Councils will be converging on Brussels next month to discuss regional policy with the Committee of the Regions. Cllr Gordon Keymer, the head of the CoR's UK delegation reports.
Next month, the regions of Europe will converge on Brussels for the annual ‘Open Days' event. Jointly organised by the EU and the regions themselves, this is a week-long event where councils share experience and propose solutions. EU policymakers attend the debates and what is discussed in October may well emerge as an EU initiative in 2010.
The event is co-ordinated by the EU Committee of the Regions and coincides with its October plenary session.
The Committee of the Regions is the EU's own local government watchdog, busy scrutinising new EU laws before they are agreed and suggesting amendments to minimise the red tape and administrative burden to local councils. With over half of UK legislation having its origin in Brussels, this is an important task with real implications and benefits for our councils.
The 24-member UK delegation to CoR, of which I am the leader, is drawn from all corners of the UK and has representatives from all different types and size of council: urban and rural, inner city and suburban, coastal and upland; England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Our members work hard to ensure that the UK council view is heard by European policymakers.
During 2010, the EU will be taking decisions in important areas. The review of EU funding to regions (the UK currently receives £7bn in EU funding to support local regeneration) will be highlighted in the autumn with the publication of the 5th cohesion report. The EU is currently exploring ideas for reform of the Common Agricultural Policy in order to promote rural development.
The EU governs how councils buy goods and services. The EU will relaunch the single market including in public procurement and services of general interest (these include communications, energy, water, public transport and banking) which could have regulatory and cost implications. The revision of the Working Time Directive could have a significant impact on local council workforces (fire and rescue services, residential day care staff etc).
At a time of financial crisis, the EU 2020 jobs and growth strategy will set out priorities to modernise labour markets to boost labour mobility and lifelong skills to increase labour participation and better match supply and demand.
The EU will legislate to increase carbon emission targets from 20-30%, and revise existing climate change and greenhouse gas laws, and will legislate on public and private buildings' water efficiency, which could impact on how councils manage housing stock. A wider package will focus on investing in energy infrastructure for the future. The European Digital Agenda will set out priorities to speed up the roll-out of high speed internet and tap the potential of digital technologies for households and firms, and will have particular benefit for rural communities.
The CoR will seek to influence all of these proposals and more besides. In all of these responses we will recommend ‘smart regulation' covering actions to simplify existing legislation and reduce administrative burdens. We shall demand practical and realistic impact assessments to ensure the new proposals are cost effective and not excessively onerous on local government. Once adopted, it is important that the UK Parliament translates the new rules into the UK statute book without added red-tape or new administrative burdens (‘gold-plating').
Better regulation has been a particular interest of mine. I was pleased, some years ago, to secure an exemption for small regional airports to avoid the most onerous of bureaucracy that is applied to the larger hubs. I firmly believe that well-run regional airports can be an economic stimulus for some of our struggling regions, and by absorbing over-capacity at the bigger hub airports, can contribute to lowering the environmental impact of aviation.
This exemption was secured partly as a result of the report that I presented to the CoR, and which was taken up by the European Parliament and various industry groups, but also as a result of direct face-to-face meetings with European Commission officials, whose door was unlocked by the very fact that I was representing the CoR. The EU is not an island, it is acutely aware of the needs of its neighbours, many of whom have ambitions to join the EU one day.
Through opinions, the CoR is helping the EU Commission to understand better local government issues and priorities in other countries. The UK Delegation and I have been involved in defining CoR views on countries that neighbour the EU. It is very important to help local councils of these war-torn countries to embrace European values and adopt EU standards, to prepare them to be valuable partners and good neighbours.
Currently I am drafting an opinion of the CoR on Azerbaijan, a very important partner for Europe's energy security and that is facing challenges in addressing human rights and decentralisation.
As the EU focuses more of its regional funding on the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, where prosperity is low and economic dynamism in short supply, the true relevance of the EU for UK councils becomes more apparent. That relevance is as a meeting place to exchange ideas and potential solutions to problems that we all face and as the originator of new laws and regulations that seek to address these common problems.
We may not agree with all of these new laws, but the place to tackle them is in Brussels when changes can be secured, before the parameters have been set. Westminster lawmakers still have an important role to play in deciding how EU laws are to be applied in the UK, and the extent to which the burden of implementation falls upon local councils, but the real influence is exerted ‘upstream' in Brussels. Which is why I am pleased that the CoR is becoming a much more effective local government body.
Cllr Gordon Keymer is leader of Tandridge DC and leader of the UK delegation to the Committee of the Regions
