Why a Committee of the Regions ?

To give local and regional government a say over the drafting of EU legislation (70% of EU laws are implemented at local/regional level).

To bring Europe closer to its citizens and to encourage a culture of subsidiarity.

To provide a meeting place where regions and cities can share best practice and take part in a dialogue with the European institutions.

The Committee of the Regions

A political assembly of the European Union representing local and regional authorities

• Created by the Maastricht Treaty (1993)

• 350 Members (Regional and local representatives)

• First Plenary held in March 1994

• Six Plenary Sessions per year

• Six thematic Commissions and one Commission on budget & administration

• 28 national delegations

• Five Political Groups

The CoR and the Lisbon Treaty

• The Court of Justice has jurisdiction in actions brought by the Committee of the Regions for the purpose of protecting its rights.

• Possibility for the CoR to bring actions on grounds of infringement of the principle of subsidiarity by a legislative act.

• Broadening of its area of consultation.

• Members’ term of office prolonged from 4 to 5 years.

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CONSULTATION

CONSULTATION

European Commission European Parliament Council of the EU

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European Economic &Social Committee

Policy fields

Consultation of the Committee of the Regions is mandatory in the following policy areas:

• Economic, social and territorial cohesion

• Education and youth

• Culture

• Public health

• Trans-European networks

• Transport

• Sport

• Employment

• Social policy

• Environment

• Vocational training

• Energy

• Climate change

• Structural Funds

• European Regional Development Fund

CoR members and their appointment

350 members 2015-2020

Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom………….…………..Poland, Spain…...……………………………………………….....Romania...……………………………………………………….......Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden……………………..Croatia, Denmark, Ireland, Finland, Slovakia, Lithuania.….Latvia, Slovenia……………………..……………….….Estonia, …….………………….…………Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta…………….…………...…….…....

242115

129765

• Local and regional representatives proposed by Member States• Formally appointed by the Council of the EU• Five-year renewable term of office• Six Plenary Session per year and adoption of about 60 opinions

- 1 -Annex 1: new organisational chart of the European Committee of the Regions (as from 1st July 2015)

COR-2015-01517-00-00-NB-TRA

BureauPresident

CoP

Secretary General

Directorate A Members and

Plenaries DIRECTOR

Deputy (Agenda coordination)

Directorate B Legislative Works

DIRECTOR

Deputy (Planning and follow-up)

Directorate C Legislative Works

DIRECTOR

Deputy (Planning and follow-up)

Cabinet of the SGPlanning and coordination

Internal Audit

Directorate D Communication

DIRECTOR

Deputy (Mainstreaming and impact)

Directorate EHuman Resources and

Finance DIRECTOR

Deputy (Human Resources)

Directorate L (Joint services*)

LogisticsDIRECTOR

(EESC)

Deputy (CoR)

Directorate T (Joint services*)

TranslationDIRECTOR (COR)

Deputy (EESC)

A.1Services to members

and eCoR(Members one-stop

desk)

A2

Statutory bodies and meetings

A.3Legal affairs

B.1 NAT

B2 ENVE

B.3 CIVEX(incl.

Subsidiarity Platform)

C.1 COTER / BUDG

(incl. EGTC Platform)

C.2 ECON(incl. Europe

2020)

C.3 SEDEC

D.1Press officers

and relations with media

D.2Events

D.3

Social and digital

media, publications

E.1Budget and Finance

E.2Recruitment and

career

E.3Working conditions

Secretariats of the Political Groups

Cabinet of the President

Protocol Service

E.4

General

Administration and

public procurement

Sector ARLEM, CORLEAP,

JCCs and WGs

* Jointly managed with the EESC

CIVEX: Commission for Citizenship, Governance, Institutional and External Affairs

ARLEM: Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local AssemblyCORLEAP: Conference of Regional and Local Authorities for the Eastern Partnership

JCCs and WGs: Joint Consultative Committees and Working Groups for Enlargement countriesCOTER: Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy and BudgetBUDG: Working Group on BudgetECON: Commission for Economic Policy

ENVE: Commission for Environment, Climate change and Energy

NAT: Commission for Natural Resources

SEDEC: Commission for Social Policy, Education, Employment, Research and Culture

• 63 members, whose number per Member State reflects a national and political balance:

• The President and First Vice-President• One Vice-President per Member State• 5 chairs of the political groups• 28 other members.

• Organisation of CoR work:• Meets eight times a year• Prepares the agenda of plenary sessions• Draws up the Committee’s policy programme• Allocates opinions to commissions• Decides on own-initiative opinions.

The Bureau

The Political Groups of the CoR

• enable transnational thinking and acting

• link up the political families in the different EU institutions and in the member states

• implement the CoR’s mandate as political and democratically legitimated organ

The Political Groups

PESPESParty of European

Socialists

EAEA European

Alliance

EPPEPPEuropean People‘s Party

ALDEALDEAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

EPP

ALDE EA

NON-ALIGNED

PES

ECRECREuropean Conservatives and Reformists Group

ECR

Consultative work: CoR opinions on legislative acts

• Planning and preparing CoR opinions - between 60-70 opinions - on EU legislative acts each year for the six CoR commissions

• Involving EU institutions in topical debates

• Organising input by experts and stakeholders (conferences, seminars)

• Following up and monitoring legislative acts and the impact of CoR opinions

Communicating the “regional and local Europe”

• Communicating to press/TV and Europe’s 100 000 regional and local government bodies through newsletters, the internet and audiovisual media

• Organising about 200 conferences each year (European Week of Regions and Cities; CoR Summits; EuroPCom; co-organising and hosting about 120 conferences with EU institutions, regional offices, associations) with 20 000 stakeholders

• 600 group visits each year with a total of 16 000 participants

• Producing publications in all EU languages

European Week of Regions and Cities-OPEN DAYS

Since 10 years, the CoR organises together with the European Commission the OPEN DAYS-European Week of Regions and Cities. 200 regional and local authorities, 200 regions and cities, 100 seminars, 6,000 participants, and 600 speakers make the OPEN DAYS the biggest annual event on regional and urban development. In addition, about 350 local events branded ‘Europe in my region/city‘ bring Brussels‘ debates home to an audience of about 30,000 in more than 30 countries.

Horizontal policies, studies, networks

• Monitoring a number of cross-sector priorities and providing medium- and long-term political options.

• Strategic planning of CoR activities.

• Producing 40 studies each year and cooperating with academic networks.

• Networks and Monitoring Platforms on Subsidiarity, Europe 2020, Covenant of Mayors and the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC).

• Supporting the representatives of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM), the Conference of Regional and Local Authorities for the Eastern Partnership (CORLEAP), and decentralised development cooperation.

The Europe 2020 strategy: Involving regions and cities

The Europe 2020 Monitoring Platform of the CoR, composed of over 150 regions and cities from all EU Member States, is a tool for local and regional authorities to have a say in the policy process and the implementation of the EU's strategy to promote smart, green and inclusive growth in the current decade. Through meetings of regional and local representatives and experts, consultations and reports, the Platform ensures better implementation of Europe 2020 goals; examines the relationship with cohesion policy, monitors the involvement of strategy's governance process and stimulates exchange.

Visit us at www.cor.europa.eu/europe2020

 « Achieving Growth and Jobs in EU Regions and Cities – Making the Europe 2020 Strategy Work»

Deliver on Europe 2020 with Regional/Local Authorities

Ensure the « better investment » role of Regional/Local Authorities

Engage with citizens and debate Europe

Develop the territorial dimension in EU relations with external partners

A stronger CoR in a new Europe