is the voice most likely to close the gap between the
Europe's institutions and its population. Regional
communities and their representatives can fulfil the
demands for successful subsidiarity.
In a formal sense the European Union may be
- as I have explained earlier - an agreement between
nations, in material sense it is a union of peoples,
of regions. One has only to look at the requirements
new members of the union have had to meet, to
acknowledge the importance that the Union itself
attaches to the regional tier. Experience shows,
that it is a lot easier to reach consensus or a good
compromise at a regional level than at a national level.
Local and regional government and their
various organizations also appear to be more
successful in formulating their common interests
and their possibilities for cooperation than national
governments.
There is yet another aspect. It seems to me
the input regions give to the process of European
decision-making is mainly practical and pragmatic.
As such this is far less politically tainted than the
national governments' input. Contrary to national
governments, the very position and competences of
local and regional authorities make 'nationalistic'
and protective politics completely impossible for
them in the European arena. The acknowledgment
at a European level that citizens can be reached
through the local and regional democracies, that is
to say, at levels of political and civic organization
that respect the human scale, is an important
acquirement.
The citizens' wish is the EU's demand
Some time ago I was watching a television-broadcast.
The discussion focused on the impact of European
regulations and directives. I was not surprised, that
most of the contributors to the discussion happily and
almost unanimously ventilated their aversion against
a European government in general and the drawbacks
of the Euro-currency in particular. However, these very
same people were completely incapable of formula
ting coherent views on the actual impact of European
government on their daily lives. I think this illustrates
my previous remark about the average citizen's span
of interest. Citizens must be made to understand that
the European Union does not bombard them with
random regulations, but that most of those regulati
ons are the result of their own wishes and those of
their own pressure groups, local and regional govern
ment included.
This decision making process results in a simple
fact. Eighty percent of the environmental policy of
the province of Zeeland is based upon European
directives and the major part of European environ
mental policy is carried out by regions. However
the awareness of this simple fact is very low. Other
fields of policy show a comparable large directing
European involvement, but citizens as well as politi
cians have a strong tendency to underestimate the
European influence on their daily life. This lack of
awareness is the main cause of the lack of interest in
European affairs. Showing the intermediate role of
regions in the execution of European policies might
generate a solution to this problem of lack of interest
in Europe.
The other side of the coin is, that local and
regional government must commit themselves to
make clear to their constituents that participation
in local and regional democracy is important and
mandatory in order to exercise influence in European
matters. The inhabitants of the European Union
urgently need to realize that their region and the
Union can mutually benefit. They need to be made
more aware of the various scales at which their
different interests are served and in what way they
can influence decisions. This will convince them of
the importance of Europe and the crucial role of the
regions.
I am convinced that the regions form the
backbone of a United Europe and as such the tier
that can make the largest contribution to the Union.
Besides, the regions link the constituent to the
Union. In stating this I have gone full circle and
returned to the final and key condition for a United
Europe: the constituents' consent. I have shared
these observations with you, because I am convinced,
that the principles involved apply to all forms of
human and political organization. They govern the
internal cooperation in Europe and Asia, as well as
the cooperation between separate regions in a global
sense. Therefore symposia like the 8th Asia-Europe
Young Leaders Symposium are excellent occasions for
the exchange views and experiences on the role of the
region as the micro level and the role of the regions in
a global context.
15 Zeeuws Tijdschrift 2006/7-8
