Committee of the Regions

Set up in 1994 under the Treaty on European Union, the Committee of the Regions (CoR) is an advisory body composed of representatives of Europe’s regional and local authorities. The CoR has to be consulted before EU decisions are taken on matters such as regional policy, the environment, education and transport – all of which concern local and regional government.

The Committee has 344 members. The number from each member state approximately reflects its population size, as follows:

The members of the Committee are elected municipal or regional politicians, often leaders of regional governments or mayors of cities.

They are nominated by the EU governments but they work in complete political independence. The Council of the European Union appoints them for four years, and they may be reappointed. They must also have a mandate from the authorities they represent, or must be politically accountable to them.

The Committee of the Regions chooses a President from among its members, for a term of two years. Luc Van den Brande, from Belgium, was elected President in February 2008.

The role of the Committee of the Regions is to put forward the local and regional points of view on EU legislation. It does so by issuing opinions on Commission proposals.

The Commission and the Council must consult the Committee of the Regions on topics of direct relevance to local and regional authorities, but they can also consult the Committee whenever they wish. For its part, the Committee can adopt opinions on its own initiative and present them to the Commission, Council and Parliament.

Each year the Committee of the Regions holds five plenary sessions, during which its general policy is defined and opinions are adopted.

The members of the Committee are assigned to specialist ‘commissions’ whose job is to prepare the plenary sessions. There are six commissions:

• Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy (COTER)
• Commission for Economic and Social Policy (ECOS)
• Commission for Sustainable Development (DEVE)
• Commission for Culture and Education (EDUC)
• Commission for Constitutional Affairs and European Governance (CONST)
• Commission for External Relations (RELEX).