The Committee of Regions has had to struggle to secure the responsibilities and role it has today. Although the member states gave the nod to the creation of this body in 1992 – essentially at the request of the German government, pushed by the powerful Länder– they did so very cautiously, taking great pains to lock the new body into its composition and functioning mode. In 1992, the CoR was clearly modelled on the Economic and Social Committee (ESC) in terms of competences and appointment of members. The two bodies even had to share the same administration. However, the CoR rejected this filiation with the ESC. From the beginning, its work focused on breaking these ties and imposing its identity as an autonomous political institution.

The Treaties of Amsterdam (1997) and Nice (2003) were essential steps in this process. The Treaty of Amsterdam widened the CoR’s scope of mandatory consultation and also gave it full administrative autonomy from the Economic and Social Committee. It now has its own administration. In 2003, the Treaty of Nice granted another of the CoR’s essential demands: formal inclusion in the treaty of the rule that its members must hold elected office or at least be politically accountable to an elected assembly. This is important for the CoR, which since its creation has always linked the question of its existence and strengthening to that of reducing the Union’s ‘democratic deficit’ and «restoring closer ties» between citizens and the EU institutions. It has sought to establish its identity as a political body and not just a technical body. In this context, the argument of its members’ political legitimacy was symbolically important. In practice, the great majority of its members already held elected office at the time, even though this was not a formal treaty requirement.

However, real political maturity will come with the Treaty of Lisbon. In addition to redefining the subsidiarity principle so as to refer to the local and regional authorities, the Treaty of Lisbon gives the Committee of the Regions the right to take action before the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for cases of infringement of subsidiarity (new protocol on subsidiarity) or to defend its own prerogatives. Although the treaty does not formally recognise its status as an institution - the CoR remains a «consultative body» – this possibility of taking cases to the ECJ is tantamount to real recognition of the political role played by the CoR and its members. «The EU, which originally was blind to everything beyond the national level, now recognises legally with the Treaty of Lisbon that the partners are not the member states alone,» explains CoR Secretary General Gerhard Stahl. «We have moved beyond the hierarchical approach of the past into a logic of partnership. Lisbon grants us the rights of an institution. Whether we are referred to as a ‘body’ or an ‘institution’ is simply a question of semantics. Because in terms of competences, we have most of what is needed to be a fully-fledged European institution.»

So has acquiring genuine institutional status, as sought by the CoR - in vain so far – with every revision of the treaties, lost its importance? For Gerhard Stahl, in any case, it «is of limited importance». «What is important is that we are included in every stage of decision-making where our competences are needed. And this we have. There is no meeting of ministers responsible for regional policy were the CoR is not represented. We have observer status in different advisory committees – Interreg for example – and we are consulted by the Commission before it presents proposals in areas where our members have competence. The real challenge at the moment is not getting more influence. The real challenge is being capable, in our own internal functioning, of passing on the competences and knowledge of the regions and local authorities. The political process in the EU is long and complicated. The real challenge is to make sure that in this European decision-making process we organise our contribution in an efficient manner at the different stages. That necessarily involves strong administrative capacity. But we started with a specific handicap because at the time of its creation, the CoR did not have its own administration. These 15 years have been needed to build up our own administrative capacity. And I think we still need to strengthen this capacity.»

«In terms of competences, we have most of what is needed to be a fully-fledged institution.»