Protocol (No 30) annexed to the Treaty establishing the European Community by the Treaty of Amsterdam of 2 October 1997.

On 20 September 2001, the European Commission and the Committee of the Regions signed a cooperation agreement. This agreement aims to improve procedures for consultation of the Committee of the Regions and to involve the Committee more closely in the Community political debate and in information and communication policy.

On 20 September 2001, the European Commission and the Committee of the Regions signed a cooperation agreement. On this occasion, Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, underlines the importance of the local and regional dimension in the search for a European Union that is more democratic and closer to the concerns of its citizens.

On 5 April 1994, the Committee of the Regions, at the request of the Council, delivers an opinion for the first time. This opinion regards the proposal for a Council Regulation establishing a Cohesion Fund.

In this own-initiative opinion, with a view to the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference, the Committee of the Regions states its views on the role that it plays, and would like to play, in the institutional structure of the Community. Its proposals are based on a new formulation of the principle of subsidiarity, which has become the Committee’s main concern.

Real custodian of the subsidiarity principle, the Committee of the Regions underlines in this opinion of 11 March 1999, the importance of the existence and the respect for this principle in an expanding European Union.

This own-initiative opinion of 15 September 1999 reports on the institutional aspects of enlargement of the European Union with regard to the Committee of the Regions.

Resolution of 12 April 2000 adopted by the Committee of the Regions on ‘The partnership principle and its implementation in the reform of the Structural Funds 2000-2006’. The Committee of the Regions is in favour of partnership providing a key role for regional and local authorities.

On 13 March 2002, the Committee of the Regions delivers its first opinion at the request of the European Parliament.

Final Declaration of the Conference of the European Parliament and the Regional and Local Authorities of the European Union of 1, 2 and 3 October 1996, organised by the European Parliament, on the initiative of its Regional Policy Committee, and the Committee of the Regions. The participants are in favour of the institutional consolidation of the Committee of the Regions and of an extension of its powers and responsibilities.

On Tuesday 21 April 2009, as the Committee of the Regions commemorates its 15th anniversary in Brussels, the organisation sets out its mission statement, which defines its role, its values and its aspirations.

During this interview with the magazine Inforegio, Jos Chabert, President of the Committee of the Regions from 2000 to 2002, sets out the Committee's priorities in view of enlargement of the European Union. Powers and responsibilities in the areas of consultation and information must enable the Committee to work both towards the promotion of social and economic cohesion, in particular with regard to regional policy but also common policies, and towards the strengthening of the partnership principle so that the regional and local bodies might have greater involvement in the development and implementation of programmes financed by the Structural Funds.

Article on the Committee of the Regions, in particular on its composition and its role as an advisory body to the institutions of the European Union.

The European Charter of Local Self-Government opened for signature by the member States of the Council of Europe on 15 October 1985 and entered into force on 9 September 1988. The Committee of the Regions of the European Union calls for the principle of local self-government, as defined by the Charter, to be included in the Community treaties. Moreover, the Committee of the Regions works together with the Council of Europe's Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE) with a view to monitoring the implementation of the Charter.

With the backing of the Committee of the Regions of the European Union, the Council of Europe's Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE) draws up a draft ‘European Charter of Regional Self-Government' along the lines of the ‘European Charter of Local Self-Government'. Given that these two Charters are complementary in the application of the principle of subsidiarity for the benefit of regional and local authorities, the CLRAE directs its efforts towards this Charter eventually securing the status of European treaty as does the European Charter of Local Self-Government. However, points of contention between the member States of the Council of Europe stand in the way of its being signed.