Conference of European Regions with Legislative Power | |
|---|---|
 Logo | |
| Headquarters | Brussels |
| Type | Intergovernmental organisation |
| Membership | 73 participating regions from 8 sovereign states |
| Leaders | |
• President of CALRE | José Manuel Rodrigues |
| Establishment | |
• CALRE | 7 October 1997 |
• RLEG | 2000 |
TheConference of European Regions with Legislative Power (RLEG) is a political network and joint initiative of leading regions inEurope with legislative power, their own system of government, parliament andhead of government. It primarily consists of representatives of regional governments fromEuropean Union (EU) member states. The countries ofScotland,Northern Ireland andWales are members of the conference, and although located in Europe, they areno longer part of the European Union. It is not a formalEU institution, and only 73 regions of 8 member states participate.
The Conference of European Regions with Legislative Power advocates for a system of multilevel governance across the European Union (EU) by advocating for co-responsibility in the integration process. The body suggests that this would ensure the "precise application of the decentralised dimension of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality".[1]
The network aims to bring together the regions across the European Union and continental Europe who hold legislative powers with devolved systems of government which hold legal competencies that have been created as a result of the political and constitutional mechanism of the member states of the European Union in which the region is part of.[2] In the case of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, these threecountries are no longer part of the European Union, following aUnited Kingdom wide decision to leave the European Union in 2016.
At a point, the regions part of the conference accounted for 56% of the total population of the European Union.[3]
On 7 October 1997, theConference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies (CALRE) was established inOviedo, Spain, following a period of meetings to enhance European roles for regional legislatures.
Three precedents were the founding principles:[4]
The Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies serves as a conference of the seventy-four presidents of the regional legislative assemblies across continental Europe and European Union member states. The current composition of Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies is made up of representation from the parliaments of the Spanish communities, Italian regional councils, the federated states of Germany and Austria, the Portuguese regions of l'Açores and Madeira, thecountries of the United Kingdom with devolved national parliaments – Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, Ǻland Islands in Finland and Belgium community and regional chambers.[4]
Following the Barcelona Conference held in 2000, six presidents (heads of governments of the membership regions of the conference) were appointed to manage the network which was agreed following the conference held in Barcelona. The six members responsible for managing the network following the Barcelona Conference wereBaden-Württemberg,Catalonia,Scotland,Tuscany,Tyrol andWallonia.Flanders spearheaded discussions around the creation of a political declaration by Bavaria, Catalonia, North-Rhine Westphalia, Salzburg, Scotland, Flanders and Wallonia and defining regions with legislative power as "regions having a legislature as defined in Article 3 of the First Protocol to theEuropean Convention on Human Rights".[5]
In November 2002 during a meeting of the conference held inFlorence, the REGLEG conference called for greater roles and representation of regions with legislative across theEuropean continent in regards to the European Union. Previously, in 2001, theEuropean Council adopted the Laeken Declaration as part of theConvention on the Future of Europe which acknowledged the enhanced roles regions of Europe with legislative power could have in regards to decision making across the European Union. TheEuropean Commission formally recognised the White Paper on Governance which highlighted the role regions of Europe with legislative power and own system of government could. As a result, the European Commission formally recognised the "enhanced inclusion of the sub-national authorities can contribute to the quality of European decision- making" and called on each of the member states of the European Union to suggest how relations and decision making processes between the European Union and regions with legislative power can be improved.[3]
Scotland (Jack McConnell)[6]
Flanders (Jean-Luc Vanraes)[7]
Vienna (Michael Häupl)[7]
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