Brussels, 18/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - During the Subsidiarity Conference organised by the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the Flemish Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday17 November, Frans Timmermans, the European Commission's First Vice-President, in charge of the Better Regulation programme, indicated that he wanted to involve the regions and local authorities more directly in the European legislative process.
During the first part of the conference, which has been held every two years since 2001, he explained that the “local and regional authorities are much closer to the public's perception of what politics is than the institutions in Brussels”. He added that “I really do deeply believe in the need to involve the national and regional parliaments, as well as the local authorities more directly in the European project”. This announcement echoes the demands made by the President of the Committee of the Regions, Markku Markkula, who pointed out that “The effective application of the principle of subsidiarity is thus a key element in the framework of better regulation”.
In connection with the opinion on “better regulation” adopted in October by the CoR (rapporteur Spyros Spyridon - EPP, Greece) the regions are requesting that they be allowed to actively participate in the pre-legislative phase and impact studies upstream to the drawing up of legislation and downstream, once the legislation is implemented. This last point is important, explained Branislav Stanicek from the CoR to EUROPE, given that a significant part of European legislation consists in revising and updating previous legislation.
Cooperation between the European institutions and the CoR has already been stepped up. Therefore, in February 2014, a cooperation agreement was signed between the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz (S&D, Germany) and the former president of the CoR, Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso (EPP, Spain), who has since become the vice-president of the European Parliament responsible for relations with the national parliaments and the CoR. Stanicek welcomed the fact that “the cooperation agreement establishes a more structured working method that strengthens the Union's legitimacy”. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)