

To put multilevel governance into practice, the Committee of the Regions: 

Undertakes to: 

- 
initiate a consultation process with a view to drawing up a European Union Charter on 
multilevel governance, which would establish the principles and methods for developing a 
common and shared understanding of European governance, based on respect for the principle of 
subsidiarity, which would support local and regional governance and the process of 
decentralisation in the Member States, candidate countries and neighbouring states, and which 
would stand as a guarantee of the political will to respect the independence of local and regional 
authorities and their involvement in the European decision-making process; 

- 
encourage the protection of fundamental rights at various levels and cooperate to this end with 

the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights in order to promote and disseminate the best 

- 
practices developed at local and regional level11; 

- 
take part in the Community debate and future negotiations in order to advocate an ambitious 
Community budget which will have the necessary resources to anticipate responses to global 
challenges and implement integrated and coordinated strategies, and which will form the 
anchorage and leverage for partnerships contracted between the different public levels. 

10 

In its White Paper on European Governance, the European Commission proposed a reinvigorated Community method as a 
method for the future, which “means ensuring that the Commission proposes and executes policy; the Council and European 
Parliament take decisions; and national and regional actors are involved in the EU policy process” (COM(2001)428 final). 

11 

In a report on “Realising the Charter of Fundamental Rights”, ordered by the Committee of the Regions from Birmingham 
University, initial proposals are made on increasing citizens’ awareness of their rights and examples of good practice applied by 
local and regional authorities are presented (CdR 6623/2008). 

CdR 89/2009 fin FR/EXT/RS/GW/ym/ms 
.../... 


- 9 -


Recommends: 

- 
that each major Community strategic reform should be accompanied by a regional action plan 
agreed between the European Commission and the Committee of the Regions, setting out the 
political mechanisms to facilitate the ownership, implementation and evaluation of the policies 
adopted, and including a decentralised communication plan. This measure would allow a sea 
change in the current process, which too often leaves local and regional authorities out of the 
Community action design phase; 

- 
that the growth and stability pacts produced by the Member States, and their evaluation by the 
European Commission, should take proper account of the quantitative and qualitative dimension 
of local and regional finances and should more closely involve local and regional authorities in 
the process of controlling public spending. 

3. Encouraging participation in the European process 
Getting the citizens to sign up to the European process is a challenge of credibility for European 
democracy. European citizenship is built, and European governance is based, on participation. 
This has two dimensions: representative democracy, which is its foundation, and participatory 
democracy, which enhances it. Good European governance actually requires the elected authorities 
and civil society actors to cooperate for the common good. Local and regional authorities are invested 
with an indisputable democratic legitimacy. Being directly responsible to the citizens, they represent a 
huge part of the democratic legitimacy within the European Union and exercise a large number of 
political powers. As a result, multilevel governance must combine the institutional recognition of the 
different tiers of government in Europe, through appropriate mechanisms, with the organisation of 
political cooperation and the stimulation of the European public sphere. 

Strengthening institutional representation 

Guaranteed since the Treaty of Maastricht, institutional representation for local and regional 
authorities has been strengthened in the course of the successive institutional reforms. The entry 
into force of the Lisbon Treaty would represent an important step towards institutional recognition of 
multilevel governance in the way the European Union operates. In this respect, strengthening the 
representation and influence of local and regional authorities in the Community decision-making 
process must be encouraged both within the Committee of the Regions and in the activities of the 
Council of the European Union. Since 1994 the Treaties have allowed the regions, in accordance with 
the respective national constitutional structures, to participate in the activities of the Council of the 
European Union. This direct participation allows the representatives of the regions concerned to be 
included in Member State delegations, to be authorised to lead the national delegation and, where 
necessary, to assume the presidency of the Council. 

CdR 89/2009 fin FR/EXT/RS/GW/ym/ms 
.../... 


- 10 -


To put multilevel governance into practice, the Committee of the Regions: 

Undertakes to: 

- 
reinforce, in accordance with its Mission Statement, its status as a political assembly, its 
involvement upstream of the decision-making process in the design of European strategies and 
Community legislation, monitoring of the principle of subsidiarity in the spirit and tenor of the 
Treaty of Lisbon, evaluation of the territorial impact of Community policies, and its role as a 
facilitator of participatory democracy in Europe; 

- 
develop, to this end, its interinstitutional relations with the European Commission with a view 
to revising its cooperation agreement, with the European Parliament in the context of the policy 
programme for the next legislative term and, finally, with the Council of the European Union in 
order to harmonise the intergovernmental dynamic of the political action of local and regional 
elected representatives in designing and implementing European decisions; 

- 
continue its work to get closer to the national parliamentary assemblies and regional 
legislative assemblies, particularly within the process of monitoring subsidiarity. 

Calls on the Member States to: 

- 
invite the CoR to participate systematically in the formal or informal Councils on 
Community policies falling within the areas in which they must be consulted or involving in 
particular the responsibilities of local and regional authorities; 

- 
allow the CoR to take advantage of access to Council documents, in the same way as the other 
European institutions participating in the preparation of Community legislation. 

Invites the Member States to: 

- 
put in place, where there is no possibility of formal representation within the Council or its 
preparatory commissions, internal processes of consultation and coordination with local and 
regional authorities with electronic access to the Member States' database for monitoring draft EU 
legislation, in order both to take account of their know-how in the preparation of the national 
position and to provide an opportunity for them to take part in subsidiarity monitoring; 

- 
strengthen and enhance existing mechanisms for preparing the national position and for formal 
representation in the Council, so that these mechanisms are fully in line with the distribution of 
competences as established in the relevant constitutional system. 

Organising political cooperation 

Multilevel governance presupposes the existence of mutual loyalty between all the various levels 
of government and the institutions to reach common goals. The institutional framework is 
fundamental but is not enough to guarantee good governance. On the contrary, good cooperation 
between the various levels of political power and the institutions is absolutely vital; it has to be based 

CdR 89/2009 fin FR/EXT/RS/GW/ym/ms 
.../... 


- 11 -


on trust, rather than on confrontation between the different legitimate political and democratic 
roles. 

European democracy would be reinforced by more inclusive and flexible interinstitutional cooperation 
and by more sustained political cooperation between the various levels of power; European political 
parties, which are a particularly important element for strengthening the European political sphere and 
thus helping to develop a political culture of multilevel governance. 

Because of the political nature of the Committee of the Regions and the European Parliament, it is 
logical that they should work closely together to strengthen the democratic legitimacy of the process 
of European integration, both in the context of the European political groups and families, and also 
in the context of their various decision-making bodies12. 

Interparliamentary cooperation is gradually becoming a vital component of democratic legitimacy 
and of the process of drafting European legislation. Multilevel governance is a way of also involving 
all local and regional authorities more explicitly in the process. In particular, under the "early 
warning" mechanism proposed in the Lisbon Treaty, regional parliaments and regional legislative 
assemblies will be able to play a part in appraising the application of the subsidiarity principle. 

The proposal of the Lisbon Treaty applies to all Member States but can be implemented in different 
ways. Consequently, the CoR encourages Member States whose national parliaments do not have a 
chamber representing local and regional authorities to provide for their involvement in the monitoring 
of the subsidiarity principle. 

To put multilevel governance into practice, the Committee of the Regions: 

Undertakes to: 

- 
strengthen political and institutional cooperation with the European Parliament to ensure that 
the concerns of citizens are taken into account in the design and implementation of Community 
action; 

- 
support the pilot initiative of an “Erasmus programme for local and regional elected 
representatives” and cooperate to this end with the European Parliament, the Council and the 
European Commission on its conceptual and operational development, and encourage the 
introduction of training programmes and experience and good practice exchange programmes 
intended for local and regional elected representatives. 

In its opinion on Parliament’s new role and responsibilities implementing the Treaty of Lisbon, the Committee on Regional 
Development of the European Parliament stresses the importance of its relations with the Committee of the Regions 
(PE404.556v02-00 (30/05/2008)). 

CdR 89/2009 fin FR/EXT/RS/GW/ym/ms 
.../... 


- 12 -


Invites: 

- 
councils of local and regional elected representatives to devote special sessions to European 
integration and European policies and to involve, in their debates, representatives of the various 
European institutions engaged in shared governance. 

The Covenant of Mayors forms a reference model for the active engagement of cities and regions in 
achieving strategic goals in the European Union and should be extended to other areas such as 
employment, integration policy or social exclusion. 

II. The Covenant of Mayors: committing to and cooperating in the fight against climate 
change 
•The Covenant of Mayors is a political initiative which seeks to unite the Mayors of European 
towns and cities around a shared goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 2020: 20% reduction in 
greenhouse gas emissions, 20% improvement in energy efficiency and 20% use of renewable 
energies in the consumption of energy. 

• 
Cities and regions are responsible for over half of greenhouse gas emissions generated by the use 
of energy in human activities. It was therefore essential to create an appropriate framework so that 
cities, regions and Member States could assume responsibility in the fight against climate change. 
• 
By signing this Covenant, Mayors voluntarily commit to implementing an Action Plan for 
sustainable energy in their community. The Covenant allows pioneering experiments to be shared, 
facilitates the exchange of good practices and increases the awareness of citizens and local 
socioeconomic actors with regard to sustainable energy use. 
• 
The Committee of the Regions is working with the European Commission to develop this 
initiative and plans to extend it to regional authorities. The action plans of towns and cities 
actually need to fit within the context of regional and national action plans. 
• 
To reinforce the effectiveness of the Covenant of Mayors, it is also essential that the political 
mobilisation on the ground is followed by specific responses in terms of European policy and 
funding: loans from the European Investment Bank should be readily accessible for local 
authorities and regions willing to invest in energy efficiency programmes and promote the use of 
renewable energy sources. 
Note: In March 2009 nearly 470 European cities had signed the Covenant and many others had 
stated their intention to do so. 

Local and regional authorities have over time become vital players in the external policy of the 
European Union and in the enlargement strategy. Without duplicating the relevant mechanisms at 
Community level, the empirical approach which has predominated in the development of the 
international relations of local and regional authorities is now turning them into players in 
globalisation. 

CdR 89/2009 fin FR/EXT/RS/GW/ym/ms 
.../... 


- 13 -


The added value of participation by local and regional authorities in the enlargement process has been 
proven during previous enlargements and must be a reference point in the implementation of the 
current strategy to create a dynamic for lasting democracy at local and regional level13 14 . 

Convincing examples of the relevance of multilevel governance can also be found in the regional 
approach to the European neighbourhood policy (e.g. the Mediterranean Dimension, the Eastern 
Partnership, the Black Sea Synergy initiative and the Northern Dimension), as well as the European 
wider neighbourhood policy (incorporating the EU's outermost regions), which is intended to be 
supported by effective cooperation at local and regional level. It is in this way that the Euro-
Mediterranean Local and Regional Assembly (ARLEM), part of the governance of the Union for the 
Mediterranean, a Local and Regional Assembly for Eastern Europe and the Southern Caucasus for the 
Eastern Partnership proposed by the European Commission or a permanent territorial Forum for the 
Northern Dimension suggested by the Committee of the Regions could add an integrated and 
operational dynamic to the neighbourhood policy. 

III. Local and regional authorities as partners of the Union for the Mediterranean 
•In order to give the renewed Euro-Mediterranean Partnership a territorial dimension and to ensure 
local and regional political representation within it, the Committee of the Regions has decided to 
set up the Euro-Mediterranean Local and Regional Assembly (ARLEM). 

• 
The Euro-Mediterranean Heads of State and Government who met in Paris on 13 July 2008 
supported the political initiative of the Committee of the Regions. ARLEM aims to enhance this 
partnership through a local and regional dimension and, consequently, to guarantee appropriate 
representation of local and regional authorities and their active participation in its governance. It 
enables local and regional authorities to produce concrete results and to make this partnership a 
tangible reality for citizens. 
• 
ARLEM consists of an equal number of local and regional representatives of the EU and its 
Mediterranean partners and aims to be recognised as a consultative assembly of the new 
governance of the Union for the Mediterranean. It will also focus on the participation of local and 
regional authorities in specific projects in a wide range of areas such as business development, the 
environment, energy, transport, education, culture, migration, health and decentralised 
cooperation. By promoting the exchange of good practices, it will encourage territorial 
cooperation and offer new paths for dialogue. 
Moreover, traditional multilateralism, characterised by collaboration between national governments 
and the United Nations, is developing and expanding due to the systematic collaboration of local and 

13 

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the added value of participation by local and regional authorities in the enlargement 
process (CdR 93/2008 fin). 

14 

The United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) association regularly publishes reports on decentralisation and local 
democracy in the world. 

CdR 89/2009 fin FR/EXT/RS/GW/ym/ms 
.../... 


- 14 -


regional authorities. Given this observation, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 
has set up “a platform for innovative partnerships”15. 

Multilevel governance no longer takes a sectoral approach, but rather a territorial approach to 
development strategies in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, given the constraints 
of overly centralising, sectoral and vertical approaches, which have for too long predominated in 
development aid16. Diplomacy by towns and cities forms another lever for political cooperation in the 
framework of the European Union’s external action that should not be ignored because it allows major 
diplomatic and political obstacles to be overcome. 

Twinnings and programmes for border region cooperation have become an essential tool in the 
accession and pre-accession process and in the framework of the neighbourhood policy. In the context 
of globalisation, they perpetuate the values of European integration by developing new forms of 
solidarity17. 

By recognising the contribution of territorial governance and decentralised cooperation, international 
and European institutions have in recent years strengthened the role of local and regional 
authorities in global governance18. 

To put multilevel governance into practice, the Committee of the Regions: 

Undertakes to: 

- 
evaluate the experiences of local and regional authorities during previous enlargements, 
assisted by its working groups on the Western Balkans, Turkey and Croatia, and by the Joint 
Consultative Committee for the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; 

- 
develop the political and operational potential of local and regional assemblies in support of 
the European neighbourhood policy; insists in this respect on the importance of interinstitutional 
cooperation and coordination with the other existing mechanisms; 

15 
ART GOLD is an international cooperation initiative that brings together the programmes and activities of several United 
Nations agencies (UNDP, UNESCO, UNIFEM, UNCDF, WHO, UNOPS, etc.) in favour of a new multilateralism. 
16 
The Forum of Global Associations of Regions (FOGAR) and the FAO have signed a memorandum of understanding. 
17 
The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) has developed an Internet portal to encourage twinnings: 
www.twinning.org. 
18 
Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament and the European Economic and Social 
Committee and Committee of the Regions: “Local Authorities: Actors for development” (SEC(2008)2570). 

CdR 89/2009 fin FR/EXT/RS/GW/ym/ms 
.../... 


- 15 -


- 
drive, in partnership with the European Commission, the “decentralised cooperation stock 
exchange”, in the form of an Internet portal, in order to organise, using virtual means, the 
exchange of information between European local and regional authorities active in development 
cooperation, thus helping to match up the projects of European local and regional authorities and 
developing countries19; 

- 
strengthen its institutional position as a body of the European Union which is responsible for the 
development of local and regional democracy in the framework of the EU’s external policy, 
through electoral observation missions in Europe and third countries, and reinforce its 
cooperation to this end with the European Commission and the Congress of Local and Regional 
Authorities of the Council of Europe. 

Calls on the European Commission to: 

- 
consider adopting a voluntary political charter on the involvement of local and regional 
authorities in the enlargement process, which would form a common reference for developing 
the pre-accession aid instrument in line with the needs of local and regional authorities and for 
reinforcing cross-border cooperation and the institutional and administrative capacity of the local 
and regional structures of candidate and potential candidate countries20. 

Stimulating participatory democracy 

Governance is increasingly assuming a network structure and favours a horizontal cooperation 
dynamic. This development is ideal for taking account of the many active networks at local and 
regional level in Europe and throughout the world. Connecting them with the European process in 
order to contribute to the success of common policies and their ownership by the citizens is the task 
that falls to the Committee of the Regions with regard to these opinion multipliers. 

IV. Open Days: European Week of Regions and Cities 
•Each year the Committee of the Regions and the Directorate-General for Regional Policy of the 
European Commission organise Open Days in Brussels as part of the “European Week of Regions 
and Cities”. Within the framework of an interinstitutional partnership extended to the presidency 
of the Union and to the European Parliament, this event brings together over 7 000 participants 
and nearly 250 partners. Official partners for the event are regions and their liaison offices in 
Brussels, together with numerous local partners, such as local associations and research institutes. 
These partners play a leading role in organising the numerous seminars, workshops and much of 
the Open Days' main programme. 

19 

Draft opinion of the Committee of the Regions on Local authorities: Actors for Development (CdR 312/2008 rev. 1). 

20 

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the added value of participation by local and regional authorities in the enlargement 
process” (CdR 93/2008 fin). 

CdR 89/2009 fin FR/EXT/RS/GW/ym/ms 
.../... 


- 16 -


• 
On a theme linked to the Community agenda and to the European priorities of local and regional 
authorities, events, seminars, workshops, media-targeted activities and exhibitions bring together, 
with European, national, regional and local politicians, experts and representatives of 
socioeconomic circles, trade unions, financial organisations and civil society. 
• 
This event in Brussels is accompanied by events in the partner cities and regions, thereby 
encouraging the exchange of experiences, the interconnection of networks and the comparison of 
ideas and expertise21 . 
Networks, organisations and associations of local and regional authorities help to mobilise these 
authorities within the European process and involve them in the operational mechanisms of territorial 
cooperation22. Since the Committee of the Regions was set up, the collaboration pursued with the 
main European and national associations of local and regional authorities and certain thematic 
networks has allowed a complementary balance to be established between its institutional role and 
that of these organisations. In taking forward its work, and in promotion of the objectives and 
measures set out in the White Paper, the Committee of the Regions will strive to work in partnership 
with the European associations of local and regional government. 

Multilevel governance also looks as though it could be extremely useful for promoting active 
citizenship and could provide a decentralised communication policy that is more in line with the 
public’s real and immediate expectations, by gradually helping to bridge the gap separating people 
from the Community institutions and their political leaders. 

The principal aims of decentralised communication on Europe are to foster the integration of the 
European dimension into policy management at local and regional level and to facilitate interaction 
with local and regional media and the use of innovative, new communication technologies, 
particularly Web 2.0 resources, at local and regional level. It will also stimulate the organisation of 
political debates and public meetings on Europe at local and regional level, thereby fostering active 
citizenship and encouraging people to get involved in European matters. 

21 

http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/conferences/od2009/index.cfm 

22 

- The Assembly of European Regions (AER) has set up a programme of interregional cooperation which has the goal of 
developing European awareness, promoting the Europe of the regions and mobilising regional businesses to take on trainees. 
- The European Association of Elected Representatives from Mountain Regions (AEM) is developing an interregional 
cooperation project for mountain regions within the INTERREG programme. 
- The Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) has set up a network of cross-border regions for the exchange of good 
practices in order to develop concrete proposals which may be realised within Community programmes. 
CdR 89/2009 fin FR/EXT/RS/GW/ym/ms 
.../... 


- 17 -


To put multilevel governance into practice, the Committee of the Regions: 

Undertakes to: 

- 
develop a sustained approach for collaboration with relevant networks at local and regional 
level, which foster interconnection and interaction in European society between the political, 
economic, associative and cultural spheres, and take account of the best participation practices at 
local and regional level; 

- 
help to implement a genuine decentralised communication policy, the scope of which was 
recognised in the joint declaration of the European Parliament, European Commission and 
Council on “Communicating Europe in partnership”23, which depends on the political 
involvement of institutional actors to constantly drive the European debate in European cities and 
regions and report the decisions taken at Community level; 

- 
establish an action plan which differentiates between the communication tools according to the 
set objectives and political areas concerned, so that communication on strategy and common 
policies is coherent with their result for citizens at local and regional level, and submit the 
appropriate recommendations to the Interinstitutional Group on Information (IGI)24; 

- 
propose methods and tools to be used at local and regional level in order to bridge the 
communication gap and encourage increased coverage by local and regional media of the 
impact of EU policies on the daily life of citizens and to boost their potential for 
communication, information and mediation on Europe by using new communication tools, 
particularly the Web 2.0 instrument. 

Recommends: 

- 
establishing appropriate tools to support participatory democracy, particularly in the 
framework of the Lisbon Strategy, social agenda, Gothenburg Strategy and development of 
“Local Agenda 21” type mechanisms, which are participatory and integrated mechanisms 
developing long-term strategic plans25; 

- 
exploring the scope for cooperation, once the Treaty of Lisbon enters into force, between itself, 
local and regional authorities and the other EU institutions with regard to developing the 
instrument of a European Citizens initiative in order to realise its potential to foster a genuine 
European political debate and thus improve the legitimacy of the EU's multilevel governance 
system; 

23 

Communicating Europe in partnership: European Parliament decision of 9 October 2008 and joint declaration of the European 
Parliament, European Commission and Council (P6Ta(2008) 0463). 

24 

The Committee of the Regions is already proposing a communication tool kit for members of the Committee of the Regions and 
local and regional authorities in order to explain European Union policies to the citizens (CdR 234/2008 fin). 

25 

Further to an initiative launched in 2002 during the Johannesburg Summit on sustainable development, the Conference of 
Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe (CRPM) and FOGAR (Forum of Global Associations of Regions) became active 
members of the Network of Regional Governments for Sustainable Development (nrg 4SD). 

CdR 89/2009 fin FR/EXT/RS/GW/ym/ms 
.../... 


- 18 -


- 
improving European civic education through the know-how of local and regional authorities. 

Calls on the European Commission: 

- 
to take account of new parameters in its evaluation of the opinion of European citizens 
(Eurobarometer), as these parameters indicate the real engagement of local and regional 
authorities in the functioning of the European Union and the implementation of common policies 
and strategies. 

Invites: 

- 
the Member States to implement more inclusive e-governance for cities and regions and the 
latter to convey, via their communication policy and their system of e-governance, an increased 
awareness of the achievements of the European Union and its challenges for the citizens; 

- 
the Community institutions to put in place a Web 2.0 type communication strategy and use the 
new Internet social sites such as YouTube/EU Tube. 

4. Reinforcing the effectiveness of Community action 
Multilevel governance aims to reinforce Community action in those areas which are at the heart of 
European citizens’ concerns. In an area as cohesive as the European Union, any Community measure 
has a direct impact on the regions and their inhabitants. Striking a balance between the Community’s 
goals and the territorial impact of these policies is thus crucial. The White Paper’s recommendations 
will therefore aim to match the Community’s ambitions more closely to the practical and diverse 
management and planning situations faced by local and regional elected representatives when 
implementing major Community policies. 

Choosing appropriate instruments is the key factor in guaranteeing the effectiveness of the 
Community method and in developing the standards of European governance by affording greater 
importance to differentiation and specialisation. Linking these instruments between the different tiers 
of government therefore guarantees coherence in the Community action. The processes of 
consultation, experimentation and territorial impact analysis, the open method of coordination and the 
legal instruments for establishing contracts, such as regional pacts or the European Grouping for 
Territorial Cooperation, must be developed in order to counteract the negative effects of the 
concentration of decision-making power, dispersal of action and dilution of results. These 
mechanisms and instruments form new ways of achieving the strategic goals of the European Union. 

CdR 89/2009 fin FR/EXT/RS/GW/ym/ms 
.../... 


- 19 -

Designing and implementing common policies in partnership 

This flexible form of governance can be successfully adapted, using various mechanisms, to the 
different common policies according to their characteristics. Cohesion policy is regarded as a good 
example of multilevel governance and environment policy has been a laboratory for certain 
mechanisms and practices. 

V. European cohesion policy: leverage effects for Community policies 
•For 20 years cohesion policy has consistently proven its added value and has become for citizens, 
through the development of specific projects, the perfect example of European solidarity. It has 
developed over time: created to accompany the launch of the single market in order to ensure the 
development of the weakest regions, it has helped to mitigate the socioeconomic disparities 
generated by successive enlargements of the Union. It has also become an important tool for 
supporting the strategy for growth and jobs in all the EU territories. Recently it has been required 
to support the European Economic Recovery Plan. 

• 
European cohesion policy, which currently represents one-third of the Community budget, has a 
real financial leverage and interinstitutional partnership effect, boosted by the use of public-
private partnerships and financial tools of the European Investment Bank. The leverage effect of 
European cohesion policy can also be seen in its capacity to encourage harmony at European level 
between local, regional and national strategic development priorities. 
• 
Another notable aspect of the leverage effect associated with the use of the Structural Funds is the 
reinforcement of the institutional abilities of governments. By stimulating their management 
capacity and harmonising their procedures at European level, cohesion policy has encouraged the 
implementation of Community policies. Finally, due to the virtues of the partnership and 
cooperation between public institutions and civil society actors, cohesion policy has led to the 
establishment of comprehensive solutions to differing situations within the European Union. 
• 
To provide a broader definition of territorial cohesion that takes into account the new challenges 
faced by regional and local authorities (globalisation, climate change, energy security, 
immigration, etc.), the specific objectives for which European funding is given need to be defined 
in a more flexible way which allows for the fact that each region has very different characteristics 
and each has its own competitiveness and sustainability strategy. 
Furthermore, in the policy fields where the European Union does not have explicit responsibility but 
where Community policy does have an effect, such as housing policy and large segments of services 
of general interest, multilevel governance is a tool which enables the cross-cutting nature of these 
fields to be seen and makes it possible to transcend an overly rigid interpretation of the division of 
responsibilities in order to reach common objectives whilst maintaining due regard for the 
constitutional and administrative diversity of the respective Member States. 

CdR 89/2009 fin FR/EXT/RS/GW/ym/ms 
.../... 


- 20 -


To put multilevel governance into practice, the Committee of the Regions: 

Undertakes to: 

- 
plan and launch initiatives aimed at disseminating good practices in the area of partnership, 
linked to the definition of local, regional, national and supranational political priorities in the 
Member States, and support all the initiatives launched by the Member States, the European 
Parliament and the European Commission in order to apply the principle of partnership with local 
and regional authorities, not only during the policy implementation phase but also, and above all, 
during the preparation of these policies; 

- 
propose interinstitutional mechanisms reinforcing the political and strategic nature of the 
evaluation of European cohesion policy, by consolidating the reports drawn up at national and 
regional level within a European framework of analysis and projection. 

Recommends: 

- 
reinforcing the partnership practice, both vertically between “local and regional authorities – 
national government and European Union” and horizontally between “local and regional 
authorities – civil society”, particularly in the context of social dialogue, ensuring that Europeans 
can participate through the bodies which have been set up for the purpose by the different public 
authorities, especially those authorities which – due to their geographic location or the principle 
of subsidiarity – are closest to the European people. This will allow different social groups to put 
forward their opinions on aspects of EU initiatives and make suggestions; 

- 
simplifying and rationalising administrative procedures in order to establish a legal, 
administrative and financial framework that is capable of innovative action, and creating new 
tools to foster regional innovation and increase methods of financing (venture capital, business 
angels, micro-credits, etc.); 

- 
reinforcing the administrative capabilities of local and regional authorities in order to 
guarantee competent management of projects and increase exchanges of good practices in the 
European Union in terms of regional governance; 

Calls on the European Commission to: 

- 
study on a case-by-case basis the possible changes to Community policies in terms of a reinforced 
partnership; 

- 
encourage coordination between the actions of the Structural Funds, sectoral programmes and 
rural development programmes; 

- 
evaluate the progress made in simplifying and decentralising the management of the 
Structural Funds during the period 2007-2013, looking in particular at the proportionality of 
administrative burdens with regard to the type and size of the action and to the effects these have 
on local and regional authorities. 

CdR 89/2009 fin FR/EXT/RS/GW/ym/ms 
.../... 


- 21 -


