344 full members representing the local and regional authorities in the EU + 344 alternates. Members are appointed for four years by the Council of Ministers on proposals from the member states. The Treaty of Lisbon lengthens their mandate to five years to bring it into line with the term of office in the European Parliament and European Commission. It also sets the maximum number of CoR full members at 350 (plus an equal number of alternates).

Members are local or regional elected officials. Countries with a federal system of government or strong regional systems – such as Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain and Italy – primarily send regional representatives. In the countries where regional systems are weaker, the representatives are principally if not exclusively local representatives. This cohabitation by such different local and regional policy makers has not always been easy, but discussions today have been "rid of their complexes", according to CoR President Luc Van den Brande (see interview). Secretary General Gerhard Stahl even sees this cohabitation as a strength. "Take the Scandinavian countries, for example, where some states are the size of a region: the decentralised level is the local level. In these countries there is not a hierarchy between the regional and local levels. The local level has considerable competence in Denmark, for example, where the greater part of public expenditure is effected by the local authorities. So if you speak of healthcare, schools, universities, and so on, you have to deal with mayors. It would make no sense in such a case to deal with some more administrative regional setting. In the CoR, you have the politicians who are competent in terms of the different structures of the member states, either the local level when the local level is dominant, or the regional level when the state structure is federal or regionalised. For us as a European institution, it is a strength to be able to represent those who have real authority and exercise responsibilities in a given state structure. This can sometimes create tension within states – in Germany, for example, the local authorities have demanded the right to be better represented in the CoR – but it is a strength at European level."

Four political groups

As in the European Parliament, the members of the Committee of the Regions have set up political groups which usually meet just before the plenary sessions. Each of the four groups has a secretariat.

EPP – European People's Party Group (http://www.epp.cor.europa.eu)

PES – Group of the Party of European Socialists (http://www.cor.europa.eu/pesweb)

ALDE - Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (http://www.alde.cor.europa.eu)

UEN-EA - Union for Europe of Nations/European Alliance (http://www.cor.europa.eu/presentation/down/ea)

+ the non-attached

Number of members per political group as of 15 April 2009 (the appointment process for certain members was still under way on this date, which explains the discrepancy with the total of 344 official members):

EPP: 127 full members and 118 alternates

PES: 122 full members and 108 alternates

ALDE: 50 full members and 54 alternates

UEN-EA: 17 full members and 21 alternates

Non-attached: 10 full members et 27 alternates 

Six commissions

Commission for Territorial Cohesion - COTER. Its competences include the Structural Funds, territorial cooperation, spatial planning, urban policy and all transport-related issues.

Commission for Economic and Social Policy - ECOS. This commission handles employment and social policy, plus competition and taxation, economic and monetary policy and the internal market.

Commission for Sustainable Development - DEVE. It deals with the common agricultural policy, fisheries and maritime affairs, energy and environment issues, as well as questions related to tourism, consumer policy, health and civil protection.

Commission for Culture, Education and Research - EDUC. In addition to culture, education and research, this commission also addresses youth, information society, communication technologies, broadcasting and the media.

Commission for Constitutional Affairs, European Governance and the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice - CONST. This commission takes charge of issues related to the role of the regions, implementation of the EU Treaty, the intermeshing of EU competences, subsidiarity, decentralisation and European governance. It also handles issues related to the area of freedom, security and justice, as well as immigration, asylum and visa policy.

Commission for External Relations and Decentralised Cooperation - RELEX. Its competences include the enlargement process, the Euro-Mediterranean partnership, the Balkans, decentralised cooperation, neighbourhood policy, etc.

Also as in the European Parliament, the CoR's work is organised on the basis of commissions tasked with drafting opinions and resolutions that are then submitted to the plenary session for adoption. CoR members sit on one or two commissions. In addition to these six standing commissions, two others have special status: the Committee for Administrative and Financial Affairs (CAFA), set up to "facilitate relations with the budgetary authority" and the Ad Hoc Temporary Commission on the EU Budget Review. As its name indicates, this temporary commission (in place until the end of the current CoR mandate, i.e. 2010) exists to prepare and monitor the debate on the EU budget review.

Eight intergroups

The Regions with Legislative Powers Group: representatives of regions with legislative powers, members of REGLEG and CALRE:

Danube Group: CoR representatives from regions bordering the Danube;

Baltic Sea Group: CoR representatives from regions bordering the Baltic Sea;

Mediterranean Group: Members calling for a permanent dialogue at the CoR between the regions of the 27 EU member states and the remaining regions of the Mediterranean area;

North Sea Group: CoR representatives from regions bordering the North Sea;

Wine Group: Regions interested in monitoring policies concerning the European wine growing sector;

Saar-Lor-Lux Group: Representatives of Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, Luxembourg, Lorraine, the Walloon region, and the French and German language communities of Belgium;

Car Crisis Group: regions which would like to participate in the debate on support during the car crisis.

The intergroups emerged in 2000 and enable CoR members to meet on the basis of common issues, over and above national formations and political groups. They bring together members irrespective of their political affiliation. For an intergroup to be established, it must be made up of at least ten full members from four different member states or belonging to a group of regions covered by an inter-state agreement on cross-border cooperation. The intergroups are free to organise their work as they please.

To view a table, click here