In the presence of Vice President of the European Commission Dubravka Šuica, CoR members welcome the European Commission's support for a Convention to revise EU Treaties and commit to play their part to implement the conclusions of the Conference on the Future of Europe
In a debate with EC Vice President for Democracy and Demography Dubravka Šuica, local and regional representatives welcomed the European Commission's support for a Convention to revise EU Treaties expressed by the EC President Ursula von der Leyen in her State of the Union speech, as well as the confirmation that citizens panels will become a permanent feature in the EU's policy-making process. At the same time, as the 2022 EU annual report on the state of regions and cities shows, Europe is facing multiple challenges from the war against Ukraine to the climate and energy crisis, which is putting democracies as well as solidarity in the EU under greatest pressure In this context, local and regional representatives insist that a concrete follow-up of the conclusions resulting from the Conference on the Future of Europe (COFE) is needed and that regions and cities will play their part be it with or without Convention.
Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President for Democracy and Demography of the European Commission stated: “Current geopolitical events remind us that we must not lose time to build democratic resilience from within. The European Committee of the Regions has been a fundamental partner in the Conference on the Future of Europe. Now it is time to turn the vision into concrete actions, starting from going deeper with citizens’ engagement. The Commission is setting the direction: Citizens’ panels will become part of policy-making and our online tools are being revamped. Next year we will put forward a “Defence of Democracy” package, responding directly to citizens’ proposals. Local and regional authorities are crucial for a healthy and strong democracy. The “Building Europe with Local Councillors” initiative is a unprecedented alliance with local and regional authorities. I invite all Members of the Committee to make it flourish."
Mark Speich, State Secretary for Federal, European and International Affairs and Media of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia said "I believe that the current crises are just showing us that we need to talk about reforms. If we want to overcome all existing and future challenges, we need more efficient procedures in the EU. That is why we should also move forward even more boldly with the results of the Conference on the Future of Europe. We need an institutionalised follow-up process. We also need to talk about structural reforms. For me, it is clear that the expectations of the citizens are certainly greater than what could already be met within the framework of the regular legislative process."
Melanie Huml, representative of a regional executive body who holds an electoral mandate: Minister of State, Bavarian State Government said that there can't be reforms for the sake of doing reforms and that there can be no reforms without regions. She stressed the need to respect the principle of subsidiarity.
Željko Turk, Mayor of the City of Zaprešić said that citizens must be at the core of discussion and in the centre of policy making. He added that the important contribution of the CoR to the conference shows the good job the CoR is doing to represent citizens' needs.
Nikola Dobroslavić, President of Dubrovnik-Neretva Region spoke about the link between democracy and demography but said that awareness on the latter is not always sufficient. He appealed for demography to be a key horizontal point mainstreamed in all policies.
Member of the CoR emphasised that a future Convention should fully involve members of the CoR to represent the voices of the over one million regionally and locally elected representatives in Europe, and that this should be reflected in its composition, also taking into consideration the fact that some of these representatives represent regions with legislative powers.
Communication and outreach being fundamental components of the follow-up on the COFE, CoR members fully support the European Commission's confirmation that citizen panels, as introduced in the COFE, will become a permanent tool for future EU policy-making. In this respect, The CoR European network of regional and local EU councillors is fully operational and it works in synergy with the Building Europe with Local Councillors (BELC) network of the European Commission. Local events and citizens' dialogues are being and will be held throughout the EU, notably in view of the next European elections.
Background:
- 2022 EU Annual Report on the State of Regions and Cities.
- CoR resolution on The outcome and follow up of the Conference on the Future of Europe, with reactions and proposals, including on Treaty revision and COFE proposals relevant for the CoR and for cities and regions.
- CoR resolution on The European Committee of the Regions' proposals in view of the European Commission Work Programme for 2023, with a substantial part on follow-up to the COFE.