Welcome to the Committee of the Regions

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European Union
Welcome to the Committee of the Regions
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Why a Committee of the Regions?
A political assembly of the European Union,
representing local and regional authorities.

• To improve EU legislation using the expertise of
  local and regional representatives
• To act as the voice of local and regional
  authorities in Brussels
• To bring Europe closer to its citizens

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The COR in brief

• 317 members representing local and regional
  authorities 317 alternates (and 27 Bulgarian
  and Romanian observers)
• 25 national delegations comprising members from
  the same Member State
• 4 political groups
• 6 thematic commissions

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Dates

• 1992 Maastricht Treaty creation of the COR
• 1994 1st plenary session held in Brussels
• 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam COR strengthened
  (enlargement of its field of consultation and
  referral by the European Parliament)
• 2003 Treaty of Nice COR members must hold an
  electoral mandate or be politically accountable
• 2004 The number of COR members increased from
  222 to 317 in the EU-25
• 2004 Treaty establishing a Constitution for
  Europe boosted the institutional status and
  political role of the COR

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The COR and EU decision-making
CONSULTATION
PROPOSAL
CODECISION
DECISION
CONSULTATION
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Consultation
Mandatory consultation - Optional
consultation

• Economic and social cohesion
• Education and youth
• Culture
• Public health
• Trans-European networks
• Transport
• Employment
• Social affairs
• Environment
• European Social Fund
• Vocational training

• The Council, the Commission and the Parliament
  may request an opinion from the COR, where they
  consider it appropriate.
• The COR may decide to draw up an opinion, where
  the European Economic and Social Committee has
  been consulted, and where it considers that
  specific regional or local interests are
  involved.
• The COR may draw up an opinion on its own
  initiative, where it considers such action
  appropriate.

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Types of consultation

• Consultative opinions
• Resolutions - declarations adopted in accordance
  with an accelerated procedure
• Outlook opinions opinions drawn up by the COR
  before the European Commission drafts a
  Green/White Paper on the subject
• Outlook reports preliminary reports drawn up
  before the European Commissions proposals are
  made public
• Impact reports - to evaluate the impact of
  policy at local and regional level
• Studies on various aspects of the local and
  regional dimension of the EU

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The Commissions

• COTER - Commission for Territorial Cohesion
  Policy
• ECOS - Commission for Economic and Social Policy
• DEVE - Commission for Sustainable Development
• EDUC - Commission for Culture, Education and
  Research
• CONST- Commission for Constitutional Affairs,
  European Governance and the Area of Freedom,
  Security and Justice
• RELEX - Commission for External Relations and
  Decentralised Cooperation
• and the Commission for Financial and
  Administrative Affairs (CFAA)

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Drawing up opinions

• Consultation by the European Commission, the
  Council of Ministers or the European Parliament
• Proposal allocated by the Bureau to a COR
  commission
• Appointment of COR commission rapporteur, who
  starts work
• First draft presented to the COR commission
• Continuation of work by the rapporteur
• Discussion, amendments and adoption by the COR
  commission
• Adoption of the opinion in plenary session,
  before publication in the Official Journal (C
  series)