The President of the Committee and the Regions (CoR), Karl-Heinz Lambertz, presented the point of view of the regions and cities with regard to the state of the European Union, to the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk. The former put forward two major demands: ensuring strong cohesion policy involving all regions and guaranteeing resources that corresponded to a third of the future European Union budget. Mr Lambertz also called for a Summit of the Cities and Regions to be arranged in 2019.
These two demands are also those of the Cohesion Alliance launched the previous day (see EUROPE 11879). The CoR President pointed out during his speech that the Union had an increasingly important impact on the local and regional authorities and that a substantial part of European policies had been implemented at this level.
Mr Lambertz called for ambitious policy to be put in place that was equivalent to that of the Juncker Plan for strengthening private investment and supporting public investment at local and regional levels. He stated that, “The European Union suffers from a competitiveness deficit due to ageing infrastructure and insufficient investment”. He also pointed out that the economic and financial crisis had led to a 15% average reduction in investment.
The President of the CoR believes that Europe should be guided by two major principles: subsidiarity and dialogue with European citizens. With regard to the first principle, Mr Lambertz pointed out that he wanted to see the CoR participate in the working group on subsidiarity and proportionality set up by the European Commission. On the second principle, President Lambertz highlighted the need to strengthen the dialogue on the future of the European Union at a level of the local and regional assemblies.
Summit of the Cities and Regions in 2019.
At a more general level the President of the CoR emphasised the role of the local and regional authorities in social, environmental and security policies, as well as in the management of natural disasters. The President of the CoR also proposed holding a Summit of the Cities and Regions of the European Union in the first quarter of 2019, “to send out clear and concrete messages to the heads of state and government”. This summit is expected to be held on 30 March 2019 in Sibiu under the Romanian president of the Council of the EU (see EUROPE 11861).
The message delivered by the President and members who spoke afterwards was listened to by the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk. This was the second time in 18 months that the latter had attended a Committee of the Regions meeting. He said that he wanted to be “pragmatic and realistic” and sought to fully integrate the positions of local and regional delegates who are “working on the ground” and not in “an ivory tower”. He added that he would deliver the message to his “colleagues”, the heads of state and government.
The CoR was asked by the President of the European Council a few months ago for an opinion on the future of the European Union. This opinion is expected to be submitted next year and is also based on the results of a vast dialogue carried out with European citizens as part of the “Reflecting on the EU” campaign (see EUROPE 11718). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)