Brussels, 13/03/2000 (Agence Europe) - Four Ministers-Presidents of German Laender, headed by the Mayor of Bremen, Henning Scherf, have placed emphasis on the powers of the Regions to be clearly recognised in the next EU Treaty. At a meeting with European Commission President Romno Prodi on Friday, the representatives of the Laender asked to be involved in drawing up the draft "White Paper on Governance" prepared by the European Commission. The Commission's President said that he hoped that the Committee of the Regions would be an important partner in the review of the Treaty.
Mr. Scherf, as well as the ministers-presidents of the Laender of Bavaria, Edmund Stoiber, Saxony-Anhalt, Reinhard Hoppner, Lower Saxony, Gerhard Glogowski, and Baden Wurtemberg, Erwin Teufel, place emphasis on two points: i) the future Treaty will have to clearly establish the competencies of the different levels of political power in Europe, not only between the EU States and Regions but also cities; ii) the Treaty will have to maintain the quality of services of public interest. Edmund Stoiber considered that the Commission was exceeding its powers by proposing to the Council that all European schools should have a computer, whereas in Germany schools were under the powers of the Laender.
The problem of competition linked to State guarantees to regional banks was only briefly discussed; the ministers-presidents fear that the Commission should begin by attacking the Landesbanken, to continue with savings banks, then public service radio-television.