"As local and regional politicians, we too are keen to see a competitive European Union, which is governed by better regulation" said Michael Schneider, President of the EPP Group in the European Committee of the Regions, in welcoming the agreements that were reached at the European Council on Friday.
The role of regional and national parliaments in monitoring that EU decisions are taken as close as possible to the citizens is one of the key questions of the UK deal. President Schneider praised the work of Donald Tusk who, as President of the European Council, discussed his proposals with the European Committee of the Regions at the Plenary Session in the week preceding the Council meeting.
"As the Council conclusions stress, the purpose of the principle of subsidiarity is to ensure that decisions are taken as closely as possible to the citizen. As the guardian of this principle, and as we explained to President Tusk, we are ready to play our role in reviewing existing EU legislation for its compliance with the principle of subsidiarity and proportionality, as stated in the Declaration of the European Commission on a subsidiarity implementation mechanism and a burden reduction implementation mechanism" President Schneider concluded.