Regions not just ‘sub-contractors’ in EU, says CoR president

The Committee of the Regions (CoR) has told EU leaders that local government should be more involved in policymaking.

“We are not just sub-contractors of what is decided top-down,” CoR president Luc Van den Brande told journalists in Brussels on Friday.

Van den Brande was presenting a report to the EU council's spring summit, which analyses the effects of the revised Lisbon strategy based on responses from regions and cities across the EU.

It was the first time CoR was invited to speak to the council.

According to Van den Brande, the Lisbon strategy suffers from a development that he calls “paradoxical”. While regions’ and cities’ strategies seem to be in line with Lisbon goals, the regions feel Lisbon has a low impact on them.

Almost 100 per cent of regions and cities thought they should have a bigger role in implementing the strategy.

For Van den Brande, “The key issue is that it’s only possible to go for the realisation of the Lisbon strategy when all decision-making levels are involved.”

According to CoR, regions and cities deliver more than 66 per cent of all investment in the EU, but their voices are not being heard.

The Lisbon strategy, launched in 2000 and revised in 2005, sets out to modernise Europe’s economy by establishing guidelines on growth and jobs, energy and climate change and knowledge and innovation.

For Van den Brande, regions and cities are the first in line to implement actions that heads of state have committed to under Lisbon. But the importance of Lisbon, he says, goes from the ground right to the global level, and there’s a danger of letting the momentum slip.

“We are talking about job creation and modernisation of our societies, not just for the union” he said. “We are a key player in the world economy.

“It’s important that we go right to the end. Things are quickly changing. Territorial, economic and social cohesion should be linked to the strategy for more growth and jobs.

“Give regions an adequate place in the institutional system; otherwise we’ll pay dearly.”

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