Brussels, 07/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - In order to prepare for enlargement, the towns and regions of the candidate countries need "training, training, training", said the representative of the local Romanian authorities at the conference organised on 5 and 6 November in Athens by the Committee of the Regions and the Greek local authorities and communities. The conference will be on "the new methods of governance and the role of the local and regional authorities in an enlarged European Union". The training of officials and the problem of power transfer which are not often accompanied by transfers of resources appeared throughout the conference as the main concerns of the local and regional authority representatives from candidate countries in the framework of the major changes in their role that accompany preparations for European Union membership. "We must make very significant investment, mainly for the adoption of the body of law on the environment", stressed Toomas Välimäe, Vice-President of the Estonian association of local authorities, like his Slovene counterpart, Anton Kokalj. Mr Kokalj said "we must be vigilant, because the State may seek to take advantage of the regionalisation process to give power to local authorities without their agreement and without additional resources". The establishment of clear relations between the various levels of power, often under construction, was tackled by the elected members of the local authorities of the candidate countries. Unfortunately they had very little time because the conference tended to disperse its attention over a number of different themes not leaving much time for opinions to be expressed. Complaints were voiced on this.
Elected members of the Member States and the candidate states shared their "long, complex and multiple" work experience in the setting up of local and regional authorities where they have traditionally played only a small role. It is a process that takes time, noted the Greek Vice Interior Minister, Lambros Papadimas. He specified the aspects that he considers essential and difficult for ensuring economic autonomy of the authorities, convincing ministers to give up power, setting in place a clear and sound administrative system, providing continuous training for officials and setting in place internal controls. John Griffiths, from the Welsh National Assembly, stressed for his part the tensions between the different structures that are either new or availed of new powers (local authorities, assemblies, etc.), which each have to find a place in the scheme of things under construction. 'The local authorities will be called upon to play a greater role, which for us is the major challenge" of enlargement, said Athos Germanos, Secretary of the Union of Communes in Cyprus. He felt the associations of local and regional authorities have another role to play, that of "explaining the reality of Community aid to people who expect a great deal and often too much".
What will be the towns and regions' role in an enlarged Union? How can the Committee of the Regions help the local and regional authorities of the candidate countries? Greek Interior Minister Costas Skandalidis believes that what is needed is "a strong Europe, of modern States, a decentralised administration, strong local and regional authorities" in order to guarantee maximum "efficiency". He felt, however, that "one should not give exaggerated support to the role of the local and regional authorities, but they must be integrated into the system". Jos Chabert, President of the Committee of the Regions, insisted on the fact that the EU "has encouraged the taking on of responsibility by the local and regional authorities in the candidate countries, and these must be actively involved in the enlargement process". Paul Hanningfield, Chair of the Committee's enlargement group, stressed that the Committee must help these communes and regions to build themselves up and to get to know the European Union better. The conferences organised by the Committee and the local associations and authorities in all candidate countries over recent years (the last is to be held in December in Bulgaria) were a first essential stage in establishing contacts, but things must now be taken further with work of greater detail, he said. Lord Hanningfield spoke of the possibility of forming working groups on specific issues and practices (transport, environment, etc.) in order to share the expertise of the Committee members. He also hoped that the Committee would be able to put pressure on so that regions may benefit from Community funds in order to organise among themselves programmes for the training and exchange of officials. The Committee of the Regions also takes part in the setting in place of joint Committees between the elected members of local and regional authorities of the EU15 and of the candidate countries. A first committee should be formed in November with Poland, at the beginning of next year for the Czech Republic, then for Cyprus and Slovakia. Mr Hanningfield felt this was a good way to carry out a more concrete task than with conferences, while wondering whether it would be useful to initiate a rather long process of forming such committees, whose creation must be decided by the Member States, while the elected members of these countries could take part in the Committee of the Regions as observers "as soon as the accession treaties are signed".
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Michel Quevit, Professor at the "Université Catholique de Louvain" drew the attention of the conference to the need for an indepth review of cohesion policy, and more particularly to the need to ensure that, over and beyond regional policy, the Community policies as a whole contribute to the aim of cohesion. "If we keep the current system, it will be necessary to increase structural funds by EUR 140-210 billion" for the whole of the next programming period, he warned, considering that, in order to limit the increase to just 100 billion, it will be necessary to manage cohesion policy "more effectively", mainly through other Community policies. Mr Quevit considers it necessary to define the territorial dimension of policies. In the field of research, for example, fundamental research is carried out at least at national level, "but the innovation chapter is a territorial stake" which should be considered as such. This "effort must be based on a common reference framework": the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) "was a trial, but a piece of paper that is not binding - It must be readjusted and given a status".