The Scottish Government

Common Declaration on European governance

The network is made up of the following regions: Aquitaine, Emilia-Romagna, Flanders, Hessen, Marche, Scotland, Skane, Tuscany, Wales, Wallonie.

The network first met in Fontanellato at the invitation of the Emilia-Romagna Government in September 2001.

The aim has been to share our experiences and approaches to the Governance debate and so to produce a networked response. There are already many links and shared interests between our regions, and we all share experience of implementing EU policies at territorial level.

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The regions welcome the Commission's White Paper on European Governance, which is an important basis for discussion. We find many positive elements within the White Paper as well as some proposals on which we take a different perspective. The exercise has stimulated an important debate across Europe at all levels of power about how the EU can best conduct its policies in a spirit of openness and transparency, efficiency and effectiveness, and about an enhanced inclusion of all levels of power. We salute the fact that the regional and local authorities were invited to take part in the debate.

Our response focuses on the Commission's recognition that (amongst other things) an enhanced inclusion of the subnational authorities can contribute to the quality of European decision making. We strive for an adequate multilevel partnership, in which regions are mandated (in accordance with their competences) by their national governments to be fully involved in the European decision making. Therefore we support the Commission's invitation to improve regional participation in European policy making.

We would like to participate fully in the current consultation process. However this joint response does not preclude direct responses to the Commission from individual participating regions or involvement with other networks.

The analysis of the network focuses on two specific elements of the White Paper:

• The necessity for regions to be more involved in drawing up EU policies.

In the current EU, regions and local authorities are in an ever increasing amount of policy sectors being called upon to implement EU policies. In spite of this increased responsibility for implementation, there is not a parallel involvement of sub-national authorities in EU policy formulation.

Hence the strong plea for a more inclusive model of EU policy making. We would like to emphasize the need for the EU itself - and the Commission in particular - to take the regional level better into account when it develops policy proposals. It is an important principal of good governance that those responsible for implementing policy are also involved in policy formulation.

In this regard we commend the White Paper proposal for a Code of Practice on Consultation. Also, in our view, it should be possible for the Commission to consult the regional authorities individually and directly, and vice versa. This consultation should thus not only be conducted through European and national associations of regional and local governments. In the same spirit, the consultation procedure has to involve the Committee of the regions, on the basis of the protocol of co-operation between the European Commission and the Committee of the regions.

As for the methodology of consultation we would like to refer as an example to the public hearings during the preparation of the White Paper on European Governance. There may also be scope for more regular briefings of the regions by the European Commission. For all this, timing plays an important role. An efficient consultation should take place at an early stage of policy formulation and should leave room for profound examination and reaction.

We support the Commission's call upon each Member State to develop, where it does not already exist, an adequate mechanism for wide internal involvement of their subnational implementing authorities in preparing national positions on EU policies with a regional impact.

However, a complementary response at EU level is needed as well to open perspectives for the regions to participate more actively in EU policy formulation, while respecting the different constitutional realities of each member-state.

• The necessity to reduce and simplify legislation, which is in line with the overall demand for better regulation and flexibility.

This should be, of course, also applied to those areas where regions have responsibility for implementing EU regulations and directives. We believe greater use should be made of framework legislation, which leaves more room for taking into account the regional needs and circumstances and which creates more flexibility for regions. We propose that at the start of the decision-making process, a full analysis - taking account of impact assessment and wider consultation - would be made of the consequences of implementation of Commission proposals for subnational authorities. This should respect the subsidiarity principle and each national Constitution.

We hope that the ongoing consultation process will help the Commission in improving the suggestions made in the White Paper even further.

In conclusion, this network of European regions welcomes the White Paper as an important basis for discussion. We urge the European Commission to give top priority to taking forward this process.

Brussels, 27 March 2002