 

With its 2009 White Paper on Multilevel govern-
ance, the Committee launched a public consulta-
tion for drafting the charter in order to include a 
common and shared understanding of European 
governance  in  the  core  values  of  the  European 
Union. The Committee then renewed this com-
mitment  in  a  report  on  “Building  a  European 
culture of multilevel governance: follow-up to the 
Committee of the Regions’ White Paper”. Since 
then the Committee has been actively developing 
a method for monitoring the usage of multilevel 
governance  by  European  institutions,  regularly 
produces a scoreboard on the issue, and is working 
on compiling good multilevel governance practices 
in cooperation with the European Commission. 
Finally, multilevel governance is recognised as a 
guiding principle in the new EU rules for the man-
agement of the Structural and Investment Funds 
2014-2020. 

Italian Government backs Charter  
for Multilevel Governance

Maria Carmela Lanzetta, Minister for Regional Affairs and Local Authorities, Italy

The  20th  anniversary  of  the  Committee  of 

Regions  is  a  fitting  occasion  for  me  to 
congratulate the Committee on the progress 
it has made in terms of involving regions and cities 
in  both  the  design  and  implementation  of  EU 
policies. The Committee has clearly demonstrated 
that  the  solutions  to  many  of  the  problems 
generated by globalization are to be found at none 
other than local and regional level.

In  this  vein,  Italy  has  been  implementing  a 
strong  decentralization  programme  ever  since 
the country’s constitutional reform in 2001. The 
aim has been to establish a public administration 
which caters to the needs of the different realities 

on  the  ground  and  which  makes  the  most  of 
these diversities, supporting the development of 
local  economic  systems  and  overcoming  various 
shortcomings  in  terms  of  the  efficiency  and 
reliability of public administrations. Faced with 
this challenge, the recently approved Law on the 
“Re-organization of metropolitan cities, provinces, 
unions  and  the  merging  of  municipalities” 
adopted  in  April  should  further  boost  effective 
multilevel governance, based on the principles of 
subsidiarity and loyal cooperation among all levels 
of government. 

which is arguably one of Europe’s most pro-EU 
countries, I am closely following the work of the 
Committee  and  commit  myself  and  the  whole 
Italian Government to promoting and supporting 
the implementation of the Charter for Multilevel 
Governance  in  Europe,  which  was  promoted  at 
the  Athens  Summit.  I  am  convinced  that  the 
principles  and  actions  set  out  in  the  Charter 
merit significant attention on the part of central 
governments and will strongly contribute to the 
European construction process, a project that our 
country shall not fail to be involved in. 

As a former mayor and as the current Minister for 
Regional Affairs and Local Authorities of Italy, 

14

News  from the EU’s assembly of regional and local representatives

Nº 87 –  May-JuNe 2014

Greater influence for  
regional parliaments needed

Marc Hendrickx (BE/EA), Member of the Flemish Parliament

With the adoption of a Charter of Mul-

tilevel  governance,  the  CoR  continues 
supporting a new model of participatory 
democracy that should allow each level of govern-
ments to jointly cooperate in order to seek greater 
policy efficiencies while respecting the principle 
of  subsidiarity  and  proportionality.  Despite  the 
Lisbon  Treaty  acknowledging  the  importance 
of regional parliaments, little use has been made 
by National Parliaments of their experience and 
competence.  This  is  not  acceptable  as  many  re-
gions dispose of legislative powers and are better 

placed than anyone else when it comes to suiting 
their citizens’ needs. More needs to be done to give 
regional parliaments, as well as local governments 
a greater say in the EU decision making process.

Moreover, there needs to be more clarity as to who 
is competent on a certain matter whilst taking due 
respect of the different remits and responsibilities. 
If the EU is to tackle the democratic deficit and fight 
the widespread disillusion amongst its citizens, it 
has to improve the way it legislates. The EU should 
use its regulatory power only where it can bring 

an added value whilst refraining from imposing 
unnecessary rules in matters where national and 
regional parliaments can decide. It has to develop 
innovative models  based on effective cooperation 
between the different levels of governments and do 
away with its top down approach which is one of 
the cause of the disaffection of its citizens as this 
not only disregards the key role of the lower level of 
governments, but it also hinders transparency and 
democratic accountability. 

Kadri Tillemann (EE/EPP), Mayor of Keila

This  April,  the  Committee  of  the  Regions’ 

ENVE  commission  adopted  an  outlook 
opinion  on  Multilevel  governance  in  pro-
moting the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 and 
implementing  the  international  Aichi  Targets. 
The opinion is being prepared in response to the 
European Commission’s request to provide input 
for the mid-term review of the EU 2020 Biodiver-
sity Strategy and the reporting on the Convention 
of Biological Diversity’s Aichi targets.

The opinion is being drafted by Kadri Tillemann 
(EE/EPP)  who  has  a  significant  amount  of 
academic  and  professional  experience  and 
knowledge in the area of biodiversity which proved 
to  be  very  valuable  when  drafting  the  opinion.  
She acknowledges that the very fact that the EC 

Best practices
Revitalisation Projects in the 
Pomorskie Region, Poland

The managing authority of the European Regional 
Development Fund (ERDF) programme for the 
Pomorskie  Region  in  Poland  has  developed  a 

Multilevel governance in promoting  
EU Biodiversity

decided  to  include  the  CoR  in  these  processes 
recognises  the  vital  role  that  local  and  regional 
authorities play in protecting our natural capital 
in  the  European  Union  and  worldwide.  The 
opinion, which includes a significant contribution 
from ENVE members and relevant stakeholders 
and  partners  (UNEP,  IUCN  and  others),  puts 
forward a wide range of proposals regarding how 
to further strengthen co-operation between EU, 
Member  States  and  local/regional  authorities 
(LRA) in the area of biodiversity governance.  In 
its draft opinion, the CoR’s ENVE commission 
highlights the importance of ensuring the effective 
implementation  of  Biodiversity  Strategies  and 
Action Plans at all levels of governance and stresses 
the need to further strengthen the development of 
ecosystem services at local level. The CoR points 

out that the participation of necessary stakeholders 
and  sustainable  spatial  planning  are  areas  of 
action  in  which  the  LRAs  could  contribute  to 
achieving the EU’s and international biodiversity 
commitments.

The opinion is to be discussed at the CoR’s June 
plenary session. The key points of the opinion and 
the main findings of the CoR commissioned study 
will be published later this summer. The opinion 
also proposes that the CoR share its experiences of 
multilevel governance in this area by accompanying 
the EU delegation as an observer to the CBD COP 
12 in October 2014 to ensure that the voice of EU 
LRAs is appropriately represented at this event. 

cooperation  approach  for  revitalisation  projects 
focusing  on  urban  areas,  fighting  poverty  and 
social exclusion. The process started with a public 
consultation on community needs and an in-depth 
consultation with the city authorities, social and 
economic partners. The working methods of the 
managing  authority  and  its  approach  provide 

Regions and Cities of euRope 15

Charter for
Multilevel Governance
in Europe

examples for the multi-thematic preparation and 
implementation  of  complex  projects  (balancing 
infrastructural  and  social  issues);  effective 
negotiation  procedures  at  different  levels  (e.g. 
actors representing selected urban areas, managing 
authority,  city  authorities)  and  for  balancing 
the  bottom-up and top-down approach to social 
dialogue.

a  multi-level  engagement  with  government  and 
other stakeholders, especially in providing links 
between  social  enterprises,  community  groups 
and the private sector in the most deprived areas of 
the city-region.  The LEP and its partners make it 
possible to create employment and entrepreneurial 
opportunities  for  the  most  hard-to-reach 
communities through public support.

“Graines d’emplois” project 
in the Auvergne Region, 
France

Regional Energy Governance 
Project, Friuli Venezia Giulia 
Region, Italy

Fund (ERDF) launched in 2001. The centre was 
opened in 2005 to revitalise economic and social 
life  in  a  low  income  neighbourhood  Marolles, 
by  hosting  economic  activities  that  potentially 
generate  local  or  low-skilled  jobs.  There  were 
four main objectives, which were included in the 
project’s  business  plan:  (i)  the  renting  of  office 
space;  (ii)  providing  logistic  services  such  as 
furniture, an internet connection and a reception 
desk;  (iii)  providing  counselling  and  advice  in 
financing,  human  resources,  subsidies  and  re-
localisation; and (iv) promoting networking and 
the exchange of good practices. Today there are in 
total 40 start-ups with 180 persons employed. 

Energy policy and 
management in Vrhnika 
Municipality, Slovenia

The programme “Graines d’emplois” is based on 
the partnership principle, driven by the region as 
the leading partner. The aim of the initiative was 
to identify economic activities which offer the most 
employment potential in order to adjust regional 
economic  and  vocational  training  policies.  The 
consultation process involved over 300 partners, 
including  200  contributions  from  the  business 
sector and experts. The Auvergne Region has a 
complete overview of the challenges faced by the 
different sectors, as well as of the most promising 
sectors and the skills that need to be developed, 
and  is  now  entering  the  implementation  phase 
of economic and education policies based on the 
forecast  needs  for  skills.  Alongside  the  region’s 
own programmes, this initiative is intended to have 
a knock-on effect on all partners, thus enabling 
a  multiplier  effect  and  ensuring  a  consistent 
approach.

Business start-up support in 
disadvantaged communities, 
Liverpool, United Kingdom

Regional Energy Governance Project (RENGOV) 
is promoted and run by the Autonomous Region 
of Friuli Venezia Giulia. Scientific and technical 
support  is  provided  by  the  Higher  Institute  on 
Territorial  Systems  for  Innovation  (SiTI).  The 
strategic  aim  is  the  development  of  innovative 
capabilities for energy management at local level, 
the  integration  of  renewable  energy  sources  by 
adopting the Virtual Power Plant (VPP) approach 
and the creation of a regional smart grid exploiting 
energy storage capacities. The RENGOV project 
represents  an  example  of  the  multi-stakeholder 
process.  RENGOV  provides  for  the  direct  and 
active  involvement  and  cooperation  of  local 
authorities, producers of energy from renewable 
sources,  operators  of  energy  transmission  and 
distribution systems, producers of energy storage 
systems,  financial  institutions  and  enterprises 
based in the region.  

Business centre “Ateliers des 
Tanneurs”, Brussels, Belgium 

Vrhnika municipality was recognised in 2010 as the 
most energy-efficient medium-sized municipality 
in Slovenia. Its “Local Energy Concept” (LEC) is in 
line with the Slovenian guidelines for local energy 
concepts, which are important strategic planning 
instruments  within  the  Slovenian  National 
Energy Programme. Energy-related measures are 
adapted to the needs of local communities, through 
which  solutions  for  effectiveness,  economic  and 
environmentally-friendly  energy  services  in 
households, companies and public institutions can 
be implemented. The implementation of the LEC 
(2009-2014)  in  Vrhnika  has  been  characterised 
by  smooth  coordination  between  the  national 
and local level, in terms of governance and funds. 
Vrhnika has also conduced extended energy audits 
for its main public buildings leading to innovative 
energy management solutions. 

The Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) for the 
Liverpool city-region is responsible for managing 
the  ERDF  programme  in  partnership  with 
a  network  of  intermediary  organisations  and 
agencies.  With  a  wide  range  of  business  start-
up support tools, the LEP in Liverpool provides 
concrete  examples  of  a  multi-level  governance 
approach  to  developing  social  enterprises  and 
supporting entrepreneurship in the poorest and 
most  socially-deprived  areas  of  the  Liverpool 
city-region.  It  has  the  know-how  of  managing 

16

News  from the EU’s assembly of regional and local representatives

The  “Ateliers  des  Tanneurs”  business  centre  is 
a joint project of the Brussels Public Centre for 
Social  Action  (CPAS),  the  Brussels-Capital 
Region and the European Regional Development 

Nº 87 –  May-JuNe 2014

rapporTeurs have Their say

in this reguLar cOLumn, members tO the cOmmittee Of the regiOn write in their Own wOrds what mOtivates them tO take On the rOLe Of 
rappOrteur fOr the pOLicy area that they are writing their OpiniOn. the fOLLOwing eight Op-eds fOcus On a diverse number Of tOpics frOm waste 
shipping reguLatiOns tO the estabLishment Of a eurOpean pubLic prOsecutOr’s Office.

EURES regulation

José Ramón Bauzá Díaz (ES/EPP),  President of the Government of the Balearic Islands

Regulation on “A European network of Em-

ployment  Services,  workers’  access  to  mo-
bility  services  and  the  further  integration 
of  labour  markets  (EURES)”  is  one  a  series  of 
measures to facilitate free movement of workers. 
The  pan-European  job  search  network  EURES 
would be strengthened to provide more job offers, 
increase  the  likelihood  of  job  matches  and  help 
employers, notably small and medium businesses, 
to fill job vacancies faster and better, under a pro-
posal just presented by the European Commission. 
The  proposed  new  rules  would  make  EURES 
more efficient, recruitments more transparent and 
cooperation among Member States stronger. The 
free movement of workers is undoubtedly one of 

the European venture’s most symbolic rights. This 
fundamental right is an asset for all the EU Mem-
ber States.

Currently, a scant 3.3% of EU workers - 8 million 
Europeans  -  live  and  work  in  another  Member 
State. The situation has prompted the European 
Commission to propose a regulation, analysed in 
the present opinion, that aims to improve the EU-
RES European network of employment services. 
This will open up more posts to more job seek-
ers across the EU and, at the same time, make it 
easier for small and medium-sized businesses to 
fill vacancies. As CoR rapporteur for the opinion, 
I therefore recommend that we welcome the Com-

mission’s proposal as an instrument for enhancing 
workers’ access to labour-mobility support services 
and making it easier for citizens to exercise their 
right to free movement within the Union. 

The  opinion  calls  on  the  Commission  to  estab-
lish new tools to support the integration of mobile 
workers through the use of the Structural Funds. 
We also ask for special account to be taken of the 
fact that the local and regional level is closest to 
the people and thus to job seekers and employers. 
Accordingly, we recommend that the regulation re-
quire that cooperation between EURES Partners 
take due account of the differing characteristics of 
the EU’s regions. 

The execution of the EU budget

Adam Struzik (PL/EPP),  Marshal of the Mazovia Region

The  Committee  of  the  Regions  has  recog-

nised the need for preparing an opinion on 
the execution of the EU budget, something 
which it has never done before. My own-initiative 
opinion is intended to contribute to the discussion 
about the ways for improving effectiveness and ef-
ficiency in terms of how European funds are spent. 
Local and regional authorities act not only as ben-
eficiaries of the EU budget, but also as important 
managers and partners of central governments and 
European Institutions. In the programming period 
(2014-2020) that has just begun, their role is going 
to be even more important due to the strengthen-
ing of the territorial dimension in implementing 
EU spending.

The implementation of European-funded projects 
and  programmes  poses  a  variety  of  challenges. 
Some of these are the result of the way in which 
European and national regulations and procedures 
are written, others are related to issues such as the 
quality of strategic planning, the multilevel gov-
ernance  system,  partnership  and  administrative 
culture. The ability of the different institutions, 
including LRAs, to deal with those challenges in-
fluences not only the speed and quality of the ex-
ecution of the EU budget, but also its performance 
– its ability to achieve the anticipated results.

The  opinion  takes  account  of  the  results  of  the 
survey  prepared  by  the  CoR  secretariat.  More 

than 400 local and regional authorities have con-
tributed their answers to the questionnaire which 
significantly increases its already substantial value 
and is a clear sign of the topicality of the question. 
The opinion puts forward  several proposals for 
the European Institutions, Members States and 
local and regional authorities concerning the most 
important issues connected with the implementa-
tion of European policies, such as: the speed with 
which the EU budget is executed, liquidity, finan-
cial planning, quality of projects, level of errors and  
management. The opinion also envisages a more 
active role for cities and regions in the Europe-wide 
debates. The opinion is scheduled to be adopted 
during the June Plenary Session. 

Regions and Cities of euRope 17

RappoRteuRs Have tHeiR say

Urban Mobility in Europe 

Cllr Sir Albert Bore (UK/PES),  Member of Birmingham City Council 

European cities contain 70% of the EU popula-

tion, generate over 80% of the Union’s GDP 
and are important centres of economic activ-
ity.  Sustainable urban mobility plans (SUMP’s) 
can  help  underpin  economic  competitiveness  of 
cities and provide a strategic instrument that en-
courages the delivery of integrated, sustainable and 
efficient travel methods which also address issues 
relating to chronic congestion and poor air quality 
which our cities suffer from. 

It  was  recognised  in  the  2011  White  Paper  on 
Transport that urban areas with their high popula-
tion densities and high share of short trips have the 
potential to address these issues through the devel-
opment of integrated, sustainable and active modes 
of travel. The Urban Mobility Package and com-
munication “Together towards a competitive and 
resource efficient urban mobility” provides further 
guidance on the use of sustainable urban mobility 

plans in order to encourage the step change that is 
required to tackle this agenda 

The communication looks at:
•	 Access	Regulations;
•	 Urban	Intelligent	Transport	Systems	(ITS);	
•	 Urban	Logistics;
•	 And	Urban	Road	Safety.

Overall, the continuing commitment of the Euro-
pean  Commission  to  strengthen  EU  support  for 
SUMPS, developed at a local level, and which en-
courages their uptake within member states is to be 
welcomed. The need for the use of technology and 
innovation which can introduce common standards 
within ITS and access regulations is to be encour-
aged  to  ensure  interoperability,  prevent  technical 
barriers and develop harmonisation and coherence 
at an EU level in order to facilitate free movement. 

Measures to improve road safety not only through 
infrastructure design but also with innovations such 
as those in vehicle design is also to be welcomed in 
order to encourage greater take up of sustainable 
modes of travel. The introduction of a scoreboard 
is also welcomed but this will need to be carefully 
developed so as not to simply become a ranking sys-
tem but a useful tool to show the progress that urban 
areas are making in tackling the wider EU objectives 
such as improving air quality and health outcomes 
through the application of SUMPS. The ability to 
use SUMPS to support access to financing should 
be further developed to show how they offer value 
for money for investments and exploit the synergies 
with the various funding streams. The European 
Commission is urged to involve cities and other ur-
ban authorities to be fully engaged on the Member 
States expert groups in order to provide input. 

Reforming the EU’s banking system 

Henk Kool (NL/PES),   Member of the Executive Council of the City of Den Haag

For a number of years now, the way banks op-

erate has been the focus of global debate, and 
rightly so. After the financial crisis erupted 
in 2008, costly and wide-ranging government in-
tervention was required to stave off the collapse 
of banks and the financial system. Since then, the 
necessary measures have been taken with the aim 
of preventing a repeat of a crisis of that magnitude. 
At global, European and national level, rules have 
been introduced or announced which are designed 
to increase stability and reduce risks in the bank-
ing system.

Now, as a provisional final move, the EC has issued 
two draft directives on measures to improve the re-
silience of EU credit institutions and the reporting 
and transparency of securities financing transac-
tions. As a rapporteur on these two subjects, I have 
drafted an own-initiative opinion on the structural 

reforms of EU banks and transparency in shadow 
banking.

Since local governments in the EU invest around 
€179 billion a year using borrowed funds, a solid 
and reliable banking structure is vitally important 
to them. It is therefore not enough to only subject 
banks with total assets in excess of €30 billion to 
European supervision. Many local authorities deal 
with smaller banks, which are not supervised by 
the ECB. We need to change this. I am in favour of 
extending ECB supervision to these smaller banks 
too. Conversely, the EC constrains the banks too 
much by stipulating that own account trading also 
includes long-term holding of securities (so-called 
buy and hold). This is excessive, given that this type 
of long-term trading is part of a bank’s core busi-
ness.  

At any event, I have proposed a ban on short-term, 
own account trading in financial instruments and 
commodities - in other words, trading with the sole 
aim of short-term gains for the bank. This activity 
involves too many risks without yielding any tangi-
ble benefits for customers. 

In the meantime, 1700 lobbyists from European 
banks have made their presence felt in Brussels, 
seeking to curb the proposed regulations as much 
as possible. That number will grow further now 
that there are also moves afoot to further tighten 
the ECB’s regulatory regime. Local authorities in 
the EU will therefore have to pull out all the stops 
to bring the public interest in proper supervision to 
the attention of the EC and the EP. I feel certain 
that the CoR’s draft opinion will help them achieve 
this. 

18

News  from the EU’s assembly of regional and local representatives

Nº 87 –  May-JuNe 2014

An EU strategy for the Adriatic  
and Ionian Region

prosperity can be strengthened through closer coop-
eration and draws attention to the role of regions as 
key players in promoting regional self-government, 
capacity-building, decentralisation and democracy. 
As a result of an extensive consultation of stakehold-
ers in the region -supported by the Adriatic Ionian 
Interregional Group of the CoR chaired by myself 
and by the governor of Western Greece - Eusair will 
have four pillars, namely: “blue growth,” “connecting 
the region,” “environmental quality” and “sustain-
able tourism quality,” and two cross-cutting issues, 
namely  “capacity-building  including  communica-
tion” and “R&D innovation and SMEs.”

Finally, in a nutshell, here are some concrete propos-
als from the opinion:

- the setting-up of an Adriatic Ionian Cloud as an 
immaterial ICT infrastructure and a means of con-
necting existing platforms in order to standardise 
shared  processes  and  protocols,  enable  efficient 
intermodal  freight  and  passenger  transport,  and 
facilitate  services,  environmental  protection  and 
maritime safety;

- the setting-up of an Adriatic Ionian Higher School 
of  Administration  along  the  lines  of  the  French 
ENA  (Ecole  Nationale  d’Administration),  where 
civil servants of the Adriatic Ionian Region can de-
velop the skills and abilities needed in multi-level 
governance, enabling them to implement innovative 
processes in public administration;

- efficient coordination of the health sector in order 
to promote the well-being of citizens;

- the development of a sustainable tourism industry 
on the basis of shared natural, cultural and historical 
treasures, high-quality agro-food products, profes-
sional  hospitality  traditions,  and  attractive  land-
scapes  to  be  communicated  through  an  Adriatic 
Ionian brand. Tourism can represent an important 
lever for sustainable growth, youth employment op-
portunities and social inclusion since today half of 
European coastal jobs and value added are located in 
the Mediterranean. 

Gian Mario Spacca (IT/ALDE),  President of the Marche Region

I’m personally very pleased about the adoption of 

the opinion of the Committee of the Regions on 
an EU strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Re-

gion (EUSAIR). 

In this opinion the Committee of the Regions urges 
the European Commission to play a key role in an 
innovative  multi-level  governance  platform  of  co-
ordination  and  implementation  where  decisions 
are shared to ensure the political commitment and 
ownership of stakeholders at European, national, 
regional and local level, in line with the subsidiarity 
principle. The private sector and civil society should 
be involved in ensuring sound and broad ownership 
of the strategy through top-down and bottom-up 
communication, accountability and transparent re-
sults, e.g. an open data portal, an annual forum of 
economic and social dialogue on the EUSAIR and 
other initiatives. 

EU  integration  is  a  fundamental  element  in  the 
EUSAIR, which comprises four EU and four non-
EU countries. My opinion highlights the fact that 
elements  of  reconciliation,  security,  stability  and 

The time has come for an EU urban agenda

Bas Verkerk (NL/ALDE),   Mayor of the City of Delft

Towns and cities are the engines of the Euro-

pean economy. The EU needs its towns, cit-
ies and urban regions for implementation of 
the Europe 2020 strategy and for economic, social 
and territorial development. At the moment, there 
is in fact no comprehensive forward-looking urban 
agenda for the EU, despite the fact that there has 
been talk of a European urban agenda for nigh on 
20 years in EU circles. For lack of an overarching 
agenda, towns and cities are facing legislative and 
policy inconsistencies at EU level.

The Committee of the Regions urges the incoming 
European Commission to draw up a white paper on 
integrated urban policy in the EU. This white paper 
should be drafted in close collaboration with towns 
and cities and their representatives - including, of 
course the Committee of the Regions. It should in-
clude the following four elements:

− 

− 
− 
− 

a new method for a more integrated approach 
to policy development;
a stronger urban dimension in European funds;
a platform for the exchange of good practice;
a new model of governance.

It is above all the aspect of a new model of govern-
ance that is of key importance. In towns and cities 
nowadays, urban authorities are increasingly work-
ing together with local partners such as local people, 
firms and social organisations to provide tailor-made 
local solutions to social challenges such as environ-
mental  pollution,  traffic  congestion  and  (youth) 
unemployment. The EU, whose hallmark is generic 
legislation and general implementation deadlines, 
must adjust to the new dynamics in towns and cities 
so as to be able to implement its own policy goals 
successfully. 

Regions and Cities of euRope 19

RappoRteuRs Have tHeiR say

The future of justice  
and home affairs policy 

Lotta Håkansson Harju (SV/PES) , Member of Järfälla Municipal Council

In 2009, the EU adopted a five-year work pro-

gramme for justice and home affairs: the Stock-
holm Programme. The programme covers areas 
such as the protection of fundamental rights, in-
cluding the right to integrity, minority rights, the 
right to asylum, migration, EU citizenship, com-
bating organised crime and other security issues. 
In March, the directorates-general for justice and 
home affairs each published a communication on 
the future of the EU’s policy in these fields, while 
a strategic approach is expected to be adopted in 
June.

The respect won by the EU’s Charter of Funda-
mental Rights makes it all the more obvious that 

all EU cooperation must be based on shared re-
spect for fundamental rights in order for the EU 
to remain an open and safe region where rights are 
upheld. In the Committee of the Regions’ view, a 
stronger focus on the EU’s commitments with re-
spect to fundamental rights must have a real im-
pact at all levels.

The Committee believes that the right to freedom 
of movement should be more clearly defined. EU 
citizens are frequently faced with various difficul-
ties when they attempt to exercise their rights in 
other Member States. At the same time, the chal-
lenges that freedom of movement can create in in-

dividual municipalities and/or regions need to be 
better addressed. 

The Committee of the Regions stresses that the 
EU needs to work more to implement a European 
asylum and migration policy based on fundamen-
tal rights, solidarity, mutual trust and shared re-
sponsibility between Member States and local and 
regional authorities. The EU must continue to be a 
place of refuge for people fleeing persecution or in 
need of protection. The need to control the recep-
tion of migrants and to maintain the integrity of 
borders must never take precedence over the right 
to seek international protection. 

Promoting resilience  
to future disasters

Cllr.  Harvey  Siggs  (UK/ECR),  from  Somerset 
County Council, is the Committee of the Regions 
rapporteur  for  the  Opinion  on  the  Post-2015 
Hyogo Framework for Action on managing risks 
to  achieve  resilience.  The  opinion  looks  at  how 
to mitigate the impact of natural and man-made 
disasters and to build a new framework for disaster 
reduction. 

As leader of a district council that recently suffered 
heavily from floods, Cllr. Siggs said: “I welcome the 
opportunity to upload my hands-on experiences 
about  managing  risks  and  achieving  resilience”. 
“In the last year many municipalities and regions 
across  the  EU  have  been  devastated  by  natural 
disasters. My council has been among these who 
suffered  from  long-lasting  floods.  Discussions 
at  EU  and  UN  level  on  how  to  build  resilience 
could not come at a better time. Disasters know 
no border. A disaster in one region can easily affect 
another. For true resilience, we must address this 
matter collectively,” noted Cllr. Siggs. 

The  opinion  is  a  response  to  the  European 
Commission Communication from 8 April. The 
document is a basis for upcoming discussions at 
EU level; so as to establish a common EU position 
for the global negotiations to be held at the United 
Nations level. Cllr. Siggs explained that “if we do 
not prepare for disasters now, we will pay a heavy 
price in the future. Enhancing preparedness and 
resilience  is  the  most  effective  and  cost-effective 
way to reduce the impact and cost of responding 
to  and  recovering  from  disasters”.  Cllr.  Siggs 
further argued that building resilience had to be 
done at local and regional level. “Local and regional 
authorities  are  the  first  level  of  governance  to 
respond in case of emergency. We can ensure we are 
ready by starting training programmes and raising 
awareness”. 

On  the  question  of  how  to  proceed,  Cllr.  Siggs 
underlined  the  importance  of  working  with  the 
private sector. “Private-public sector partnerships 
must  be  developed  to  ensure  that  resilient 
infrastructure  is  developed  that  will  withstand 
disasters. This means resilient buildings, transport 
(road, rail and airports), services (communications, 
energy supplies, water supplies, and sewerage) and 

Cllr. Harvey Siggs (UK/ECR)

social  infrastructure.”  He  added  that  “voluntary 
peer  reviews  conducted  jointly  by  the  European 
Commission,  OECD  and  UNISDR  are  also  a 
useful tool at the disposal of our Member States. 
They help identify areas needing improvement and 
the steps that could be taken”. 

Making our cities more 
sustainable

Daiva Matonienė (ECR/LT), Vice-President of the 
CoR ECR Group, Vice-Minister of Environment 
of Lithuania and member of Šiauliai City Council, 

had her opinion on sustainable cities adopted by the 
ENVE Commission members on 24 April. Mrs 
Matonienė’s opinion looks at the implementation 
of  the  7th  Environmental  Action  Programme’s 
eighth objective, “to enhance the sustainability of 
the Union’s cities”. “Sustainability will have to be at 
the heart of our urban development policies if we 
want our cities and regions to be a source of growth 

and  jobs.  Sustainable  cities  lead  to  sustainable 
socio-economic  development,”  explained  Mrs. 
Matonienė.  The  7th  Environmental  Action 
Programme will be guiding the EU environment 
policy until 2020. In order to give a more long-term 
direction, it sets out a vision beyond that of where 
it wants the Union to be by 2050. The underlying 
principle of the Environment Action Programme, 

20

News  from the EU’s assembly of regional and local representatives

Nº 87 –  May-JuNe 2014

development model that places as little burden on 
the environment as possible.

Mrs Matoniene noted that a sustainable city can be 
defined as “a city that promotes social, economic and 
environmental sustainability. Environmental issues 
are at the heart of the matter but a holistic approach 
must be followed where by environmental issues 
are  mainstreamed  into  all  relevant  policy  areas. 
Sustainability cities can only be achieved through a 
holistic approach”. “There are two key points that 
the EU must pay greater attention to,” explained 
Mrs. Matoniene. “Firstly, greater attention needs 

to be placed on the role of small and medium size 
towns and cities. Approximately 56% of cities and 
towns in the EU are small and medium in size, and 
in turn, they have an important accumulative role,” 
remarked Mrs. Matonienė. 

Secondly,  Mrs  Matonienė  noted  that  greater 
attention needs to be placed on the role of the private 
sector: “We must promote innovative partnerships 
between  the  public  and  private  sectors  so  that 
projects aimed at making cities more sustainable 
are  implemented  as  efficiently  and  effectively  as 
possible”. 

Daiva Matonienė (LT/ECR)

‘Living well within the limits of our planet’, aims 
to push the EU in the direction of so-called ‘green 
growth’.  Green  growth  represents  an  economic 

EU Solidarity Fund

Pavel  Branda  (CZ/ECR),  vice-mayor  of  the 
municipality of Rádlo, was the rapporteur for the 
Committee  of  the  Regions’  opinion  on  the  EU 
Solidarity Fund at a time when many towns and 
regions across the EU were devastated by floods. 
The  opinion  proposed  key  reforms  that  would 
increase the effectiveness of the Fund and enable it 
to better assist disaster-stricken towns and regions. 

The proposals presented in the opinion are now 
featured  in  the  inter-institutional  agreement 
reached on the reform of the Fund. “I am proud to 
say that as the Committee of the Regions, we have 
successfully  uploaded  our  hands-on  experience” 
noted  Mr  Branda.  Throughout  the  month  of 
March, the Council, the European Commission, 
and the European Parliament were negotiating the 
final  changes  to  the  Solidarity  Fund  regulation. 

The  results  of  the  negotiations  (the  “Trilogue”) 
announced on 19 March revealed that key points 
from  Mr  Branda’s  opinion  were  successfully 
taken  on  board.  “I  am  happy  that  these  results 
were further adopted without any change by the 
European Parliament at its plenary session on 16 
April. It shows the importance and the necessity of 
these changes.” 

Mr Branda welcomed the extension of the deadline 
for the use of the funds to 18 months. According 
to his experience “this constitutes a more realistic 
approach  towards  the  needs  of  disaster-stricken 
regions and is a clear improvement on the existing 
12-month  deadline”.  The  Trilogue  decision  also 
featured the CoR proposal that the Fund should 
finance  the  improvement  or  even  relocation  of 
infrastructure. “This will enable local and regional 
authorities to improve the resilience of the damaged 
infrastructure and sometimes even to relocate it, 
and also to be better prepared and more resilient in 
the future,” explained Mr Branda.

Pavel Branda (CZ/ECR)

Furthermore, Mr Branda noted that “following the 
proposal in my opinion, technical assistance can 
now also be used for costs related to the preparation 
and  implementation  of  eligible  operations.” 
Previously technical assistance was not an eligible 
expenditure.  “Through  the  proposals  that  we 
put forward, the Fund is now better equipped to 
assist our towns and regions devastated by natural 
disasters,” noted Mr Branda. 

brief news and evenTs

Cooperation agreement with 
the European Parliament

Martin Schulz and Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso

The Committee of the Regions and the European 
Parliament signed a cooperation agreement, on 5 
February, which seeks to solidify the political re-
lationship between the two EU institutions. The 

terms of the agreement signed in Strasbourg will 
optimise administration resources and strengthen 
the role and further engage the CoRs’ members in 
Parliament activities within the EU legislative pro-
cess. CoR President, Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso, 
said that this was a defining moment and consid-
ered it as mutually beneficial for both institutions. 
President  Valcárcel  commented:  “After  twenty 
years of the EU’s Committee of the Regions, the 
new  partnership  agreement  with  the  European 
Parliament  is  a  great  moment  for  the  two  EU 
institutions. It sets out a more structured way of 
working  which  will  strengthen  the  democratic 
legitimacy  of  the  European  Union  and  provide 
new avenues of participation for regional and local 
authorities throughout the EU decision-making 
process”.

Approved by the CoRs’ members, the cooperation 
agreement recognises the importance of autonomy 

and independence of the CoR and will create, “a 
new intensified cooperation procedure involving 
future  CoR  rapporteurs  and  the  parliamentary 
committee  will  be  established.  This  new  proce-
dure will offer an opportunity to CoR rapporteurs 
to directly contribute and influence the outcome 
of eventual trialogue meetings in a certain policy 
dossier of her/his expertise”. The change will see 
an increase in the involvement of CoR rapporteurs 
in the EU legislative process, enabling members to 
participate in discussions in the European Parlia-
ment’s  Committees.  In  addition  the  agreement 
will see CoR members able to use on the expertise 
of the new Parliament Research Service providing 
analysis and studies; active involvement of the CoR 
in the European Semester Works of the Parlia-
ment, including the participation of a CoR delega-
tion into the European Parliamentary Week; and 
enable the CoR to disseminate information via the 
EP’s network of Information Offices. 

Regions and Cities of euRope 21

BRief News aNd eveNts

EPP Summit in Poznań

be reached without a strong role for sub-national au-
thorities. By meeting just before the European Elec-
tions in Poznan for this Summit, the EPP is giving 
a strong message: we believe that local and regional 
authorities represent added value in European inte-
gration.”  

Rising populism in Europe

Marek Woźniak, Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker

“We need a European Union with a heart and with a 
soul. We want a European Union that listens and un-
derstands. We want a European Union that decides 
and acts for the benefit of all its citizens, wherever 
they live and work, wherever they are coming from”, 
concluded the EPP Summit of regional and local 
politicians in its Poznan manifesto on 25 April. 

Just one month ahead of the European Parliament 
elections,  more  than  700  local  and  regional  EPP 
leaders from around Europe gathered in the Polish 
city of Poznań to share policies for boosting jobs and 
growth in the EU. During the unprecedented event, 
Jean-Claude Juncker, EPP candidate for President of 
the European Commission, pledged to promote the 
involvement of local and regional authorities in EU 
decision making during the next EU mandate and 
to fight for a strong role for the Committee of the 
Regions with the EPP Group: “I am very happy to 
be in Poland today and to meet with the EPP group 
in the Committee of the Regions” he said. “You have 
brought Brussels closer to the people and you have 
put the people at the centre of our decision making. 
As President of the Commission, I will promote re-
gional and local authorities’ involvement in decision 
making… Europe needs to be big on big issues – such 
as the economic crisis, or the worrying situation in 
Ukraine – and small on small issues, which can be 
better dealt with by regional and local authorities.”

Through  its  election  manifesto,  the  EPP  aims  to 
combine solidarity with solidity and sustainability. 
Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Poland, added that 
Europe must emerge stronger from the crisis and, 
as demonstrated by recent events in the Ukraine, 
it must guarantee solidarity whilst becoming more 
independent in terms of energy. Host of the Sum-
mit,  Marek  Woźniak,  Marshal  of  Wielkopolska 
underlined the benefits that regional policy can bring 
to EU regions. “Polish regions are great examples of 
successful EU cohesion policy” he said. “Over the past 
10 years we have taken a large stride forward. This 
proves that both Poland and Europe are capable of 
efficient management of the EU funds.” The EPP 
believes that growth is created by private companies, 
by SMEs, by family businesses, by entrepreneurs in 
the regions and cities of Europe. As President of the 
EPP Group in the CoR, Michael Schneider, recalled, 
“Europe’s economic recovery and job creation cannot 

 “Populism raises questions about how we communicate Europe”, said 
István Sértö-Radics, Mayor of Uszka in Hungary

At an seminar organised by the Friedrich Naumann 
Foundation at the permanent representation of the 
State of Hessen to the EU in Brussels, experts debated 
the threat posed by the rise of extremist populism in 
Europe. What impact will these parties really have and 
what can mainstream parties and civil society do to 
stop them gaining more traction? Populist rhetoric is 
one of the main challenges for mainstream parties, re-
quiring them to adopt a clear position towards these is-
sues and populist rhetoric. “Don’t copy!”, urged Rainer 
Wieland, vice-president of the European Parliament. 
The adoption of populist rhetoric by mainstream par-
ties as a response to extremist populism cannot be the 
right response to the rise of populism. On the contra-
ry, “people will always vote for the original”, pointed 
out Mr Wieland. István Sértö-Radics (HU/ALDE), 
mayor of Uszka in Hungary, and member of the Com-
mittee, thinks that putting forward real policies on 
specific issues is the only way to address people’s sense 
of disconnect with politics and government. “Rising 
populism raises questions about how we communicate 
Europe”, he said. In his view, local politics is the best 
arena in which to fight populism, as it is more closely 
linked to the citizens. The data shows that votes for 
populist politicians at the local level are low in compar-
ison to their results in national and European elections. 
At the national and European levels, the key to suc-
cess for the mainstream parties lies in communication. 
Europeans need to understand the role and impact of 
European policies and at the same time feel connected 
to the European project and to each other.

In order to fight populism, the reasons pushing vot-
ers towards extremist populist parties have to be ad-
dressed. According to mainstream opinion, the rise 
of populism is principally due to the economic crisis. 
In other words, those who vote for populist parties 
would cease to support them if economic growth re-
gained strength and the unemployment rate fell. But 
for Matthew Goodwin from the Chatham House, the 

economic crisis only constitutes the tip of the iceberg. 
Indeed, people who vote for extremist populism are 
not only those who feel adversely affected by globali-
sation, but also those who feel culturally threatened 
by migration. Immigrants, in particular Muslims, are 
often perceived as a danger to national identity and 
culture. Moreover, these voters feel abandoned by their 
representatives and have no confidence in the ability of 
national institutions, and even less in European insti-
tutions, to respond to their expectations and address 
their needs. Populist parties thrive on the fear of a loss 
of identity and the disconnect between citizens and the 
institutions. The main task ahead will be to re-frame 
the narrative and communicate effectively about Eu-
rope. The European Union is a project of peace, pros-
perity and mobility – we should communicate this 
with reference to people’s feelings. 

World Urban Forum  
in Medellin 

Speaking  at  the  World  Urban  Forum  held  in 
Medellin (Colombia) from 5-11 April 2014, Bas 
Verkerk (NL/ALDE), Mayor of the City of Delft, 
stressed that, “Cities need each other – we need 
each  other’s  facilities;  we  need  to  “borrow  size” 
from our neighbours to fine-tune transport ser-
vices, ensure broader spatial planning and create 
more possibilities for attracting businesses through 
clear regional strategies.” Mr Verkerk was attend-
ing the conference as Chair of the Committee on 
European and International affairs of the Associa-
tion of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) and as 
the rapporteur for the Committee of the Regions’ 
Opinion on an integrated urban agenda.

Mr Verkerk emphasised that cities are engines for 
growth and employment and that as well as cities 
cooperating in order to learn from each other, the 
so-called  “four-pointed  ring”  of  cooperation  be-
tween businesses, academia, government and civil 
society was also crucial for development. He also 
drew attention to the important role cities play in 
coordinating and facilitating local initiatives and 
finding local solutions to global problems.

The Forum’s host Anibal Gaviria, the Mayor of 
Medellin, called for a formal entity for local gov-
ernments to be set up within the UN system: “If 
cities  are  really  this  important  for  development 
and if the world needs cities for growth, then they 
should be able to sit around the table to discuss 
policies that affect them.” 

22

News  from the EU’s assembly of regional and local representatives

Nº 87 –  May-JuNe 2014

Monday 2 June 2014. In their declaration, mem-
bers of the Group reaffirmed  the importance of 
culture  and  cultural  heritage  as  a  human  value, 
supporting national, regional and local identity, 
protecting cultural and linguistic diversity, with 
due respect for lesser used and regional languages. 
Promoting culture and cultural heritage is essen-
tial  in  order  to  strengthen  democratic  values  in 
Europe and to contribute to social and economic 
cohesion. 

Members stressed that it is of paramount impor-
tance to preserve and promote the different region-
al and local identities which make the European 
cultural heritage unique which are endangered by 
migratory movements and economic globalisation. 
At  the  same  time  they  reminded  the  huge  eco-
nomic benefits that our cultural heritage brings to 
our towns and cities. The European Commission 
presented their views as to why it was important to 
have an EU policy to promote and preserve Cul-
ture and Heritage in Europe.  This was reinforces 
with  examples  with  presentations  from  Poland, 
Estonia, Flanders and Scotland as well as an over-
view of the importance of the ‘Magna Carta’ and 
Runnymede. 

EA Secondary Schools 
competition

Pupils from twelve secondary schools from seven 
different Member States have once again been busy 
with their entries for the EA Group/CoR Second-
ary Schools Competition 2014. The young people 
aged between 16 and 18 were asked to complete 
a demanding quiz about the EU and to write an 
essay on the subjects of either the European Elec-
tions or green and sustainability issues in Europe 
viewed from the point of view of European youth.

The 24 winners will come to Brussels accompa-
nied by a teacher on 24 June and will attend the 
CoR  Plenary  Session  on  25  June  and  will  meet 
and have their photograph taken with the Presi-
dent of the CoR, Ramón Luis Valcarcel Siso.  The 
will also have an opportunity to discuss issues of 
importance to them with EA group members.   A 
new element of the prize will be a visit to the Par-
liamentarian, the Visitors’ Centre of the European 
Parliament,  which  presents  the  institution  in  a 
refreshingly interactive new way. Pupils will also 
have the opportunity to explore the historic city of 
Brussels before they leave on 26 June.

Digital revolution: What 
future for audiovisual 
media?

Review of competences  
in the UK 

Cllr. Gordon Keymer (UK/ECR)

The UK is currently conducting a review of the 
balance of competences. This is an audit of what 
the EU does and how it affects the UK. Launched 
by  Britain’s  Foreign  Secretary,  William  Hague, 
in July 2012, the exercise consists of government 
departments consulting Parliament and its com-
mittees,  business,  the  devolved  administrations, 
and civil society to look in depth at how the EU’s 
competences work in practice.

Cllr. Gordon Keymer (UK/ECR) underlined that 
“this important exercise represents a historic mo-
ment. It allows different sections of society to give 
their account of what works and what can be im-
proved. It is only through an inclusive bottom-up 
review and analysis of the EU that we can progress. 
It is also through such a democratic and transpar-
ent process that we can start remedying the EUs 
democratic deficit”. The review exercise consists of 
four semesters and is currently in its third semes-
ter. With 14 reports already published, the review 
exercise is due to be completed by autumn 2014. 

The EA group adopts 
“Runnymede declaration” 

On 11 April, the PES Group of the CoR held in 
cooperation with the Socialist Group in the Par-
liament  of  the  French-speaking  Community  of 
Belgium a conference on the ‘Digital revolution: 
What  future  for  audiovisual  media?’.  Debates 
focused on the technological and economic chal-
lenges facing the sector, and on media freedom and 
pluralism. All speakers agreed on the need to de-
fend the independence and ensure the survival of 
public broadcasters because they are a key pillar of 
democratic and pluralistic societies across Europe.

Opening  the  first  panel  on  Technological  and 
economic challenges, Jean-Paul Philippot, Chair 
of  the  Executive  Board  of  the  European  Broad-
casting Union (EBU) and Chief Executive of the 
French-speaking Radio and Television of Belgium 
(RTBF), insisted that, instead of reacting ‘on de-
mand’, we need to preserve the ability of public 
radio  and  television  to  continue  producing  and 
disseminating original and diverse content. Frank 
Zimmermann, CoR rapporteur on the Telecoms 
Package,  underlined  that  radio  spectrum  is  a 
scarce public good, highlighting the importance of 
frequency management. “Radio frequencies con-
vey information which forms individual and public 
opinion, and as such, they have a significant role 
for society”, he emphasised, reminding that local 
and regional authorities have a key role in ensur-
ing equal and affordable broadband access in all 
regions.

Opening the second panel on Media freedom and 
pluralism, Pantelis Kapsis, Greek Deputy Minis-
ter of Public Radio and Television, defended the 
role of public radio and television as a service of 
general interest, which promotes quality content 
and universal access. CoR member Jean-François 
Istasse, Chair of the commission responsible for 
culture and the audiovisual sector of the Parlia-
ment of the French-speaking Community (PES/
Belgium), presented the advantages of local and 
regional audiovisual media, that is, the decentrali-
zation of the means of production that allows a 
quick response, wide coverage of local and regional 
news and easier access for local stakeholders and 
citizens.  Concluding  the  debates,  PES  Group 
President  Karl-Heinz  Lambertz  reiterated  that 
independent, non-partisan, publicly funded, high 
quality audiovisual services with a strong sensitiv-
ity to regional and local diversity play a key role 
in the development of democracy in the European 
Union. 

On the invitation of Cllr Mrs Linda Gillham (UK/
EA) the European Alliance group visited Runny-
mede for their European Alliance group extraordi-
nary meeting and seminar on the Promoting and 
Preserving Europe’s diverse Culture and Heritage, 

In  previous  years  the  winners  have  found  their 
visit a highly educational experience and a source 
of inspiration for the future. Engaging with young 
people has and continues to be one of the key poli-
cies of the European Alliance group. 

Regions and Cities of euRope 23

A traineeship at the Committee
of the Regions 

Valuable experience in overcoming cultural prejudice

the cOmmittee Of the regiOns takes in a number Of new trainees every year and this year is nO exceptiOn. we asked Our new trainees, whO cOme 
frOm variOus cOuntries and backgrOunds, tO expLain what brOught them here and discuss their experiences with fOrmer trainees, whO can nOw 
cOnfirm what a significant and usefuL step an internship at the cOr can be. this year, the cOmmittee received five thOusand On-Line appLicatiOns 
fOr twenty traineeship pLaces. On the One hand, this indicatiOn Of the institutiOn’s significant appeaL is very pOsitive fOr the cOmmittee’s image.

However, in more general terms, these fig-

ures also reflect the fact that traineeships 
are now extremely popular amongst young 
graduates. Initially, traineeships were seen as a way 
of putting what you learned during your studies 
into practice, but the experience now seems to be 
turning increasingly into a kind of a salvage op-
eration for young graduates. Faced both with the 
recurrent problem of lacking experience and the 
current jobs crisis, graduates are very keen to take 
advantage of the bridge into the world of work that 
traineeships can provide.

In this context, the Committee recently issued an 
opinion on a Quality Framework for Traineeships, 
which gave it an opportunity to work on new inter-
regional  standards  for  ensuring  the  well-being  of 
trainees throughout Europe. Andrius Kupcinskas 
(LT/ETT), the Committee member who drew up 

the opinion, observes that as well as issuing opinions 
in this area, the Committee can also take pride in the 
fact that it offers young people the kind of genuine 
working environment and opportunity for personal 
growth  and  development  that  few  organisations 
provide. Trainees at the Committee are entitled to 
a monthly income, free training, access to a range of 
conferences, balanced working time and a personal 
follow-up from the Traineeships Office.

Becoming a trainee 

The first step in becoming a trainee is to go through 
the  online  recruitment  procedure  and  submit  an 
application form. The Traineeships Office decides 
which units have most need of a trainee to assist them. 
The various departments then select applicants from 

a database. To ensure that this selection process is 
impartial, the database does not reveal applicants’ 
names or dates of birth. As the head of the Train-
eeships Office, Anna Maria Vanhoye, explains, the 
Committee is not looking for “the ‘best’ applicants, in 
the sense of being laden with qualifications or other 
specific skills; the aim is to find the individuals who 
will be the ‘best match’ for the various departments 
and capable of adapting to the specific working envi-
ronments”. 

Trainees are put into a very concrete situation as soon 
as they arrive, with clear information from their su-
pervisor about the post they are to hold in the institu-
tion and the responsibilities involved. As for any other 
member of staff, the pace of work can be quite varied. 
Jozef Michalek, a young trainee from Slovakia, who 
has been assigned to one of the political groups, is 
very satisfied, “Luckily, I have had very few routine 

24

News  from the EU’s assembly of regional and local representatives

Nº 87 –  May-JuNe 2014

tutions work. The Committee may be the youngest 
of the European institutions, but it mirrors the way 
the bigger institutions function”. By way of conclu-
sion, Anna Maria Vanhoye adds that “a traineeship at 
the CoR is a balance between a high level of excellence 
and good times, both from a professional and social 
point of view”. Listening to former trainees talk about 
their affection and positive memories of their time at 
the Committee reveals how important the experience 
was both for their professional and personal develop-
ment.  

Fiona Foschi and Pauline Jacqmin,
trainees at the Committee of the Regions

“I took a lot of initiatives during 
my traineeship and showed a lot 
of interest in my work. If I was 
particularly interested in a specific 
subject, I would put myself forward 
to cover the event, attend seminars 
or write an article. For me, the 
traineeship was an opportunity to 
free myself from my anxieties and 
overcome a number of fears and 
insecurities I had about the world 
of work.“

Nieves Tejada Castro, former trainee at the Committee of the Regions 

“If the EU wants to meet the target of achieving an employment rate of 
75% by 2020, we need more favourable conditions for the transition to 
the labour market. I am firmly convinced that good-quality traineeships 
offer young people the opportunity to obtain valuable vocational 
experience, knowledge and skills, and thus to improve their chances of 
finding a job and establishing themselves on the labour market quickly 
and on a long-term basis. I would point out that local and regional 
authorities should be involved in the comprehensive drafting and 
implementation of quality traineeship initiatives, as they are best placed 
to assess the different conditions and needs at local level.”

Andrius Kupcinskas (LT/EPP), Mayor of Kaunas, CoR rapporteur on “Quality Traineeships”

or boring tasks to do so far. My work programme is 
quite flexible from day to day, so I have to organise my 
time to take account of the workflow”. Louise Jones, 
an English trainee in the events management unit is 
very happy with the way she has been integrated into 
the team and feels that on a day to day level she can 
“make a difference as a member of the communica-
tion team and bring a young person’s perspective to 
the various activities the unit organises”.

Traineeships as a platform 
for exchange 

However, above and beyond the work itself, a trainee-
ship is also a space where people can exchange ideas, 
learn about one another and discover other European 
cultures. Former Oxford University student, Louise, 
notes that trainees are “incredibly lucky to have this 
chance to work in a multi-cultural environment. It 

gives us an opportunity to open our minds rather 
than simply believing everything that is said in the 
press  about  European  policy  and  the  institutions 
in Brussels”. Working in this kind of environment 
brings people together and gives the traineeship an 
added dimension: as a platform for a multitude of ex-
changes. Jozef finds it, “liberating not to be confined 
to your own country’s particular way of thinking. It 
allows us to face our cultural prejudices and overcome 
them on a daily basis and that’s a very valuable experi-
ence”. Louise even confides that, “in future, it will be 
hard for me to work in an environment where there 
isn’t such a diverse mix of languages and cultures”.

It is also worth noting that working in a smaller, al-
most familial structure like the CoR, allows trainees 
to get a taste of all the various areas of work. With 
so many varied activities on offer, trainees avoid be-
ing stuck doing the same monotonous task through-
out their work experience. Jozef also thinks that the 
traineeship will give him “tangible experience, in the 
shape of an introduction to how the European insti-

Europe in my Region

Discover all about Europe in your region. Learn 
more on how local and regional authorities and 
representatives of the Committee of Regions in 
28 Member States serve the cause of European 
integration and act as “ambassadors of Europe” 
on the ground! Find news, interviews and more 
information about us.

http://cor.europa.eu/en/regions

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