The Future of Europe Conference

RLEG calls the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) for a greater involvement of regions with legislative powers in the EU.

It is clear that there must be meaningful participation of regions with legislative powers in the CoFoE to ensure that all levels of government are represented in shaping the future of our Union.

The COVID pandemic has made the call for transformative policies to respond to the needs of European citizens more relevant than ever. In this sense, regions with legislative powers are essential when deliberating, making decisions and committing themselves as agents of political transformation, in the interests of the citizens to achieve the digital and sustainable transformations.

In order to ensure adequate representation of all levels of government, new channels have to be established. For this purpose, RLEG requests to participate in the Conference on the Future of Europe by including representatives of the regions with legislative powers in the plenary body, as well as in the decision-making and governance of the implementation process of the CoFoE outcomes.

RLEG calls for effective multilevel governance in the EU by offering co-responsibility in the integration process, thus ensuring the precise application of the decentralised dimension of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality.

It also encourages and commits to engage systematically in a structured dialogue between the EU institutions and the RLEG. This dialogue must be inspired by pragmatism and long-term vision.

In practice, RLEG call for the organisation of a high-level debate on effective multi-level governance and the setting up of a working group to analyse a unique status, such as “Partner regions inside the EU”, for enhanced and structural cooperation with Regions with legislative powers,following a proposal by former MEP Alain Lamassoure during the last Convention.

In addition, the impact of EU policies and legislation on regions with legislative powers, including budgetary and administrative impact, among others, should be analysed.

RLEG Meeting with MEP Alain Lamassoure in November 2018

On the concept of "Associated Region/ Partner of the EU", during the meeting that RLEG held on 28 November 2018 withAlain Lamassoure MEP, he explained the following details of this concept:

During the drafting of the EU’s Constitutional Treaty in 2003, Alain Lamassoure MEP proposed officially recognizing the existence of regions in the treaties.
He said that as early as the 1990s, the regions responded to the European Commission and managed cohesion and other funds. The national administration often acted as an intermediary, but in practice, the real partner of the EU was the region or municipality.
Its proposal was to recognize an EU partner status, involving a number of rights and obligations. The Treaty would lay down the criteria for the allocation of status, with each Member State defining a region as such, in accordance with internal constitutional rules

The proposal included a number of key provisions, outlined below.

Key provisions

The European Commission would be obliged to consult the partner regions, which according to their constitutions are in charge of the policy area in question when preparing new legislation
The associated regions should be represented as such in the Committee of the Regions.
These regions should develop direct relations with the EU institutions.
These regions should have standing before the Court of Justice of the European Union where their powers are endangered or infringed by a European legislative act.
They should be allowed to participate in some way or be present in proceedings of the Council of Ministers.

However, despite the general welcome from the EU federal Member States, some Member States showed strong opposition and these proposals were rejected. It is fair to recognize that since the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, improvements have been made in the EU’s recognition of the regions, but we are still a long way from effective multi-level governance. We believe that the time has come for the regions with legislative powers that are prepared to promote the EU’s integration process through a shared responsibility to become active subjects of the process. In this regard, we consider it opportune to explore the virtuality offered by the status of the associated region proposed by Mr Lamassoure as a starting point for the process of reflection that we are proposing.