The Scottish Government

The REGLEG Group

REGLEG is the Group of Regions with Legislative Powers made up of EU regions that have responsibility for implementing - and in many cases transposing - European legislation. Over seventy regions with legislative powers within the European Union have directly elected parliaments and governments.

The First Minister , Jack McConnell, took over the Presidency of the Group at its 4 ^th Conference in Salzburg on 11-12 November 2003. You can read his keynote speech here. At Strasbourg on 23 March, First Minister set out some of the priorities for the Scottish Presidency of REGLEG in his speech to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe. You can read that speech here.

The Group helped to achieve significant steps forward for regional involvement in the EU through the draft EU Constitutional Treaty. Scotland has worked closely with the UK Government and the Welsh Assembly Government throughout this process and together we drew up a policy paper on 'Europe and the Regions' which Peter Hain submitted to the Convention on the Future of Europe in February 2003. During the year of the Scottish Presidency, we will:

(a) continue to pursue the gains made by the regions in the Convention's draft Treaty, which has not yet been agreed at the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC). Specifically, REGLEG will work to ensure that the role of the regions is properly reflected in any future Treaty;

(b) prepare for and ensure effective implementation of any new provisions;

(c) represent more generally the interests of the regions with legislative powers, including pressing through the Commission's governance initiative direct pre-legislative consultation in any relevant EU decision-making process; and

(d) establish REGLEG as a network for strategic co-ordination and a forum for exchange of best practice.

The organisation's website is at www.regleg.org