Europäisches Zentrum für Föderalismus-Forschung

Europäische Union / Europäische Integration

Der Ausschuss der Regionen im Jahr 2005 gefragter Partner in einer kritischen Phase der EU

Franz Schausberger

S. 576-594

The activities of the Committee of the Regions in 2005 were characterised to a large extent by the negative results of the referendums on the European Constitution which took place in France on 29 May 2005 and in the Netherlands on 1 June 2005. As a consequence the intensive preparations of the CoR for its new role in the control of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality on the basis of the Constitutional Treaty now stagnated. The question then arose whether the Constitutional Treaty still had a chance of ever being ratified. In spite of this, the CoR continued in those preparations for controlling compliance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, thus making an important contribution to the period of reflection. In doing this, the CoR became an important partner of the European Commission and the European Parliament, who made several requests for the opinions of the Committee. Especially over the last two years, it has been attempted to bring the CoR further into the centre of the action. Important, even decisive debates on the level of the EU concerning cohesion policy, structural policy, competititiveness and the financial perspective, the Constitution or the principle of subsidiarity, as well as questions of Southern and Eastern Europe have taken place, in which the Committee of the Regions was intensively involved. If at the end of the mandate period 1998-2002, there had still been justified fears that the differences in opinion between the various subnational regional bodies which are represented in the Committee of the Regions could lead to a serious rupture, and that the strong regions would leave the Committee, thus becoming existentially weak, then these dangers were gradually removed during the mandate period 2002-2006 under the presidency of Albert Bore (Great Britain, PES) and Peter Straub (Germany, EPP). It may rightly be argued that, at the end of the mandate period 2002-2006, the Committee of the Regions has reached a level of recognition and significance which has been quite unprecedented in its history.

Zitiervorschlag für diesen Artikel:
Schausberger, Franz 2006: Der Ausschuss der Regionen im Jahr 2005 gefragter Partner in einer kritischen Phase der EU, in: Europäisches Zentrum für Föderalismus-Forschung (Hrsg.): Jahrbuch des Föderalismus 2006. Föderalismus, Subsidiarität und Regionen in Europa, Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, S. 576-594.