​​​​​​​​​On 22 November, the 9th Subsidiarity Conference, titled 'Active Subsidiarity: Creating EU added value together' was held in Rome.

In the presence of the President of the Italian Senate, Mrs Maria Elisabetta Casellati and the President of the European Parliament's AFCO committee Mr Antonio Tajani, members examined the outcomes of the 'Taskforce on subsidiarity, proportionality and doing less more efficiently', specifically highlighting how the EU system can be made more accessible to local and regional authorities.

Cork City Cllr Kieran McCarthy highlighted the importance of moving quickly to the implementation phase of the recommendations and encouraged other institutions to adopt the subsidiarity grid developed by the CoR to assess the compliance of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality with new legislative proposals.

Participants also discussed how regions and cities could have a stronger say in the development of EU policies. 

Secretary of Foreign and European Union Affairs of Catalonia and CoR rapporteur on the opinion “Local and regional authorities in the permanent dialogue with citizens”, Ms Mireia Borrell stated that it is essential new instruments be deployed to involve citizens in a structured and stable manner. In this context, she added that the CoR is the natural interface to facilitate dialogue at EU level as local and regional authorities are the closest and most trusted link to citizens.

 

The conference was attended by the following EA members: Cork City Councillor Kieran McCarthy, Regional Councillor of the Autonomous Region of Valle d'Aosta Pierluigi Marquis, Mayor of Białystok Tadeusz Truskolaski and Catalan Foreign and European Union Affairs Secretary, Mireia Borrell.