Brussels, 06/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - Only around half of all the Commissioners can boast of having political experience at local or regional levels. Their jobs, however, have a very important impact on local communities. This level should therefore not be ignored during their respective mandates.
Before becoming European Commissioners, barely ten out of the 28 of them had worked at local and regional authority level, according to information from the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR): Jyrki Katainen, Andrus Ansip, Johannes Hahn, Marianne Thyssen, Pierre Moscovici, Günther Oettinger, Dimitris Avramopoulos, Vytenis Andriukaitis, Karmenu Vella, Miguel Arias Cañete, Cecilia Malmström. Phil Hogan held a post at a national level. This is quite a low level if we take into consideration the European decisions taken on policies carried out at local level. 60% of the local authorities' agenda is decided by the EU, points out CEMR and 40% of European funding is invested by local level organisations.
Frédéric Vallier, Secretary General of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), stated: “The link existing between Europe and local government is undoubtedly narrow. This is why we carried out research to shed light on the newly established European Commission. Our findings illustrate how the EU impacts the daily work of thousands of municipalities, cities and regions”. (MD)