The European Commission should concentrate in greater detail on regional and local self-government in the EU candidate and potential candidate countries in its future enlargement strategy reports, outlines the opinion on Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2014-2015 adopted by the European Committee of the Regions' Commission for Citizenship, Governance, Institutional and External Affairs CIVEX, today.
"We need to push for further decentralising reforms", the rapporteur, Prof. Franz Schausberger (EPP/AT) says. He believes in the fundamental role that local and regional representatives play in the enlargement process and his opinion encourages enlargement countries in their decentralisation and regionalisation efforts:
"I believe that respect for the principle of subsidiarity is crucial for successful enlargement. With the Commission proposing a so called period of consolidation now, we need to make sure that the next five years do not result in a standstill but rather a phase of intense preparation and adoption of the policies required to meet the criteria for EU membership. This includes regionalisation and decentralisation efforts"
The opinion, drafted by the Delegate of the Region of Salzburg to the Committee of the Regions, emphasises the importance of a realistic prospect of EU membership for the candidate and potential candidate countries as a key stabilising factor. It also underlines the need to respect the principle of good neighbourly relations among EU Member States, candidate as well as pre-candidate and other countries, and in the role and importance of developing cross-border and regional cooperation between these countries.
Schausberger also suggests deeper cooperation with the Council of Europe and in particular its Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, which systematically monitors compliance with the European Charter of Local Self-Government by all Council of Europe member states. Finally, it welcomes the launch of the new Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance for 2014-2020 period and underlines the potential threats to be tackled: weak public administration capacities, politicisation, corruption and lack of transparency.
The opinion provides also a list of country-specific recommendations, towards Iceland, Turkey, FYROM, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Kosovo.
The opinion is due for adoption at the European Committee of the Regions plenary session in April 2015.