On Tuesday 23 October, in the margins of the plenary session in Strasbourg, the European Commission presented a series of proposals to improve respect for subsidiarity and proportionality in the European legislative process, directly drawn from the work carried out in the framework of the working group under the leadership of the institution's Vice-President, Frans Timmermans.
As a reminder, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, had announced that this working group was to be set up to improve the quality of legislation under the motto "Do less, but do it more effectively". After chaotic beginnings and several months of work, the working group had presented recommendations for a new "active subsidiarity" (see EUROPE 12059), which seem to have been partly heard by the Commission.
The institution thus adopts the ‘subsidiarity grid’, which makes it possible to measure compliance with the principles of subsidiarity and which will be included in its guidelines for improving European legislation. This "tool" will be included in the annexes to future Commission communications to the European Parliament, the Council, but also to national parliaments and - if necessary - to the advisory committees, namely the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the Committee of the Regions. In this context, the Commission undertakes to improve the breakdown of reactions from local and regional authorities to the Council and the European Parliament.
In addition, on the "yellow card" procedure, i.e. the subsidiarity control mechanism available to national parliaments, the Commission plans to count Christmas and New Year's Eve within the time allowed for national parliamentarians to use this mechanism. Here, the Commission is committed to giving greater visibility to the ‘reasoned opinions’ of national parliaments.
The Commission intends to amend its guidelines on better regulation in order to strengthen the role of regional and local authorities and to revise its questions in the context of the public consultation in order to better take their views into account. Here, the institution wishes to focus on assessing the territorial impact of its legislative proposals and to facilitate the reading of the results of its analysis. Interestingly, the institution wishes to take into account regions and cities in its delegated and implementing acts.
Bregenz
"However, the Commission is not the only actor in the policy-making process. We need everyone to take their own responsibilities, starting at the conference organised by the Austrian Presidency of the Union next month in Bregenz", Mr Timmermans said, targeting the Member States in particular. The results of this conference, held in Bregenz, Austria, on 15 and 16 November, should feed into the Sibiu Summit, to be held on 9 May.
In this respect, the Commission expects the institutions (in particular the Council and the European Parliament) to adopt a position on: - the "subsidiarity grid"; - the exemptions envisaged for the 8-week period in the context of the yellow card for national parliaments; - the taking into account of local and regional authorities during the legislative procedure (trilogue). The institution also "encourages" national parliaments to consult more closely with regional parliaments on European affairs and asks the Committee of the Regions to create a "hub" to channel its positions more effectively into the national process - a pilot project entitled "RegHub" has been set up by the Committee of the Regions.
Relieved areas
"I am pleased that the European Commission recognises that we need to change the way European policy is done, giving regions and cities a greater role", said Committee of the Regions President Karl-Heinz Lambertz. This is a positive signal for the regions, which had gone hungry after the State of the Union speech of September 2018, in which there was no announcement concerning subsidiarity (see EUROPE 12095).
To consult the communication: https://bit.ly/2OFGmM1. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)