On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), the secretary general of the organisation, Frédéric Vallier, while welcoming the European Recovery Plan and the new cohesion policy, shared his concerns about the lack of involvement of local and regional government in the elaboration of national plans, in an interview with EUROPE on Friday 29 January.
“The basis of our action, including at the time of our creation in 1951, is based on two main elements: contributing to a more united Europe through the link we create between local and regional governments (...) and strengthening the role of regional governments in European governance in connection with the European Charter of Local Self-Government”, he recalled.
In this respect, Mr Vallier called for better integration of local and regional authorities in the preparation of national plans in the context of the vast European Recovery Plan. A recent CEMR study with the Committee of the Regions on the implementation of the Recovery Plan indeed shows serious shortcomings on this point (see EUROPE 12643/32). “We do not want the European Recovery Plan to go against the principles of cohesion policy. It should not be forgotten that 60% of public investment in Europe is made at the level of cities and regions”, he emphasised.
Concerning the new cohesion policy for the 2021-2027 period, Mr Vallier is waiting to see whether simplification will really take place. “The cumbersome implementation of cohesion policy over the previous period has been a real problem. Overlap between the different cohesion policies must be avoided, and we want a real respect for the partnership principle”. In his view, the EU needs to provide for more direct investment by local and regional authorities and make better use of new financial products in conjunction with the European Investment Bank (EIB).
Conference on the Future of the EU
In the medium and long term, the Secretary General’s view of the Conference on the Future of the EU is not without apprehension. “We wonder a little about the future of this conference. It seems as if everyone is passing the buck”, said the Secretary General, who recalled that the Conference is due to end under the French Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2022.
“We proposed to organise in each European country a series of meetings with local elected representatives, economic and civil actors, which we could summarise to the Presidency”, he explained.
In the long term, he hopes to see the Committee of the Regions become the second chamber of the European Union, like the French Senate or the German Bundesrat, fully independent of national governments. “Today, the representation of territories is rather baroque; for example, it is the Member States that officially designate the representatives who sit on the Committee of the Regions, sometimes without consulting the associations of local and regional authorities”, he lamented. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)