Brussels, 04/02/2000 (Agence Europe) - Speaking through the voice of its president, Manfred Dammeyer, the Committee of the Regions gave a fundamentally favourable judgement on the European Commission's proposals for the Intergovernmental Conference (see EUROPE of 26 January, p.7). "The text of the Commission recognises the specific role played by the Committee of the Regions, and its importance as a political body", it stressed. Nonetheless, it is acknowledged at the Committee of the Regions that the claims stated "were not taken up at 100%", while hoping that the IGC process will allow them to be taken more into account. Thus, regarding the role of the Committee of the Regions, the Commission indicated in its opinion on the IGC that "in the enlarged Union, cooperation between regions will become more important in the same way as the assessment of the impact, at regional level, of the proposed legislation. The advisory role of the Committee of the Regions therefore retains its full interest". However, the Committee of the Regions placed at the centre of its claims that the IGC should go from the status of an advisory body to that of an Institution, and that it should have the right to defend its interests before the European Court of Justice - claims that are not part of the European Commission's proposals and which, according to EU Presidency sources, have little chance of being met. Furthermore, Mr Dammeyer welcomes the suggestion that the number of the members of the Committee should be increased. According to the Commission proposal, the number should now be "equal to one third of the number of representatives of the European Parliament elected in each Member State" with "a key for distribution identical to that used for the Parliament". Nonetheless, the increase recommended by the Commission which would, in time, amount to increasing the committee from 222 to 233 members, is lower than that recommended by the Committee of the Regions itself, which called for the number of its members to attain half that of the EP, that is, a maximum of 350.