Delebarre welcomes new treaty deal

The President of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) Michel Delebarre has welcomed the deal on a new treaty reached by EU leaders on 21-23 June for preserving "most of the institutional rights for local and regional authorities contained in the draft Constitutional Treaty".

Delebarre said that the rights included recognition of and respect for local and regional self-government; a new definition of the subsidiarity principle in the protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, which includes the right of the CoR to bring an action before the European Court of Justice if it is not respected; recognition of territorial cohesion; the listing of cultural and linguistic diversity among the EU’s objectives, the granting of special status to the most remote regions and the progress made with participative democracy. "It is a big step forward for European local and regional authorities," said Delebarre, who is also the mayor of Dunkirk.

The President of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) Michel Delebarre has welcomed the deal on a new treaty reached by EU leaders on 21-23 June for preserving "most of the institutional rights for local and regional authorities contained in the draft Constitutional Treaty".

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