“Europe starts with its regions, cities and villages”. It was with the Marseille Manifesto that the 9th European Summit of Regions and Cities, attended by the Regional Governor of Attica and Head of the Greek Delegation, Mr George Patoulis, was concluded in Marseille.

George Patoulis: “Further enhancement of the role of the European Committee of the Regions is necessary in order to attain the objective of a stronger EU that responds more effectively to the needs of citizens”.

The necessity to further strengthen the role of the Regions, Cities and Villages within the EU, and to reinforce the principle of subsidiarity in order for the European Union to deliver better results for its citizens, is emphasized in the Marseille Manifesto adopted at the close of the 9th European Summit of Cities and Regions, held on 3 and 4 March 2022 in Marseille.

The Summit was attended by the President of the European Parliament, Ms Roberta Metsola, the Regional Governor of Central Macedonia and President of the European Committee of the Regions, Mr Apostolos Tzitzikostas, as well as the Regional Governor of Attica, Vice-President of the Committee of the Regions and Head of the Greek Delegation, Mr George Patoulis. The European Committee of the Regions is the EU’s assembly of 240 Regions and 90,000 Cities from all 27 Member States.

It should be noted that yesterday’s meeting adopted a unanimous Declaration on Solidarity with Ukraine. The Declaration expresses Europe’s unanimous support to the people of Ukraine, strongly condemns, inter alia, “the unprovoked and unjustified military aggression” and reiterates the universal call for the ending of the war. In addition, a symbolic gathering took place outside Marseille City Hall to reaffirm unanimous call “to stop the war”.

At the close of the 9th European Summit of Cities and Regions, Mr George Patoulis stressed the necessity to enhance the role of the European Committee of the Regions in order to attain the objective of a stronger EU that responds more effectively to the needs of citizens. “Strengthening democratic values and completing Europe’s unity are to be achieved first and foremost through self-government. It is now time, both the European Union and the national governments undertake groundbreaking institutional reforms that will entail clear involvement of self-government in development policy making, in the sense that the LRAs become actively engaged in the allocation of EU funds and recovery programmes to re-build a post Covid-19 Europe, by transferring competences, resources and human capital to deliver better results for the citizens”, noted the Regional Governor of Attica and Vice-President of the Committee of the Regions.

The Marseille Manifesto of local and regional leaders
“Europe starts with its regions, cities and villages.”

In the aforementioned declaration, the European Union’s (EU) local and regional leaders call, inter alia, for the European Committee of the Regions to be gradually upgraded beyond its current consultative function towards a binding role in a limited number of policy areas with a clear territorial dimension while avoiding additional complexity in the EU. Giving greater consideration to the expertise of local and regional authorities in the elaboration and implementation of EU law will lead to better regulation and greater democratic legitimacy in the EU.

Furthermore the leaders call on the Conference on the Future of Europe to rearm ‘cohesion’ as a fundamental value and as a compass for all EU policies based on the respect for partnership and multilevel governance.

They demand the strengthening of resilience in the EU, with a clear involvement of local and regional authorities in the design and implementation of social, climate, environmental, energy and digital policies and for direct access to EU funding in areas that fall under their competences.

They support a European Health Union that gives the EU the competences needed to react swiftly to health crises while respecting the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality.