26/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - The "Association française du Conseil des Communes et régions d'Europe" (AFCCRE) calls on Member States to give a role to the towns and regions in Europe in the new institutional reform process. In a statement adopted in the prospect of the European Council of Laeken, the AFCCRE calls on Member States to "involve the local and regional authorities, the actors of European construction, more actively in the preparatory phase of the Intergovernmental Conference, on one hand, by recognising the place due to the European Union's Committee of the Regions within the Convention and, on the other hand, by allowing the European organisations that represent local and regional authorities to be involved in the appropriate manner". AFCCRE also hopes that the IGC will be entrusted with "integrating in the Treaties not only the principles of the European Charter on local autonomy but also the real application of the principle of subsidiary including the local and regional authorities".