THE European Union was urged yesterday to make local and regional authorities full partners in its strategy to introduce Economic and Monetary Union rather than just part of the target audience.
The plea was made in Brussels to the EU's Committee of the Regions by North Ayrshire councillor Irene Oldfather, who had been commissioned to prepare an opinion for the committee on the introduction of the euro.
Councillor Oldfather argued that an information strategy would be vital for the successful launch of the boldest project for the European Union since the Treaty of Rome in 1957, a project that would have enormous implications for local and regional authorities even in those countries such as the United Kingdom that were not involved in the first wave between 1999 and 2002.
For example, local and regional government would have EU grants and loans paid in euros, while the introduction of the new currency would have enormous implications over a wide range of activity, including financial systems, trading standards and consumer protection, legal services and contract management, personnel services, education and economic development.
Councillor Oldfather told the committee: ''Local and regional authorities should play a major role in the information strategy because of their day-to-day contact with the general public. However, from the commission's report, it appears that the commission views local and regional government as part of the target audience rather than a full partner in the strategy.
''I regret that we are not identified as a partner. Indeed, in this I would say the commission is inconsistent with the EU approach to subsidiarity.''
She added: ''Our role is important, because we are providers of education information to the public, disbursers of Euro-monies, advisers in economic development and, collectively, we are one of the largest employers in Europe.''
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article