Regions’ plea for more powers in EU undermined by divisions

Date: 30/01/03

By Dana Spinant

THE EU's regions and local authorities are set to demand more powers in Europe in what promises to be a tough-talking debate at the next meeting of the Convention of Europe's future on 6-7 February.

However, their plea to be more involved in EU decision-making risks being undermined because the groups are divided over their precise objectives.

Reinhard Bocklet, Bavaria's minister for Europe, set the scene for the debate this week by declaring that the crucial issue facing delegates is how to handle the separation of powers between regions, states and the EU. "That is the real question of power that lies at the heart of Europe, not whether we will have a two-headed presidency," he said.

Jean-Luc Dehaene, the Convention's vice-chairman, is due to meet representatives of regions today (30 January). Following this meeting, the Convention's board, the praesidium, will prepare a discussion document on the role of the regions in Europe, ahead of next week's plenary debate.

But it is already clear that the regions face an uphill battle to win acceptance for their demands because of their lack of a common front.

They are broadly split into three camps, each pursuing different objectives. The powerful German Länder and Belgian communities seek far-reaching, state-like powers in some respects; the umbrella associations of regional and local authorities merely seek to be consulted by EU institutions when they draft legislation; the Spanish regions (see report below) are exploring a third, slightly ambiguous position.

The Länder and the Belgian communities, which have law-making powers, are claiming a right to appeal to the Court of Justice against the European Commission if it breaches the subsidiarity principle (which states that the EU can legislate only where regional or national authorities are unable to do so successfully).

"Anyone who is familiar with the inner workings of the German legal system will know how overwhelmingly important the European Court of Justice," Bocklet said.

However, Spanish MEP Iñigo Méndez de Vigo, chairman of the subsidiarity working group in the Convention, said that giving regions a right to appeal would fundamentally alter the relationship between member states and regions: it would mean the latter being granted rights similar to national parliaments.

The second group of 'less mighty' regions seek recognition of their role in the constitutional treaty and a right to be consulted at different stages of EU decision-making. They want to see a provision in the constitution expressly requiring the European Commission to do this.

"In the framework of the preparation of legislative proposals, of policies or actions deemed to have a significant impact on the regional and local collectivities, the Union consults at an early stage the interested parties," a draft put forward by their platform suggests.

Xavier Gezard, secretary-general of the association of maritime and peripheral regions, said: "The new European project requires a close and permanent partnership between different territorial spheres of government - local, regional, national and European."

They also request that the principles of respect of national, regional and local identity, as well as democracy and local autonomy, be expressed in the constitution.

These could be mentioned in Article 7 of the constitution currently being drafted by the praesidium, according to Convention spokesman Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut.

The platform also advocates that the Committee of the Regions is given a right of appeal to the Court of Justice, rather than individual regions.

The Spanish communities are not pursuing the same objectives because they have been accorded differing powers in the past by Madrid. Consequently, it is difficult for them to form coalitions.

Representatives of the regions have requested that a working group on the role of local and regional authorities be created in the Convention. However, this has met with lack of support from the forum's members.

The EU's regions and local authorities are set to demand more powers in Europe at the next meeting of the Convention of Europe's future on 6-7 February 2003. However, their plea to be more involved in EU decision-making risks being undermined because the groups are divided over their precise objectives.