Citizens from regions and cities deserve good quality legislation that builds European added value that is clear and well-communicated, stated Olgierd Geblewicz (EPP/PL), whose opinion on Better Regulation was adopted at the CoR’s CIVEX Commission meeting today.
Because local and regional authorities implement and use 70 % of EU legislation, while also having the closest links to citizens, they must be directly engaged in the process of creating good EU rules and the process of assessing their effectiveness.
"As regional and local authorities we have to make sure that our citizens are part of the European law making process. The European Committee of the Regions is an asset and we need to strengthen it’s role because the voice of our citizens needs to be heard at European level" said rapporteur Olgierd Geblewicz presenting his opinion in the CIVEX meeting.
The rapporteur highlighted that greater engagement of local and regional authorities in the EU legislation process, can assure a better implementation of the Principle of Subsidiarity: "Good regulation also means communicating effectively to citizens the reasons, meaning and benefits of laws, which something, due to communication, language, cultural barriers or distance, can be better achieved on the local and regional levels rather than the national or EU ones".
In his opinion, Olgierd Geblewicz highlights that both when evaluating existing rules and when creating new ones, it is necessary to strengthen multi-level cooperation based on mutual trust. In this sense, he recommends including local and regional experts in the work of national expert groups and in the platform's management structure so that it can decide on the orientation and work plans of the REFIT[1] platform together with the European Commission.
[1] The European Commission's regulatory fitness and performance (REFIT) programme aims to ensure that EU legislation delivers results for citizens and businesses effectively, efficiently and at minimum cost. REFIT aims to keep EU law simple, remove unnecessary burdens and adapt existing legislation without compromising on policy objectives.