Brussels, 15/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - The plenary session of the Committee of the Regions (CoR), to be held on 16 and 17 November under the chairmanship of Peter Straub, will, for the very first time in a European institution, see Spanish regional representatives able officially to speak their mother tongue: these are Pasqual Maragll i Mira (PES), president of Catalonia, Francisco Camps Ortiz (EPP), president of Valencia, and Emilio Pérez Tourino (PES), president of Galicia (see EUROPE 9064 on the decision of the Council).
This session will also be marked by the participation of President Barroso in this session of structured dialogue between the Commission, the CoR and the European and national associations of regional and local authorities. At the meeting, Mr Barroso will present the legislative and working programme of the Commission for 2006, once he has signed the new protocol for EU/CoR cooperation, with President Straub. This document stresses the need to reinforce inter-institutional links and the role of the members of the CoR, not only in the European legislative process, but also as ambassadors for European policy at regional and local level. On Thursday, Commission vice-president Margot Wallström, who contributed towards the drafting of the new cooperation protocol, will explain the Commission's new communication strategy based on its "plan D" (for democracy, dialogue and debate), in its preparations for the White Paper to be published on 13 December.
For the rest, the CoR is to adopt some 20 opinions, including four own-initiative opinions and two exploratory opinions. In particular, it is worth noting the own-initiative opinions of: - Peter Straub (EPP/Germany; President of the CoR and president of the regional parliament of Bade-Württemberg) on "the application and control of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality"; - Luc van den Brande (EPP/Belgium; Senator and member of the Flemish parliament). Wim van Gelder (EPP/Netherlands; commissioner of the Rhine for the province of Zeeland) is to present a prospective report on the implementation of the directive on waste disposal (directive 1999/31/EC) at regional and local level. Robert Neill (EPP/UK; member of the London Assembly) will present his exploratory opinion on the safety of modes of transport overall. Among the other opinions, it is worth noting those by Gabor Bihary (PES, Hungary) on the action plan in the field of State aid and that by Juliette Soulabaille (PES/France) on decentralised cooperation on reform of the EU's development policy.