52002XR0122(01)

Resolution of the Committee of the Regions on "Participation of the CoR in the convention responsible for preparing the next revision of the treaties"

(2002/C 19/10)

The Committee of the Regions

in the light of the decisions taken at the informal Council in Genval on 8 and 9 September 2001 regarding the procedure for preparing the next revision of the Treaties,

1. takes note of the initial proposals submitted to the Genval informal council by the Belgian presidency regarding the establishment of a Convention and Civil Society Forum;

2. expresses concern about their respective composition and stresses the importance of ensuring wider public representation and greater proximity by involving the full spectrum of political players, including the CoR, in the next revision of the Treaties;

3. believes that it is vital not to confuse the democratic legitimacy of elected representatives with the need for a more participative democracy which allows greater input to NGOs and civil society;

4. therefore considers that the Civil Society Forum, which is to work in parallel with the Convention, is not the appropriate forum for the CoR;

5. points out that the political legitimacy of the CoR was established in the Treaty of Nice, which stipulates that its members are required to be elected members of a regional or local authority or be politically accountable to an assembly elected by direct universal suffrage;

6. observes, on the basis of its experience of the work of the Convention responsible for drafting the Charter of Fundamental Rights, that it would be unsatisfactory and inappropriate for the Committee simply to be accorded observer status;

7. reiterates its request to participate, in accordance with its status as an EU body, as a full member of the Convention; and

8. invites its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission.

Brussels, 20 September 2001.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Jos Chabert