“European law is also our domicile law“

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zakonodavstvo web Zagreb, 9th of December 2013 – The Academy's seminar about introducing EU legislation and its effect on local self-governance, held this Saturday, was moderated by a strong team consisting of Jozo Radoš, president of the CPP representatives' Club and Hrvoje Marušić, assistant to the Minister of external and European affairs.

On the seminar there was talk about the role of regional Committees in the procedure of bringing about law acts of the EU as well as the subsidiarity and application of European law on a local level.

Jozo Radoš started his lecture with the procedure of bringing about laws in the EU and with the experience of a spectator, which he carried out, he brought closer to everyone present the extremely complicated process. He also highlighted that the legislative procedure in the EU has three, not two readings, and that amendments are proposed in each of those three readings.

"The European Union is a very complicated institution. We are a small country and cannot have too much of an influence on the highest EU policies, but we can decide that in that and that year of the 100 laws or 200 decisions of the European Council there are two or three decisions important for Croatia. This is where our strength lies, and everything we do, we do concentrated in order to realise our goals, and in regard to other questions we are allied to those who will help us realise them", highlighted the president of CPP's representatives' Club.

Radoš said in the continuation that the European Union is moving toward greater and greater integration, and the question of taking over part of the authority is an important question and this is where the part about local and regional bodies goes which must protect local and regional policy. Speaking about the proportionality and subsidiarity assessments he said that they are brought about by national parliaments and local and regional authorities and it is exactly because of this that a region Committee was formed in the EU which has changed its jurisdictions over time as well. The region Committee sent its opinions concerning the proposal of laws to the European Comission and Council which didn't have to respect these opinions. However, over time the role of the region Committee grew, so that its opinion started taking on a wider scale. Radoš placed importance on the Lisbon accord which grants the region Committee those jurisdictions and authority which it actually has today. Today the Committee counts 352 members, and CPP's member is Head of County Predrag Štromar. The region Committee is elected on a five-year mandate, the members are proposed by the associations of Municipalities, towns and counties according to the quota of the country to which they belong, the decision is brought about by the government, and it contains its 6 sub-committees.

"All three institutions, the EU parliament and the Comission and the Council are obliged to ask the opinion of the region Committee when it comes to specific questions, such as the area of telecommunications, energy, transport, education, culture, employment etc., and also in other questions. The opinions of the region Committee aren't binding, but they are highly respected due to the political sensitivity and the problems which can spring up later. The region Committee checks the subsidiarity and proportionality of regulations, contains a network of various institutions on the local level, the level of citizen associations etc. If it happens that the Committee thinks that an act has violated the rights of the local and regional self-governance and subsidiarity and proportionality they can submit a law-suit to the European Court of justice which can tear down the same law, directive or regulation", concluded Radoš.

The second part of the lecture was moderated by Hrvoje Marušić, assistand to the Minister for external and European affairs.

"When we talk about European law, that law is also our domicile law, because through the ten years through which we've been coming closer to the EU, our legislation was adapted to the standards of the Union". This adaptation continually takes place also after our accession to Union membership, so the effect of European law on our lives is deep and everyday", started Hrvoje Marušić on his lecture.

Speaking about the ways and mechanisms of the creation of European law regulations and the ways local self-governance can make an effect on that process, Marušić noted that after July the 1st, when we became an EU member some national jurisdictions and parts of state sovereignty were transferred onto EU institutions, and we share them with other member states.

"The Ministry of external and European affairs coordinates the preparation of national points of view which are presented in EU bodies, and the points of view largely relate to the creation of new or the change of existing legal EU acts", highlighted Marušić.
In the continuation there was talk about the legislative acts of the EU, that is the regulations, directives and decisions, and the way they are applied in the Republic of Croatia's legal system.
"When it comes to legislative acts, regulations are extremely important, which, after being adopted on the EU level are directly applied in member states. They do not need any national regulation to be transferred, and this presents a problem for local and regional self-governance, because they are obliged to apply them, and they have to be introduced to their contents. Concerning directives, they state to member states that a certain area must be regulated in a determined way by national regulations, so the situation becomes that much easier for the PL(R)SG which are already introduced with the procedures of adoption and publication of national regulations", highlighted Marušić.

Speaking about the regulative, the assistant to the Minister of external and European affairs said that the European Union is a very complicated bureaucratic machinery, but not in the sense of the number of people rather the amount of regulative which is generated constantly and every day. Most member states, as well as Croatia think that the EU, primarily the European Comission, should focus on important matters, and the more detailed regulation should be left to member states each of which has its specialties. The current way of work is extremely taxing both for the EU institutions and member states and is unsustainable in the long term.

Regarding the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, the Lisbon accord brought a lot of new things, especially because not only does it mention and introduce the terms of local and regional self-governance in the context of the EU's work, but it also directly links local and regional self-governance with the application of the principle of subsidiarity. In the context of EU legal acts, the role of units of local and regional self-governance of all members is two-fold. The first is to try to influence the creation of legal acts through the region Committee and national ministries, and the second is the knowing of regulations which are directly applied in Croatia", continued Marušić.

The assistant to the Minister of external and European affairs ended his lecture with information about possibilities of following legal regulative in the EU, and recommended regulations that every PLRSG, even the smallest Municipality, must ensure a systematic following of EU legal regulative, but also the information about possibilities of financing with EU funds, an hour a week for which is adequate.

"The real challenge is to encourage the citizens to be active in social and political life in general, and also in relation to legal, national and EU regulative", said Marušić.

The role of CPP in Croatia is, in Marušić's conviction exactly in that that it returns the confidence to the citizens, the conviction that we have smart and constructive things to say both as a state and as individuals, and that through the active relationship toward legal regulations, from the local to the EU level, we can influence their content and our own lives as well.

"In order to make that a reality, communication of PL(R)SG with the representatives of the region Committee must also be strengthened, and parliamentary representatives and ministries, and Croatian members of the EU parliament. Regardless of how small we are, we can influence the surroundings in which we live and work, and I am convinced that this influence is possible to carry out and realise with an active approach", concluded Marušić.