Homepage
Sitemap
Larger
Smaller
Login
Registration
Help
Terms of use
Making subsidiarity work: Presidents of legislative regions set for major conference at CoR, 19 May
09.05.2008, 09:12
Leaders of the governments and parliaments of 75 regions with legislative powers will gather at the Committee of the Regions (CoR) on 19 May for a conference focused on the implications of the Reform Treaty for implementation of the principle of subsidiarity - aimed at protecting regional autonomy and ensuring that decisions and laws are enacted at the local, regional or national level of government unless an EU approach is demonstrably more effective.
Speakers at the high-profile event, organised by the Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies (CALRE) and the Conference of European Regions with Legislative Power (REGLEG), include: Izaskun Bilbao Barandica, President of the Basque Parliament and President of CALRE, Kris Peeters, Minister-President of the Flemish government and President of REGLEG, Luc Van den Brande, President of the CoR, Ernest Benach, President of the Catalan Parliament, Marleen Vanderpoorten, President of the Flemish Parliament, Anton Kokalj, Slovenian MP and President of the Conference of Community and European Affairs Committees of Parliaments of the EU (COSAC), and Judge Koen Lenaerts of the European Court of Justice.
The Reform Treaty, which, subject to ratification in all Member States, will enter into force early next year, introduces a stricter regime to bolster subsidiarity compliance. It gives the Committee of the Regions and national parliaments the right to go to the European Court of Justice to seek the annulment of EU laws which breach subsidiarity. National parliaments will also be able to challenge EU legislative proposals on subsidiarity grounds via an "early warning" procedure, which requires that they consult regional parliaments with legislative powers "where appropriate".
The morning session (09:30-12:30) of the conference programme focuses on the role of parliaments and regional authorities in the implementation of subsidiarity. The presentations and discussion will examine the coordination tasks of regional authorities, inter-parliamentary cooperation and the practice of parliamentary subsidiarity tests. The afternoon session (13:40-16:30) will deal with the role of the EU institutions and look into the European Commission's duty to justify draft legislation as well as the responsibilities and increased powers of the CoR.
In a special eve-of-conference interview, CoR President Luc Van den Brande underlines the increasing importance of subsidiarity in the European multi-level system of governance and predicts that the CoR will take a "political stand on specific legislative proposals when there appear to be prima facie concerns on subsidiarity compliance". He says it will be a priority for the CoR to ensure that subsidiarity is 'mainstreamed' throughout its political work. "In practice this means we will ensure that our opinions will address the issue of subsidiarity whenever it's relevant. We will ask the question, "Is this something the EU really needs to be doing or is it a matter better left to the local/regional/national level?"
As regards the early warning process, the President describes the CoR "as the natural place for representatives of Europe's regional governments and parliaments to raise subsidiarity issues" and states that the Committee can play a valuable supporting role in helping to make such concerns known to national parliaments. He also foresees an expanded role for the CoR's Subsidiarity Monitoring Network, a network of regional parliaments, governments and associations which assess Commission policy documents to test subsidiarity compliance.
The CoR is planning follow up this month's CALRE-REGLEG conference with a Subsidiarity Forum in Paris, organised at the invitation of the French Senate, on 24 October.
Source: www.cor.eu