Brussels, 05/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - Following the adopting of a draft resolution by the "Institutional Affairs" Committee in the Committee of the Regions (CoR), which regrets the allocation by the Nice Treaty of the same number of seats to the CDR and the European Economic and Social Committee (ESC), the ESC President Goke Frerichs sent a letter to the Vice President of the CoR and President of the "Institutional Affairs" Committee Manfred Dammeyer, to not only state his surprise, but also to put forward the ESC's point of view over relations between the two Committees.
Revealing the content of this letter before the ESC plenary session at the end of March to inform the advisors of this situation (see EUROPE of 29 March, p.16), Mr Frerichs hoped for a clarification of relations between the two Committees. Feeling that the judgement by the CoR's "Institutional Affairs" Committee can be explained by an misunderstanding of the role and importance of the ESC compared to the CoR, Frerichs recalled that the ESC benefits in the EU political system from the same status as the CoR because the two Committees are - to the same extent and status - consultative bodies. He also underlined that the two Committee were complimentary, enriching each other and should support one another, thus mutually reinforcing their efficiency. While the CoR incarnates territorial subsidiarity, the ESC as for it incarnates societal subsidiarity.
To discuss this, Goke Frerichs invited the President of the CoR, Jos Chabert, to discuss this sensitive issues before the ESC plenary session, on 25 April at 17pm. Mr Chabert, who accepted the invitation, did the same to Mr Frerichs, who will speak before the CoR plenary session next November.