Brussels, 21/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission and the Committee of the Regions signed a protocol on Thursday defining the way they intend working together in 16 points. Whereas the President of the Commission, Romano Proidi, said on that occasion that "the voice of the regions must be fully heard in talks on the reform of the European Union", the political groups of the CoR called for the Committee to have a full statute in the Convention responsible for preparing the next Intergovernmental Conference on the revision of the EU Treaty.
The cooperation protocol "especially expresses the fact that the Commission is aware of the importance of the regional and local dimension in the European Union's quest for greater democracy and closer to the concerns of the citizens", declared Committee President Jos Chabert. The protocol is no end in itself, "I see in it a sign that the debate on the reform of European institutions really intends to lead to greater democracy within these institutions", along the line of the White Paper on Governance, he added. The President of the Commission spoke along the same lines, stressing that "what we want today, is a Europe built from the bottom, not from the top; a Europe that takes account of the different political levels". Romano Prodi highlighted the role the members of the Committee of the Regions played on the ground, assuring: "the Committee is more than an important partner for the Commission: I need you".
The protocol provides, notably, for yearly meetings between the two institutions, to discuss Commission plans for which the Committee could provide a substantial contribution, as well as between the Presidents of the Commission and the Committee of the Regions, to define the priorities of co-operation. The protocol commits the Commission to supplying the CoR with a list identifying documents of a non-legislative nature on which the Committee could have a say, as well as providing reasoned opinions twice a year on its decisions.