Local and regional authorities make up a large part of public administration, having a profound impact on the well-being of their society, public spending, investment, and procurement within the EU. The European Commission's communication promising a European Administrative Space has been met with criticism, failing to consider challenges that sub national governments face. Local and regional leaders called for the creation of a true administrative space with enhanced decentralisation and sufficient funding as well as tailored strategies to meet regional needs in an opinion unanimously adopted during the plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) on 20 June.
The European Commission's ComPAct initiative to support the development of a 'European administrative space', launched in October 2023, is intended to support administrations as they implement policy and manage structural transformations, but its clear vision of what such a cross-border, European administrative space would contain has not been delivered.
For this reason, they called in the opinion for increased decentralisation efforts and sufficient funding for the effective execution of administrative tasks which is crucial for regions and cities to create a true European administrative space. They highlighted the persistent barriers to a European administrative space and the need for a unified European vision that goes beyond national interests, reducing administrative burdens on local and regional authorities and supporting them in their digitalisation efforts.
CoR members underlined that better communication about the Technical Support Instrument – a EU programme that provides tailor-made technical expertise to EU Member States implementing reforms – is needed and called for a differentiated approach to address regional and local challenges and underscored the need for digital accessibility in rural and disadvantaged areas.
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Rapporteur Tom Jungen (LU/PES), Mayor of the Municipality of Roeser, said: "The digitalisation of public services as part of the idea of a European Administrative Space will be a major challenge for local and regional authorities in the coming years. Citizens have the right to rely on public support in their local authority, even in a 100% digitalised public service. We need to make sure no one is left behind in the process."
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On 25 October 2023, the European Commission adopted the communication on enhancing the European administrative space (ComPAct), which puts forward actions to support the modernisation of national administrations and to strengthen their cross-country collaboration so that they can address common challenges together. The ComPAct will help Member States address the EU Skills Agenda, deliver on the targets of the Digital Decade to have 100% of key public services accessible online by 2030, and shape the conditions for the economies and societies to deliver on the ambitious 2030 climate and energy targets. The ComPAct will also help EU enlargement countries on their path to building better public administrations.
Capacity building and quality of public administrations are very relevant to local and regional authorities, which constitute a large part of overall public administrations. On average, in the EU, the local and regional level is responsible for managing 34% of total public expenditure and 56% of total public investment. Local and regional governments in the EU also manage more than half of the total pay for public employees and account for 45% of total public procurement, amounting to several hundred billion euros each year.
Contact:
Theresa Sostmann
Tel. +32 475999415
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