Message from President Michel Delebarre to the
Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe CoE,

General Meeting of National Associations of local and regional authorities,
Strasbourg 23^rd and 24^th February 2006

Speech delivered by Dr Ian Micallef, CoR Vice President.

President Di Stasi, Ladies and Gentlemen

First allow me to say what an enormous pleasure it is for me to be with you today. It is a double honour in that I have the opportunity to speak to you here today in the name of the new President of the Committee of the Regions, Mr Michel Delebarre. Mr Delebarre himself has asked me to express his regret and send his apologies for not being able to attend personally, but he was unable to rearrange his calendar at such short notice following his election just last week. Mr Delebarre has also asked me to express to you personally, Mr Di Stasi, his wish to come to Strasbourg to address the Congress in person as soon as his calendar allows.

Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen, Europe is moving forward again with great speed; the Union of 25 is now a working reality, the Union of 27 is just around the corner, the ground work is being put in to ensure further enlargement goes ahead and the new Neighbourhood policy gives us, within the EU, the framework to develop and manage our relations with local & regional authorities from other states around the borders of the EU – representatives of whom are with us here today.

As the institutional voice of regions and cities in the European Union, the Committee of Regions works hard to ensure that such speed does not mean that certain are left out of the party. Indeed, an enlarged European Union should not be a shallower or more centralised Union: on the contrary. At the Committee of Regions, we believe that the changes we are now living through have given us opportunities to change the way we govern and are governed. Already, as most of you will know, local and regional authorities are responsible for implementing some 75% of all EU legislation. It is only good common sense that those responsible for implementing such legislation express their opinion before such measures become law. This, amongst other tasks, is the political work of the EU’s Committee of the Regions in its institutional role as the voice of cities and regions of the EU.

In these tasks we face many challenges: to build our influence and impacts as the united voice of regions and cities in a diverse Europe. We must ensure that the EU draws closer to its citizens by proving its ability to protect them from the ill effects of globalisation and by meeting their expectations in establishing a genuine European socio-economic model. People have a right to expect the CoR to help clarify EU actions and raise awareness of local issues at all stages in the EU decision-making process.

The Committee of Regions also faces challenges in its role as a bridge between local and regional authorities in the EU 25 and those of Wider Europe. The recently adopted work programme of the CoR’s RELEX commission will help us to face those challenges by prioritising our contributions to the enlargement process, the stabilisation and association process, the new Neighbourhood policy and the creation of an area of Freedom Security and Justice. These are areas with which the Congress is closely involved, and we look forward to working with you in this. On this note I would like to draw your attention to one area where the Congress can help us immediately in this work: and that is our work with Turkey. The Committee of the Regions is ready to establish a Joint Consultative Committee with local and regional authority representatives from Turkey, as provided for in the European treaties and the pre-accession agreements. However, the request for such a committee to be established must be addressed to the European Council by the Turkish Government. I would call on all Turkish members of Congress here to mobilise to ask your government to establish this committee, which will give local authorities in the EU and in Turkey an institutional platform on which to build up an exchange.

Improvements in the CoR's impact will be measured by our ability to ensure that the local and regional dimensions are taken into consideration across the board in the preparation of EU legislation and by our ability to contribute to better governance in the European Union. We must ensure that the European Union is as close as possible to our fellow citizens. The CoR must be more incisive because the day may well come when it will have to draw on all its courage to resist a legislative proposal from the Commission that, for instance, infringes the principle of subsidiarity.

Ladies and Gentlemen: These are no small tasks, as you will be aware. And, “no man is an island.” This, in a world of multi-level governance, decentralised networks and multiple stakeholder initiatives, is truer now than ever before. Which is why we need to cooperate. Clearly, when the Committee of the Regions enjoy such close and good relations as we do with organs such as the Congress, we don’t simply need to cooperate, we also take great pleasure in doing so, but this is less important that the significant common output that we achieve.

As most of you will know, Congress President Di Stasi signed a cooperation agreement with his then counterpart, Mr Peter Straub, former President of the Committee of the Regions in April 2005. In our cooperation agreement we have identified our common goals of bringing politics closer to the citizens and we strive to work together for the interests of local and regional authorities in Europe, combining our forces to enhance complementarity. I stress this because our experience in cooperation, I’m sure Mr Di Stasi would agree, has taught us to be pragmatic – the Congress and the Committee of Regions have two differing but inter-connecting agendas. We leave aside our differences, and concentrate instead on the inter-connecting parts of our work. In concrete terms, last year the Committee of the Regions and the Congress had great success with the organisation of a conference on the subject of local democracy in Pristina – a topic that we shall continue to cooperate on; exchanges of opinions on pressing environmental issues such as local and regional management of waste and civil protection; and we are pleased to have the support of the Congress for our proposals for a legal instrument for Trans-Border cooperation.

This pragmatic approach has borne great fruit and has also served us in our cooperation with associations of local and regional authorities. In our aim to deepen and widen the consultation base of the European Union, new and innovative ways are being put in place to ensure the widest possible participation in the political life of the Union:

Many of you will have already been involved in the Structured Dialogue between the European Commission and the Associations. The Committee of the Regions has played a pivotal role in facilitating this dialogue, identifying local partners and coordinating messages, ensuring that the widest possible spectrum of local and regional voices be heard by the European Commissioners concerned in a coherent form. Opening up this new channel of consultation, coordinating between the European Commission and the Associations, has allowed the CoR to facilitate the delivery of high-quality and targeted input into the pre-legislative process, directly from the most interested parties.

The Committee of the Regions has also had great success opening up networks through its members and other regional and local actors in the field of subsidiarity monitoring. The CoR subsidiarity monitoring network, which ran a successful test phase last year and will build on the lessons learnt for a second test in the Spring of 2006, has innovated new forms of multi-level partnership between local and regional authorities, regional parliaments, national government offices and local and regional associations. Through the network, local and regional actors at all levels can analyse European Commission legislative proposals and share information on possible breaches in the respect for the principle of subsidiarity. The whole network is supported by a website, soon to become fully interactive, which, beyond the stated purpose of subsidiarity monitoring, will set new standards in electronic consultation and network building, contributing to our greater goal of improving governance by bringing Europe closer to the citizens, and our citizens closer to Europe.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Of course Europe has its problems – economic, social and institutional problems. But its main problem may be a confidence crisis. However, seen from the perspective of our cities and regions, I believe that we can all make a significant contribution to building confidence in the European edifice, be it within the Union 25 or in Wider Europe. For, undoubtedly, like you, I work hard in my capacity as regional representative to provide my fellow citizens and the economic and social stakeholders in my region with responsible, practical answers. But in order to provide these practical answers to citizens at a European level, we need to work together.

Is this not what citizens also expect from Europe? I believe that it is precisely the Committee of the Regions' duty – as the institutional voice of regions and cities in Europe - to remind the Union of its realities.

Drafted by Tom Ashwanden
Tel: +32 2 282 2188
Email: [email protected]