The ten points” “

The “Charter of the Regions of Europe” was signed by 197 delegations from 23 countries in Florence in recent days. The ten-point document was promoted by the Conference of the Regional Legislative Assemblies of Europe (CRLAE) which brings together the presidents of 74 regions forming part of 8 countries. We publish the integral text of the Charter below. 1) The elected men and women of the legislative Regions of Europe and the representatives of the other European regional bodies reaffirm their own wish to achieve convergence and union in diversity, conscious of the need to safeguard the ideals and principles of freedom, democracy, respect for human rights and the constitutional state that form an irreplaceable part of the common heritage of the European peoples and an indispensable prerequisite for the maintenance of peace and security; 2) Stress the need to promote common principles while respecting the diversity of the cultures and traditions of the peoples of Europe, both at the national and at the regional and local level, and affirm that, as recalled in the Preamble of the Charter of the Fundamental Rights of the European Union, this diversity represents a great richness that the Union must preserve; 3) Emphasise that the regional dimension represents, both for institutional development and for economic growth, a proper level of authority in the application of the principle of subsidiarity and proximity: one of the fundamental principles of the European system of government, as pointed out by the White Paper of the European Commission on “European Governance”, which recognises the role played by the Regions and Communes as mediators between citizen and Community institutions, and recommends close cooperation between European institutions, national governments, and regional and local administrations; 4) Recognise that the affirmation of regional autonomies must respect the national institutions and the legislations of their respective states, their sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the prerogatives of local powers; 5) Support the extension of the process of regionalization, while at the same time acknowledging the profound differences that exist between the juridical and institutional traditions of the various European peoples; 6) Affirm that the regional authorities endowed with their own responsibilities and their own democratically elected decision-making institutions, are those best suited to bringing the national governments and the European institutions closer to the citizen; a goal that represents not only a fundamental objective of the Nice process, but especially a guarantee against the phenomena of alienation or distancing from politics; 7) Consider that the institutions of the European Union must take into account the role played by the Regions in local government, and that the Constitution of the Union must recognise the contributions that the Regions also make to the decision-making process and to the implementation of the Union’s policies; 8) Hope that the European Union may therefore encourage a greater participation of the Regions in the European decision-making process, and in particular that the Regions be involved on a regular basis in the process of preparing Community legislation and policies, and that the European Parliament establish permanent cooperation with the regional elective Assemblies, through the intermediary of the Commission for Regional Policy; 9) Ask member states to reinforce the mechanisms for the participation of the Regions in the European decision-making process in the spheres of their specific interest, bearing in mind that article 203 of the EC Treaty already permits the representatives of the regional governments to participate in the delegations of their respective member states that attend the meetings of the Council of Ministers of the European Union; 10) Hope that the next intergovernmental Conference of the European Union may uphold the Regions’ right to appeal to the European Court of Justice, under the authority of their respective member states, if their prerogatives be directly violated by a Community provision, in conformity with the corresponding national legislation.