Decentralisation within the EU: Committee of the Regions - an undemocratic talking workshop?

Essay , 2003 , 7 Pages , Grade: 9 of 10

Politics - Topic: European Union

The 222 members of the Committee of the Regions are not directly elected by the people. The Council3appoints them for a four year term on proposal of the member states.4Each member state itself decides how to chose the representatives in the CoR: Some of the countries, like Germany, Austria and, to a certain extend, Spain, leave this matter to the regions and the municipalities themselves.5One example, how the representatives can be elected, is to be seen in the German region (Land) Schleswig-Holstein. Like in every German Land, the Landtag, the directly elected regional parliament, decides about the representative in the CoR. In 2001, the members of the parliament voted for minister-president Heide Simonis.6So, the directly elected members of the parliament decided who should represent the people’s interest on the European level. Indirectly, everybody had an influence on the decision by taking part on the regional election.
On the other hand, in some states, like France and the United Kingdom, the national government decides about the members of the Committee of the Regions.7In the United Kingdom, the Foreign Office co-ordinates the list of its 24 full and alternate members in the Committee of the Regions. It is able to appoint members form the range of UK local authorities but also from the Scottish Parliament, the Northern Ireland and the Welsh Assembly.8
According to the rules of the CoR, the representatives send to the institution should reflect the political, geographical and regional/local balance in the respective member state.9Although e.g. the UK government says that the political and regional balance are considered when the members of the Committee are appointed10, the regions and municipalities do not have the power to decide on their own who should represent the region’s interest on the European level. Their representative does not necessarily reflect the political colour of the majority in the region when the central government appoints the members of the CoR without having to consider the regions themselves.

Introduction:

In order to discuss the statement I am going to evaluate its different aspects step by step. First the Committee of the Regions (CoR) will be described in a few sentences. Afterwards I will try to explain how to members of the Committee are elected to discuss if the procedure is democratic or not. In the third part of this essay, the powers and the role of the Committee of the Regions will be described. The aim is to see if the Committee has direct powers of decision-making and if there are differences between the European regions. The fourth part of the essay will deal with the question if the Committee gives failed politicians and ideas a resting home. Moreover I will try to evaluate the importance of the Committee for the regions. In the last part all the conclusions of the different parts will be summarised to a final conclusion and commented.

The Committee of the Regions:

The decision to set up a Committee of the Regions was taken in Maastricht in 1991. The Committee held its first plenary session in 1994 and began its second mandate in January 1998. Its propose is the presentation of local and regional government within the European Union.^[1] The CoR is an advisory body with formal rights of consultation on proposal but no formal initiative or veto powers. It consists of 222 members, all of them elected regional or local politicians. The committee of the Regions must be consulted by the Commission of the European Union on matters falling into its competence.^[2]

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^[1] http://www.cor.eu.int/en /prss/prss_5qu.html, 13.03.03 and http://www.lgib.gov.uk/ukint/ukint_e1.htm, 13.03.03

^[2] Keating (1998), p. 171f

• College: The Hague University (The Hague School of European Studies)
• Course: European Regional Policy
• Grade: 9 of 10
• Author: Oliver Hedderich (Author)
• Publication Year: 2003
• Pages: 7
• Catalog Number: V57274
• ISBN (eBook): 9783638517751
• ISBN (Book): 9783656562436
• Language: English
• Tags: Decentralisation, Committee, Regions, European, Regional, Policy