- Posted 04-Mar-2021
BETTER EU LEGISLATION: CoR LAUNCHES REGIONAL HUBS 2.0 TO MONITOR HOW EU POLICIES WORK ON THE GROUND
In the aftermath of COVID-19 crisis, citizens expect the EU to provide effective answers: the European Committee of the Regions' Regional hubs 2.0 project helps assessing how EU delivers via a renewed network gathering 46 members, 10 observers and 1 associated body.
The European Committee of the Regions launched a new generation of Regional Hubs to monitor EU legislation on the ground and make sure the voice of hundreds of regional and local stakeholders is taken into account in EU policy evaluation. The new hubs include 46 members, 10 observers and 1 associated body and are established as a sub-group of the European Commission's Fit For Future Platform (F4F). The launch was also attended by European Commission’s Vice-President for Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight Maroš Šefčovič . It follows a pilot phase that proved the effectiveness of the RegHubs in monitoring the implementation of legislation in five EU policies and communicating their findings via the CoR back to the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council.
The work programme of the new generation of RegHub 2.0 and its areas of expertise identified subsequent to the F4F platform plenary that took place on 4 March and identified the EU policies to be investigated.
Background:
- About the " Network of Regional Hubs" (RegHub): 70 % of EU legislation is implemented at local and regional level. As a result, local and regional authorities have valuable first-hand experience in applying EU legislation, in close contact with local businesses, social partners, civil society and citizens. Through its opinions, the CoR formally shares the position of local and regional authorities on EU legislative proposals. There is nevertheless a need to make use of the knowledge of local and regional authorities at an earlier stage of the EU legislative process and benefit from their experiences in the implementation of EU legislation. RegHub fulfils this need by collecting such technical 'on the ground' knowledge and forwarding it to the European Commission and the two legislators, in order to inform their reviews, evaluations and fitness checks. As the institutional voice of regions and cities in the EU, the CoR is uniquely placed to collate the contributions of all local and regional authorities for that purpose. This is why the CoR set up in 2019 a pilot project consisting of a regional network for EU policy implementation review. The initiative was taken up as one of the recommendations by the Subsidiarity Task Force established by the European Commission's then President during the first half of 2018. The network consists of dedicated 'contact points' who are members of staff of a local or regional administration who collect technical feedback from stakeholders about their 'on the ground' implementation experience of existing EU policies. The network thus adds the local and regional perspective to EU policymaking and enlarges its evidence base.
- About the Fit For Future Platform (F4F): The European Commission will take into account the Platform’s opinions to ensure EU laws help - not hinder - people and business, and in particular small and medium-sized enterprises. The work of the Platform will focus on topics highlighted in an annual work programme. For each topic, the Platform will gather evidence from a variety of public and private stakeholders on potential for simplifying and reducing unnecessary costs of specific EU laws without undermining the achievement of their objectives. The Platform will then issue opinions taking into account digitalisation opportunities and legislative density. These efforts are part of Better Regulation agenda of the European Commission. The European Committee of the Regions is part of the Government group of the Platform with three of its six CoR commission chairs alongside with 27 government representatives from EU Member States.
Source: European Committee of the Regions (https://bit.ly/3sNbl8n)