THE ROLE OF THE REGIONS IN A UNITED EUROPE This lecture was delivered by the Commissioner to the Queeen of the Province of Zeeland on 1 December 2004 during a din ner at the Abdij in Middelburg for the participants of the 8th Asia-Europe Young Leaders Symposium (AEYLS). AEYLS 8 was held in Scheveningen from 29 November to 3 December 2004. The event was organized by the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF, Singapore), the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Institute for Asian Studies (HAS, the Netherlands). Hosting the event was particularly timely as the Netherlands then held the EU Presidency and co-hosted the Fifth ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) Summit. The main theme of the sym posium was: 'Shifting Paradigms in Asia-Europe relations: Translating Common Challenges into Common Opportunities'. Door Wim van Gelder While preparing myself for this occasion I studied the objectives of the International Institute for Asian Studies and the Asia Europe Foundation in general and the subjects of the current symposium in particular. It occurred to me, that in order to avoid confusion, I would have to start by clearly defining the concept 'region'. For in the context of this symposium the concept 'region' is almost exclusively used to define large parts of the world - in some cases whole continents - as more or less coherent areas, at least from a global point of view. However, in the context of my speech the concept 'region' will be used in a quite different sense: to indicate coherent areas with a scale that is not correspondent with the various countries that constitute the European Union. Often these regions are smaller than countries and sometimes their boundaries do not concur on national borders. The human scale A commentator on the history of the unification of Europe once stated, that the final and most important condition for successful unification of Europe has been (and still is) the constituents' consent. True as this may be, I cannot but conclude that for quite some time European events have taken place without much direct influence of the constituents. This democratic deficit still exists to some degree. I will elaborate on that later. But there are some supplementary remarks to be made, more in particular on the role and influence of the regions as far as the democratic legitimating of the European Union is concerned. I think the best angle of approach of my subject is the paradox of a human scale for democracy and the actual dimensions of the European Union. When dealing with issues like the so-called democratic deficit or the role of local and regional authorities in the European Union it is essential to keep in mind the constitutional set-up of that Union. After all, it is this set-up that supplies us with a frame of reference to assess the possibilities of democracy 12 Zeeuws Tijdschrift 2006/7-8

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Zeeuws Tijdschrift | 2006 | | pagina 14