The PP has presented in Congress a non-binding proposal (PNL) with which it intends for the Government to request the European Union (EU) institutions to include representatives from the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla in the European Committee of the Regions, with the aim of ensuring the institutional presence of all territories, regions, cities, and municipalities that are part of the EU.
The proposal, registered to be debated in the Joint Committee for the European Union, emphasizes that this Committee is an advisory body created with the entry into force, on February 7, 1992, of the Maastricht Treaty and conceived to act as the voice of European regions and local governments in the decision-making processes of Community policies.
The Popular Group details that the Spanish delegation in the European Committee of the Regions is composed of 21 titular members and another 21 substitutes, a composition established by the Spanish Government in application of a motion approved by the Senate on October 20, 1993.
According to said motion, 17 of these 21 seats in the Spanish delegation are allocated to the autonomous communities, while the remaining four are reserved for representatives from the local sphere through the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP).
However, the PP emphasizes that organic laws 1/1995 and 2/1995, of March 13, approved the Statutes of Autonomy of Ceuta and Melilla, respectively, granting them their own powers "akin to those of the autonomous communities." For this reason, the Popular Party argues that it is essential for both cities to be able to exercise the right to represent themselves "as another territory of the Spanish State" in the aforementioned Committee.
A claim already supported in 2015
The initiative, reported by Europa Press, also underlines that the Joint Committee for the European Union already gave unanimous approval, on March 24, 2015, to a PNL requesting the incorporation of Ceuta and Melilla into this European advisory body.
That text urged the Executive to collaborate "with the utmost speed" with the FEMP in preparing a proposal that would allow their entry as full members for the 2015-2020 period, through a rotational system of their presidents as titular and substitute members.
The 'populars' maintain that the new five-year legislature of the European Union, initiated after the elections to the European Parliament held between June 6 and 9, 2024, constitutes a "propitious moment" to reiterate and enforce the agreement reached in 2015 and achieve that Ceuta and Melilla finally have their own voice in the European Committee of the Regions.