http://hdl.handle.net/10900/52823 2026-11-08T17:48:36Z http://hdl.handle.net/10900/185234 The Committee of the Regions and the Conference on the Future of Europe Abels, Gabriele; Große Hüttmann, Martin; Meyer, Sarah; Lenhart, Simon The Committee of the Regions has always been actively involved in debate over treaty reforms and changes in European governance. Thus, its strong involvement in the current Conference on the Future of Europe comes as no surprise. Drawing on the theoretical concepts of opportunity structures and institutional activism the paper illustrates and analyses the CoR activities on the CoFoE since 2019. It outlines the development of its activities and positions. Beyond activities for CoR empowerment itself, the CoR is also acting on behalf of regions and develops activities in line with its strong role as facilitator for regional engagement. 2021-10-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10900/185233 Balancing Democracy and Information: The European Committee of the Regions' Contribution to EU Multi-Level Governance Schönlau, Justus The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) was created by the Maastricht Treaty as a new representative assembly of the EU’s regional and local authorities. In 2024, it celebrated the 30th anniversary of its first plenary session. Since its foundation, the CoR has faced the double challenge of, on the one hand, playing its role as a consultative body in the EU legislative process and, on the other hand, of developing innovative initiatives to make its contribution to EU multi-level governance and policy-making, thereby strengthening its own position. Throughout the years, the CoR has developed networks, initiatives and tools to integrate the perspectives and interests of regional and local authorities into EU politics. In this volume, Justus Schönlau examines how these endeavours are reflected in the CoR’s activities for the local implementation of the “European Green Deal” and “Better Regulation”. He also elaborates on how the CoR manages the competing and sometimes conflicting demands – from its members, as well as from its institutional partners and other stakeholders in EU policy-making – for political legitimacy and a two-way information link between the EU and its diverse local and regional levels. 2025-02-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10900/185232 Progress at Snail’s Pace? Regional Involvement and Treaty Changes since 1990 Högenauer, Anna-Lena From the mid-1980s, the sub-state level has become increasingly recognized as a political actor in European Union (EU) politics. Starting with the Treaty of Maastricht, a series of EU Treaty changes have recognized the democratic role of regions and local authorities and have created consultative mechanisms for them. However, the very regions that pushed for these changes – namely the strong legislative regions like the German Län¬der and the Belgian regions – became dissatisfied with the innovations of the Treaty of Maastricht almost as soon as they were implemented. As a result, their strategy focused increasingly on limiting transfers of competences to the European level in areas of importance to regions. The aim of this contribution is therefore to examine the evolution of the demands of strong legislative regions and their rights on the European level. It argues that the diversity of European regions has made it difficult to reconcile European integration with the status and functioning of strong legislative regions. 2021-10-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10900/185190 Assessing the Role of Regional Parliaments in the EU: Parliamentary Functions and Problems of Democratic Legitimacy Kindermann, Paul It is a prevailing narrative in political and academic discourse that regional parliaments with legislative competences should be empowered and more involved in EU affairs because of their potential to further democratise the EU. However, it remains theoretically ambiguous how their involvement would facilitate this democratic added value. This contribution aims to address this shortcoming by outlining an analytical approach to the question: which regional parliamentary functions may serve which democratic purpose that would curb which ‘problem’ of democratic legitimacy in the EU? 2021-10-01T00:00:00Z