Brussels, 26/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - At the press conference that marked the end of the 35th session of the Committee of the Regions, the Committee's President, Jos Chabert, again demanded the "status of an EU Institution" for the Committee of the Regions which, as we stand, is simply an advisory body. The Committee "is an integral and inescapable part of the European Union. Europe needs the Committee of the Regions so as to be increasingly democratic", he declared. Although, at the same press conference, European Commission Vice-President Loyola de Palacio emphasised the importance of the "regional anchoring" of the members of the Committee and the usefulness of having the Committee's opinion, she did not back the demand for the status of Institution, which, moreover, is not envisaged in the preparatory work of the Intergovernmental Conference on the reform of EU Institutions.
The resolution on a "European Constitutional Framework", that the Committee of the Regions adopted on a proposal by Mercedes Bresso (Italy, PES), denounces the fate the IGC is reserving for this request for a status of European Institution. The Committee deplores the fact that discussions, in the IGC, concerning it, "are limited to considerations relating to the umber of seats", and says that the EU must provide itself with a genuine constitutional framework, that should clarify the allocation of powers between the different levels.
The Committee's Resolution on the Charter of Fundamental Rights also demands better consideration being taken of the role of local authorities. The Committee followed its two rapporteurs, Claude du Granrut (France, EPP) and Albert Bore (UK, PES), urging it to approve the adoption of the Charter, while regretting that the draft did not mention local autonomy. The Committee would also like the Charter to be included in the Treaty and that it enshrine the right to grant the right to vote in local and European elections to third country nationals having lived in the EU for a long time.