According to Roger Evans, a former member of the Committee of the Regions (CoR), the latter suffers from several major problems: too many members (with a representativeness that is open to question), an overbearing bureaucracy and a mindset that is too federalist. This former member of the CoR (2008-16) and a supporter of Brexit expressed these feelings in a short article dated 30 October which was published in Brexitcentral. Evans was the former deputy mayor of London during the very Eurosceptic mandate of Boris Johnson.
In his article he states: “Eight years ago I arrived in Brussels with a strong belief in reforming the European Union from within… Eight years of meetings in Brussels convinced me that reform is not possible”.
The British national believes that 360 members are too many and impede the committee’s efficiency. He considers that a committee “that really gets things done” should consist of six members. Nonetheless, for bigger debates and in effort to increase the level of representativeness, 20-30 members would be a good compromise, he adds. The representation imbalance between the big member states, such as Germany, France (24 members) and the small ones, such as Luxembourg and Cyprus (5 members) with the latter being “over represented” and having a “disproportionate power” during debates and votes is another obstacle, he argues.
This British Eurosceptic argues that there is a high proportion of pro-European and federalist members at the CoR, which he considers paradoxical given that the CoR’s aim is to ensure that the subsidiarity principle prevails. This committee also tends to request more laws and standards to be introduced at European level, instead of giving more room for manoeuvre to the local and regional authorities.
Evans believes that the weight of bureaucracy and its accompanying costs are excessive, and in this connection he highlights the costs incurred through interpreting and translation tasks . He also thinks that the CoR does not receive much of hearing at the other European institutions. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)