Governance and citizenship

CEMR Vice-President and Mayor of Stuttgart, Wolfgang Schuster, attended a working lunch with European Commission President, José-Manuel Barroso, and the presidents of European associations representing local and regional authorities, held on 29 June 2010 in Brussels.

Among the topics discussed was the Europe 2020 strategy, put forward by the Commission on 3 March 2010. This new strategy sets out a vision of Europe's social market economy for the 21st century in the hopes of overcoming the crisis and developing a sustainable and inclusive economy with high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion. The Commission has since then put forward seven leading initiatives, dubbed 'flagship initiatives",* so as to reach the goals set out by the strategy.

Wolfgang Schuster presents the results of this exchange to CEMR.

What proposals did you put forward regarding the EU2020 Strategy and the involvement of municipalities and regions in its implementation?

As CEMR Vice-President, my main suggestion to Mr. Barroso was to develop a total of 70 pilot actions in 70 municipalities and regions, with 10 actions per flagship initiative. The initiatives will thus be given a concrete dimension, allowing for the testing out of different actions on the ground. This will then allow the EU to see how the EU2020 goals can be achieved by municipalities and regions.

 

It is upon asking ourselves 'what can we do for this initiative to work" that multi-level governance does not seem to be so abstract but rather a tool in the establishment of a new type of European governance.

 

This proposal is in line with what the last CEMR policy committee had discussed. Indeed, the idea to examine the flagship initiatives and see how these can be achieved by local and regional actions was put forward and approved.

 

What of cooperation between the European Commission and local and regional authorities?

It is important for the Commission to realise that European goals are local and regional goals just as local and regional goals are European. Indeed, these can only be achieved if a link between the different levels of government exists.

Also, municipalities and regions do not have to start at point 0 when putting the various flagship initiatives into place. We are more than familiar with the approaches the Commission wishes to develop and put in place. This is why we need to establish reliable means of cooperation so as to learn from one another: a partnership must go both ways.

I believe the Lisbon Treaty to be an ideal basis for cooperation as it defines goals and tasks and underlines that nothing can be truly fulfilled without combining the different levels of governance.

What were you overall impressions of this exchange?

I think one of our strong points, going into this working lunch, was that we all came in with a common political message. I believe it is important, as proof that cooperation is essential, that we showed the Commission today that local and regional representative associations are already working together in achieving overall goals.

The future of territorial cohesion and of the EU budget were also discussed during the working lunch with Barroso.

* The flagship initiatives include innovation, enhancing the performance of education systems and facilitating the entry of young people into the labour market, developing a digital agenda and ensuring a resource efficient Europe. An industrial policy for the globalisation era, an agenda for new skills and jobs, and a European platform against poverty, are also among the seven initiatives outlined by the Commission.

 

Link to Committee of the Regions press release