24/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - Ahead of the French and Dutch referendums on the European Constitution, the EPP Group of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) has published a manifesto in which it calls on all citizens of Europe and the Member States to approve the Constitution. The President of the EPP Group of the CoR, Isidoro Gottardo, says “yes to a Constitution which responds to the demand for a Europe which is closer to the people, and which paves the way for a Union united in diversity- respecting our cultural, regional, local and linguistic identities. This is a Europe which requires consultation of the local and regional authorities”. The EPP group stresses that the Constitution reinforces the role of the Committee of the Regions, a body representing the local and regional authorities in the Community decision-making process, and is the defender of local-level democracy and the principle of subsidiarity, which will be reinforced as long as the local and regional level can genuinely do their job. “This approach guarantees bottom-up European integration”, the EPP group emphasised.