Brussels, 16/04/2010 (Agence Europe) - Meeting for the first time on 15 and 16 April in Brussels under the presidency of the Spanish minister for regional policy Manuel Chaves, the Spanish Conference on Community Affairs in Europe (CARCE) saw the conference's first annual plan adopted by the Spanish government and regions, which extends the representation of the autonomous communities in the EU. At this event, Manuel Chaves announced that the Conference of Autonomous Communities would amend its internal regulation in order to adapt it to the Lisbon Treaty. It adopted a change to its name, to become the “Conference for EU Affairs” (CARUE). Participants at this meeting included the commissioner for regional policy Johannes Hahn, the Spanish secretary of state to the European Union Diego López Garrido, the Spanish secretary of state for regional policyGaspar Zarrias, the vice president of the European Parliament Miguel Angel Martinez, the president of the European Parliament's regional development committee, Danuta Hübner, and the president for the citizenship committee, governance and institutional affairs at the Committee of the Regions Luc Van den Brande.
Chaves informed the press that Spain sees the promotion of the EU's regional dimension as a priority, adding: “In the Lisbon Treaty and EU 2020 strategy there is a clear reference to the regional dimension and multilevel governance is mentioned in it for the first time. This is one point that the Spanish Presidency is seeking to enhance”. He also said that more responsibility for regional and local authorities in Europe was “a long but irreversible road”.
Chaves also pointed out that in the EU there are more than 100,000 local authorities that manage no less than 16% of European GDP but which are responsible for the application of 70% of legislation resulting from European directives. He explained that “this is why the local authorities quite logically want to exercise their share of responsibility in face of the economic crisis and, consequently, want to have and to be able to use the high potential for tackling the crisis by drawing on the resources they have, together with their competencies”.
Set up in 1989, the Conference objective is to channel the participation of the Spanish autonomous regions into European affairs. The Brussels meeting is the 54th of this kind, Chaves pointed out. (G.B./transl.fl)