“United in diversity,” is the motto of the European Union. “And ever more so,” one could confidently add. The EU has evolved into a complex political organisation of considerable size and with ambitions for further expansion. As the membership becomes increasingly heterogeneous, creating new responsibilities for the EU, it is evident that reforms are needed in the way it is governed. How best should it deal with this increasingly diverse community? One thing is clear. The EU must not lose sight of the needs of all European citizens. European integration has been founded on this premise. It is the EU’s raison d’être.
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| The President of Catalonia, José Montilla, with the Prime Minister of Portugal and current President of the European Council, José Sócrates |
For 15 years the EU has followed the path of subsidiarity. This term has become an increasingly familiar one since it was enshrined in the Maastricht Treaty of 1991, notably on the initiative of the German Länder and the Belgian regions. To quote Maastricht, decisions should be “taken as closely as possible to the citizens”, It is devolution of decision-making from the centre to the lowest reasonable level possible. The subsidiarity principle has enabled member states to retain much of their own law-making powers, transcending the EU system. But, however much lip service has been paid to subsidiarity, it has been difficult to put it into practice. Moreover, it has sometimes been used by eurosceptics as a mechanism to block the process of integration and to support an indiscriminate retrieval of EU powers by member states.
Against this background, the ill-fated draft of the Constitutional Treaty sought to give teeth to subsidiarity by attaching a protocol on its use and by fine-tuning its definition to make clear its proper application. The good news is that in June this year the European Council agreed to include these steps in the new Reform Treaty. Once the treaty is in force, the Commission will be expected to conduct wide consultations during the drafting process of EU legislative acts, taking into account, where appropriate, their regional and local application. Furthermore, the draft of any new legislation will explain in detail its relevance to the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality. Most noteworthy, this will act as an early warning system for national parliaments - and regional parliaments with legislative powers - about how the subsidiarity principle is affected by this new piece of European legislation. .
So subsidiarity will finally acquire substance once the reform is in place. Multi-level governance will gather momentum as a result. The reform will definitely foster a new form of governance, steered by co-responsibility and respectful to the competences of each level of law-making in member states.
Catalonia, for its part, has found it convenient to bring its basic law up to date for the first time since the restoration of self-government in 1979. The new Statute of Autonomy approved last year makes a reference to European integration, curiously absent in the previous text. The Catalan charter of self government now sees the European Union as another level of governance, in which Catalonia is determined to play an active role, notably by making the most of the proposed new regulation of subsidiarity. Catalonia’s responsibilities concerning the EU include the participation of the Catalan Government in Spain’s working relationship with the Union. As well as working with the Spanish delegation to the Union, the Catalan Government regards as a matter of fact the participation of the Catalan Parliament in overseeing the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality.
Most noteworthy is that the new Statute of Autonomy entitles the institutions of Catalonia to participate in negotiations over treaty reforms in close collaboration with the Spanish Government. Thus, the Government of Catalonia must be kept informed by the Spanish Government of any proposed reforms and of their subsequent signing and ratification. During any negotiations over proposed reforms the institutions of Catalonia are entitled to have their observations on particular matters considered by the Spanish Government. And the Spanish Government may include representatives of the Catalan Government in delegations involved in negotiations over matters affecting the exclusive powers of Catalonia.
Those provisions have actually been included in the draft Reform Treaty and put into effect in the ongoing reform process. The Government of Catalonia welcomes this negotiation mandate provided by the European Council in June and is particularly pleased that the substance of the draft Constitutional Treaty has been preserved, particularly over the enhanced participation of regional and local authorities in the integration process. Along these lines, the Catalan Government stresses the importance of the extended principle of subsidiarity and the protocol governing its application. It asks the Spanish Government to keep a watch over these advances and to attach a declaration to the treaty stating that Spanish regional parliaments will be entitled to participate in the subsidiarity early warning system and to bring actions before the Court of Justice in the event of a breach of the principle. Nonetheless, the Government of Catalonia does not see subsidiarity as the only benefit of integration. Other principles must follow going beyond the scope of regions and states. Accordingly, the Catalan Government welcomes the progress made in achieving a common approach in such important policies as immigration and the fight against climate change, among others.
The President of the Government of Catalonia, José Montilla, personally submitted the foregoing observations to Alberto Navarro, Secretary of State for EU Affairs, so that the Spanish Government could take them into consideration during the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) negotiations. President Montilla also communicated the Catalan position to the Prime Minister of Portugal and current President of the European Council, José Sócrates, during his official visit to Portugal in late July, on the eve of the launching of the IGC.
During this visit, President Montilla informed Prime Minister Sócrates that REGLEG (Regions with Legislative Powers) will hold its annual Conference of Presidents in Barcelona on November15-16. During the current year, Catalonia holds the presidency of REGLEG, a grouping of the 74 EU regions, the aim of which is to encourage the EU to recognise their specific and differentiated political and legal status in EU governance, in accordance with their competences and responsibilities. This gathering will be a good opportunity for EU regional leaders to assess the results of the IGC and to debate about the possibilities ahead in the light of the new treaty.
Europe is back on track. And Catalonia is on the move. Both the European Union and Catalonia have undergone institutional reforms that have brought them closer together and to better address the challenges of today. Behind these changes there is also a common ambition: delivering a better future to European citizens.