Debates on the future of the EU's Lisbon strategy and on the reinforced role of Europe's regions and cities under the new Lisbon Treaty rules are set to dominate the final plenary session of the Committee of the Regions' 2006-2010 mandate, which takes place on 3 and 4 December in the European Parliament's Paul-Henri Spaak building in Brussels.
Message from the president
"The EU's assembly of regional and local representatives will mark its last plenary session of the current mandate period by setting out a clear vision for its future role and expectations in two key areas – the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty and the revised Lisbon Strategy for growth and jobs.
The entering into force of the Lisbon Treaty reinforces the role of regional and local authorities in EU policymaking, and is an important step towards the creation of true multilevel governance in Europe. The Committee of the Regions looks forward to implementing the Treaty's provisions together with its institutional partners, and we will ensure that the new rights of Europe's regions and cities are fully respected.
At this plenary session we will also emphasise the importance of a bottom-up approach in relaunching the European Union's Lisbon Strategy for growth and jobs after 2010. Especially in these times of crisis we need to double our efforts and develop the right strategic framework for restoring long-term economic growth. This is a team effort, where all levels of governance have their role to play and have to be consulted. We know from past experience that prescribing ambitious EU goals in a top-down approach does not work in practice.
CoR to propose "sustainable Europe strategy" to boost jobs and growth
The December plenary session of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) will be the opportunity for the CoR to set out its position on the future of the EU's growth and jobs programme, known as the Lisbon Strategy, ahead of the discussion in the March 2010 European Council. Members will debate a draft own-initiative opinion from Christine Chapman (UK/PES), member of the National Assembly for Wales, which takes up the CoR's long-standing call for greater consultation and participation of local and regional authorities in national programmes designed to boost the economy and create jobs. Chapman's report also calls for far greater integration of the jobs and growth agenda with other EU strategies such as those on climate change, social policy and territorial cohesion.
Chapman is proposing a new "sustainable Europe strategy", based on the premise that the world’s resources are finite and that economic growth has a cost. “From the economic perspective, the new strategy must focus on developing Europe’s competitiveness in the green economy. We need a European Green Skills and Green Jobs strategy that provides a framework for investing in skills and knowledge that will develop a sustainable economy. But it must also address the growing social divide within Europe. Even before the economic crisis, Europe was experiencing increasing levels of social exclusion and persistently high levels of poverty. The new strategy must give stronger emphasis to a renewed and reinvigorated social policy as a matter of urgency.”
With the review of the EU budget due to take place next year amid calls from some quarters for cutbacks in EU cohesion funding, Chapman's opinion also “calls on EU leaders to ensure that future EU spending is aligned towards delivering the key objectives of the new strategy, applying the success of Lisbon earmarking in structural funds across all relevant areas of the EU budget”. This would ensure that even the better off regions of Europe would continue to benefit from structural funding for specific measures aimed at boosting local competitiveness
In a similar vein, the Plenary Session will also debate the draft opinion from Marianne Fügl (AT/PES), deputy mayor of Traisen, on the European Commission’s communication on "New skills for new jobs – anticipating and matching labour market and skills needs". She too highlights the changes that will be brought about by the move to a "green" economy, which will create new jobs but which may require a radical shift in training and education requirements. The report underlines the need for more flexible use of EU funds – notably the Social Fund – to enable local and regional authorities to act rapidly and effectively support the development of new skills. (Click here for an interview with Marianne Fügl.)
CoR starts to implement Lisbon Treaty
Another important point on the agenda of the December plenary session will be the Lisbon Treaty and its forceful push for subsidiarity and multi-level governance in Europe. Its entering into force on 1 December makes the EU more democratic, transparent and efficient, and improves the standing of regions and cities in the EU's political system. It also strengthens the role of the Committee of the Regions in relation to the other European institutions and in particular in relation to the European Court of Justice and the European Parliament.
For the first time in its history, the European Union defines "territorial cohesion" – the harmonious development of all its territories – as one of its fundamental objectives and explicitly recognises the local and regional right of self-government. According to the new subsidiarity principle enshrined in the treaty, new EU legislation has to respect the competences of Europe's cities and regions, and the European Commission is required to consult widely before publishing any legislative proposals. Each legislative proposal has to be accompanied by an impact assessment of the financial and administrative burden on national, regional and local administrations, with this burden being kept at a minimum and commensurate with the proposal's objective. Furthermore, the Lisbon Treaty provides for regional parliaments to be involved in the new subsidiarity monitoring mechanism for national parliaments ("yellow card procedure") and obliges the European Parliament to consult the Committee of the Regions in all important areas of their competences.
The Committee of the Regions obtains the right to appeal to the European Court of Justice in order to contest new EU legislation which it considers to be in breach of the subsidiarity principle, or to protect its own institutional prerogatives and role. The Lisbon Treaty also strengthens the Committee's consultative role and extends the mandate period of its members from four to five years.
The transition to the Lisbon Treaty provisions also necessitates changes to the internal workings of the Committee, for instance by laying down the concrete procedures for implementing its new right to bring legal actions before the Court of Justice. Under the chairmanship of Karl-Heinz Lambertz (BE/PES), First Minister of the German-speaking Community in Belgium, a small task force of CoR members has debated the necessary modifications to the Committee's internal rules over the past year. Lambertz will present the task force's findings at the plenary session, which is then expected to adapt the CoR rulebook to the new Treaty. Under Lisbon rules, the Committee's composition is determined by the Council on the basis of a Commission proposal, so CoR members will also debate their recommendations for allocating seats between member states after 2015.
In line with the Lisbon Treaty's push to cut red tape for Europe's regional and local authorities, the December plenary session will also adopt the CoR's opinion on the European Commission's Better Lawmaking 2007-2008 package . Drafted by Lord Graham Tope (UK/ALDE), Member of London Borough of Sutton, the draft opinion recognises that progress has been made, but considers that further improvements are necessary. While acknowledging the benefits of impact assessments for new EU legislative proposals, the rapporteur expresses his concern that subsequent amendments by the European Parliament and the Council can have far-reaching impacts on local and regional authorities that may not be fully anticipated by decision-takers. The draft report also deplores the continuing tendency in member states to complicate and over-elaborate EU laws when it comes to their transposition into national legislation, the so-called "goldplating". (Click here for an interview with Lord Graham Tope.)
For your files : the opinions in brief
Local authorities and European competitiveness.
Stressing "the widespread uncertainty amongst regional and local authorities about the overall purpose of the current Lisbon Strategy " and the effectiveness of its implementation, Christine Chapman ( member of the National Assembly for Wales , UK/PES) will be presenting a draft own-initiative opinion on the future of the Lisbon Strategy after 2010 . In it, she proposes ways of reinforcing the European strategy for growth and jobs by revealing the potential of local and regional authorities for providing investment and economic support . The draft opinion calls for "a European Green Skills and Green Jobs Strategy, to provide a framework for investing in the skills and knowledge to support the development of a sustainable economy." Renewing the message addressed to the institutions in its White Paper on multi-level governance , the Committee of the Regions will plead for "better coordination and cooperation between the different levels of government in Europe, and for a much stronger regional dimension to the new strategy". (Click here for an interview with Christine Chapman.)
Still with an eye on boosting the competitiveness of a European economy getting over the effects of the world financial crisis, the draft opinion presented by Marianne Fügl ( deputy mayor of Traisen , AT/PES) will stress the labour market trends that the local and regional authorities wish to consolidate. In order to develop new skills for new jobs by anticipating and matching labour market and skills needs , the CoR's proposals call for funds from the European Social Fund (ESF) to be used more efficiently for the regions and local authorities. This will make it possible to ensure that the regions and local authorities get the money they need quickly and directly and that they can better coordinate how the money is used. According to the rapporteur, the EU must also see that "existing financial instruments (ESF, ERDF) …(are) amended in order to be able to deal effectively with the changing circumstances on the labour market." (Click here for an interview with Marianne Fügl.)
Because future transport networks provide good accessibility to all European regions and thus strengthen territorial cohesion in the EU, while ensuring better economic and social integration and sustainable development, Väino Hallikmägi (member of Pärnu Town Council, Estonia , EE/ALDE) will present a draft opinion on a sustainable future for transport: towards an integrated, technology-led and user-friendly system . In it, th e rapporteur advocates further simplification of EU funding procedures and believes consistency between national and EU funding programmes is necessary. But he also stresses the need to "(use) a significant proportion of the resources … to develop appropriate and sustainable solutions in small and medium-sized towns , (and funding) should not focus solely on technologies tailored for big cities."
In response to a Commission communication on "a new partnership for the modernisation of universities" , Mohammad Masood (member of Bradford City Council , UK/EPP) will submit a draft CoR opinion proposing the foundations for a better university-business dialogue so that local authorities , who have key responsibilities for education and training policy, are able to exploit this potential within their territories. This opinion points out that local and regional authorities are key players in developing regional research and innovation strategies, often managing research institutions and supporting innovative environments. But it is also concerned that in many countries the legal and financial framework still fails to reward or may even inhibit the efforts of universities to cooperate with business. The rapporteur therefore suggests the establishing of "partnership structures of key stakeholders from local and regional authorities, business, the community and higher education to provide a focus for dialogue, e.g. by organising round tables and workshops, establishing science parks for technology transfer, organising science culture events or student fairs". (Click here for a related press release.)
Issues of competitiveness on a European scale will finally be considered from the angle of information and communication technologies and their role in improving people's quality of life and stimulating local and regional economic activity. The opinion of Luidvikas Žukauskas (member of Skuodas Municipal District Council , LT/EPP) entitled " ICT infrastructures for e-science: a strategy for ICT R&D, innovation and research on future and emerging technologies in Europe " will recommend promoting the concept of "user-driven innovation", which is being used in more and more regions and cities across Europe, and has proven to be a central driver of R&D investment and market entrance of new innovation. While the CoR's opinion points out, in its conclusions, the general lack of coordination of efforts in a number of different layers such as education, innovation, research, investment and the marketing of innovative ICT solutions, it recommends that this concept be given a more prominent place in the European Commission's communication.
Continue the CoR's work on protecting the environment.
With less than a month to go to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen which the Committee of the Regions will attend as part of the delegation from the European Union, the members of the Committee are continuing their reflections on local and regional tools to fight global warming. The DEVE commission will thus be submitting to the general assembly the draft opinion prepared by its chairman, Jerzy Zająkała (mayor of Łubianka, PL/UEN-AE), which seeks to promote the restrictions on the use of hazardous substances in EEE and the treatment of WEEE . Among other things this demands that the new WEEE Directive "ensures that compliance schemes provide appropriate and continued compensation to the relevant Local or Regional Authorities for any financial or administrative burdens that will be required in order to implement the Directive." The rapporteur also "calls for the extension of producer responsibility to costs of separate collection from households not to be optional, but compulsory."
Aquaculture and fisheries are still major economic sectors in many EU regions. Action by local and regional authorities to promote sustainable development also involves incorporating measures to protect the environment in these sorts of public policies. The Committee of the Regions takes this into account in its opinion on the Green Paper of the European Commission on a Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy prepared by Ramon Luis Valcárcel Siso (president of the Autonomous Community of Murcia , ES/EPP). In it the rapporteur recommends the introduction of fishing techniques that are more selective and respectful of the environment, even if "efforts to deal with these problems must, however, take account of specific regional factors." To create the conditions for a sustainable development of European aquaculture, he also "urges legislation to introduce a register of aquaculture businesses, providing public administrations with an up-to-date picture of aquaculture production, authorised seeding and its origins, density of seeding and health programmes in course." (Click here for an interview with Ramon Luis Valcárcel Siso.)
Finally, the own-initiative report of Adam Banaszak (member of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie regional assembly , PL/UEN-EA) which takes stock of EU forestry policy with a particular focus on the 20/20/20 targets completes the reflections on the use of the EU’s natural resources. In his draft opinion, the rapporteur asks the EU to promote " multifunctional forestry which, in addition to its core tasks in the field of timber production, encompasses other activities of particular economic importance such as: tourism, hunting, and harvesting of forest fruits and other forest products (e.g. sap, bark, cork etc). It is possible to boost the economic significance of such non-production activities while at the same time broadening the biodiversity of natural habitats, which enhances the development of rural areas." To exploit the potential of biomass for energy production, the rapporteur urges that support be given at EU level, and that the planting of fast-growing trees for energy production receive "decisive support, which, by creating an additional labour market, will help revitalise rural areas, and can be a factor in the economic development of micro-regions."
Preserve the principle of subsidiarity to improve EU legislation.
The adoption of the Treaty of Lisbon, the appointment of the Council President, a new Parliament and a new EU Commission: the European Union has experiences a lot of institutional changes these last few months. Against this background the EU’s local and regional authorities are not slow to reaffirm the principles that must underpin action by the EU. It is with this in mind that Lord Graham Tope (member of the council of the London Borough of Sutton, UK/ALDE ) will be presenting his draft opinion on the "Better lawmaking 2007-2008" package in response to the EU Commission’s communication on how to simplify and improve EU legislation. With an eye to continuing its cooperation with the Commission, this CoR report lays stress on protecting the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality so as to ensure that laws are simple and easy to understand. On this matter, the opinion expresses concern at the continuing tendency of the Member States "to complicate and over-elaborate the EU laws when it comes to their transposition into national legislation." In this draft opinion the CoR reiterates its commitment to "contribute to the impact assessment of new legislative proposals having a major local and regional impact, in order to encourage joint consultations and the exchange of good practice upstream from new legislation." (Click here for an interview with Lord Graham Tope.)
Protection and education: the Committee
of the Regions commits itself to children and young people.
After the conference organised last November on the protection of children's rights, the CoR's COST commission will be presenting at this plenary session a draft opinion by Jan Oravec (mayor of the town of Štúrovo, SK/EPP on combating the sexual exploitation of children and child pornography and preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting victims . The proposals in this opinion call for a comprehensive approach to tackling the sexual exploitation of children, child pornography and other forms of exploitation linked to human trafficking, in involving the protection of victims, the prosecution of offenders, prevention of the phenomenon and public awareness measures . One of the proposals is that local police forces , " which are the most familiar with their local area and environment and which can play a key role in the detection of such offences ," should have access to data bases and be given the proper powers to take steps against such criminal activities. (Click here for a related press release.)
The growing access of young people in Europe to IT requires a real media education and media literacy policy. In his proposal for an own-initiative opinion regional perspectives in developing media literacy and media education in EU educational policy , Andras Szalay (representative of the municipality of Veszprém , HU/ALDE) points out that local and regional authorities are often responsible for integrating media into education programmes and that it is therefore necessary to help these actors to encourage projects, programmes and charters linked to media literacy. To achieve this, the opinion of the CoR's EDUC commission suggests several things, such as setting up an appropriate organisational and professional infrastructure. With this in mind, the opinion proposes, for instance, creating "media literacy desks" along the lines of the "media desks" in the MEDIA programme (or extending the latter's field of activity), or strengthening, even developing the consultative duties of the group of experts on media education set up by the EU Commission.
