Brussels, 19/12/2007 (Agence Europe) -The presidents of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), Dimitris Dimitriadis, and the Committee of the Regions (CoR), Michel Delebarre, and their respective secretaries-general, Patrick Venturini and Gerhard Stahl, signed a new cooperation agreement between their institutions in Brussels on Monday 17 December.
In a joint press release, the EESC and the CoR say: “Whilst recognising each other's distinct institutional roles and political identities, the Committees undertake, on the basis of their institutional autonomy, to reform their administrative cooperation in a budgetarily neutral way on the basis of the following principles: - a high standard of service based on institutional equality; - respect for the identity and autonomy of each of the two institutions and their respective needs and priorities; - continuing modernisation of joint services management; - implementation of this agreement in a way that safeguards the quality of working conditions; - transparency of operation and accountability within the services, underpinned by a model of good governance; - guaranteed equal treatment of officials and other staff employed in those services subject to joint organisation under the terms of this agreement; - a commitment to coordinate work, thereby helping secure, among other things, a more stable workload for the joint services, and a commitment to more extensive demand management in this area, including the monitoring of requests for internal translations; - a commitment to cooperation, solidarity and coordinated cooperation between the two administrations in their relations with third parties that involve the joint services, including relations with the budget authority and the control bodies; - long-term stability of this agreement”.
The first agreement was signed in 1999, following the provisions introduced by the Amsterdam Treaty. (G.B.)