EU moet de participatie van regionale en lokale overheden verhogen bij het vaststellen van beleid (en)
The trio of EU presidencies - Spain, Belgium and Hungary - signed a document which commits them to giving impetus to the participation and coordination of regions and local bodies in European decision-making during the next eighteen months, to consolidate the resolution of the crisis.
According to the Third Vice-President of the Spanish Government and Minister for Territorial Policy, Manuel Chaves, the Europe 2020 economic growth strategy ‘would not be effective’ without making use of the potential of the different levels of government.
At the press conference he gave with the Hungarian Local Government Minister, Zoltan Varga, Chavés reiterated that in the EU there are almost 100 000 regional bodies with authority in sectors such as education, the environment, healthcare and economic development.
The regional bodies represent 16 % of the gross domestic product of the EU and, in the public sector alone, represent a third of spending, two thirds of investment and 56 % of employment, besides being responsible for applying 70 % of the Community legislation.
Given these figures, the roadmap agreed on has received the support of a ‘large majority’ of EU countries and two candidate states who attended the meeting in Málaga.
Among the specific measures which were dealt with, the search for clearer and more systematic participation mechanisms for regions and local bodies in the sectoral Councils of EU ministers stands out. How to ensure that such entities receive detailed information about the European affairs they are responsible for is also being studied, along with strengthening the European Groupings for Territorial Cooperation for ongoing projects.
The Hungarian minister explained that owing to the disparities in the European administrations it is not possible to define specific measures on certain matters, though it is possible to look for principles and guideliness for common action.
After defining the ministerial meeting as ‘efficient and fruitful’, Mr Varga promised to continue with the roadmap, which has begun to take shape in Málaga, under the Hungarian Presidency (in the first six months of 2011).
‘All countries are different and we cannot agree in a day, and for that reason we hope to continue the work in the upcoming presidencies,’ the Hungarian minister concluded.
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