"European regions would like to see not only a more democratic EU but also more European policies which deliver to citizens." Emil Boc, Mayor of Cluj Napoca made these remarks during a plenary debate of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) with members of the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) Plenary Working Group on European Democracy.

Boc referred to discussions held with citizens on their recommendations during the 3rd plenary session of the CoFoE held in Strasbourg on Saturday. "We believe that representative democracy and participatory democracy are complementary and we have found successful formulas for practicing them in our regions. In regional and local election, in regional parliaments, through citizen's assemblies and consultations, through dialogues.  This huge asset of citizens' trust, regional expertise and political responsibility is what we bring to the table of the CoFoE. This is also the source of our proposals for making the EU decision-making even more democratic, accountable and transparent.

Boc went on to outline three proposals of the CoR to strengthen European Democracy:

  1. extending the deadline for subsidiarity scrutiny of EU legislation via the existing Early Warning mechanism so that regional parliament are engaged and given real chances to work;
  2. creating a ''green card'' procedure which allow regional parliaments to propose EU legislation;
  3. develop a permanent mechanism for dialogue with citizens which is place-based to discuss with citizens the territorial impact of EU policies .

Kornelia Marinova, Mayor of the Municipality of Lovech said that the local level has a lot of potential to contribute to strengthen European democracy. "In my municipality we use an online platform for promoting local initiatives and to consult with citizens. We the regional and local level can assist to close the gap between the EU and the citizens and to make institutions more transparent keeping citizens at the center."

More information of the delegation of the EPP-CoR Group to the CoFoE can be found here. A summary of the outcomes of the 3rd CoFoE plenary session can be found here.

Resolution of the CoR on the contribution of local and regional authorities to the CoFoE

Members of the CoR also discussed a resolution on the role of the local and regional level to the CoFoE which stressed  the need for greater participation and engagement of citizens in EU policies through stronger electoral representation at all levels of governance including the local and regional level. It recommends that the principles of multi-level governance and partnership be expanded and incorporated into the legislative and regulatory provisions of all EU policies that have a regional or local impact. The resolution further calls to for the CoR to be gradually upgraded from an advisory body to a co-deciding body of the European Union on key policies areas with territorial impact. The resolution also outlined the commitment of cities and regions to continue organising local dialogues to engage with citizens and narrow the gap between citizens and the EU.

 

#EPPLocalDialogues

The EPP-CoR Group is offering its members logistical and financial support to organise #EPPLocalDialogues. Local Dialogues are one of the major tools that can be used to contribute to the CoFoE and to help bring Europe closer to its citizens while relaying the aspirations of citizens to Brussels. Members can express their interest on epp@cor.europa.eu or get in touch with the EPP-CoR Communications Team.

More information on dialogues organised can be found here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4fNP_PQQXQ

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