The EU can achieve better governance in 2017 through greater localism was the message delivered by ECR President Rob Jonkman to European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans during the Committee of the Regions 120th plenary session.

The Vice-President was present for the plenary debate to discuss the European Commission's work programme for 2017 with local and regional government representatives.

Intervening during the welcoming speeches of the EU CoR's plenary session in December 2016, Rob Jonkman outlined the importance of localism being a guiding principle and how it could help reform the EU's approach to issues such as climate change.

Alderman Rob Jonkman said: "Localism means civic empowerment and taking decisions at the level closest to citizens. In our efforts to try to restore trust in the EU and build a new social contract with citizens, we must not fall into the trap of taking more power away from them."

Referring to the Commission proposal for a European Pillar on social rights relating to welfare services being coordinated and potentially harmonised at the EU level, Alderman Jonkman stated that the "ECR is not convinced that the way to achieve equal opportunities in our society is by giving citizens more regulation and more red-tape".

"Instead, we should give citizens a greater voice and create more room for sharing of best practices at local, regional and national levels of governance. We need to regulate less and listen more", the ECR Group President added.

Arguing that the Commission needed to be more bottom-up in its approach, Alderman Rob Jonkman further warned the Vice President that the EU must treat local government as partners and not stakeholders in the EUs better regulation process.

Alderman Jonkman said: "Calling elected government a stakeholder and trying to put them into the same category as nongovernmental organisations is disrespectful to the voters they represent."

The ECR Group President also underlined that there are issues that require coordinated action at the European level as these issues transcend borders.

"Climate change and disaster resilience are examples of two issues where we need coordinated action. However, such coordinated EU action must be proportionate to the challenge at hand", the member stated.

Calling for a review and evaluation of all EU binding targets, Alderman Jonkman concluded his address to Vice-President Timmermans by asking for the Commission to conduct a review and evaluate all EU environmental binding targets.

"The huge number of derogations and environmental targets has created a convoluted system, leading to further administrative e burdens for local and regional administrations. It may look good to have lots of figures on paper, but in practice it does not work. For local and regional government to successfully tackle climate change and be ambitious on environmental issues, we must reshape and simplify the current system. This is why we advocate for a review of EU binding targets."

The welcome speeches kicked off the European Committee of the Regions' 120th plenary session, for which ECR Group members were in attendance to vote on a number of opinions, including 'Collaborative economy and online platforms' and 'Reform of the Common European Asylum System.