In 2024, in celebration of its 30th anniversary, the CoR transferred its first group of historical archives to the HAEU in Florence. These documents have been described and inventoried in the HAEU’s online database and are now available for consultation in the Archives’ reading room. The opening of the documents coincides with the European Week of Regions and Cities, taking place in Brussels and across the European Union from 7-10 October.
Committee of the Regions inventory
The inventory of the CoR holdings presently consists of a total of 204 files classified into seven series: Opinions (1994-1995); Plenary sessions, Meetings of the CoR Bureau; Commissions meetings; Sub-commissions meetings; Working group meetings and organisation; and Press releases.
The opening up of these historical files will enable the research community to gain a better understanding of how the committee was established and how it operates. Indeed the documents within these series shed light on the CoR’s early concerns and activities as a newly formed agency in 1994, the Committee’s establishment plan and administration, budget and media and public relations. Moreover, researchers may also examine material concerning the Bureau’s Resolution on the premises of the CoR, its approach to setting up the commission and sub commissions, as well as the Committee’s initial efforts regarding Spatial Planning and Interregional cooperation.
Especially notable are the dossiers in the ‘Opinions’ series. These files provide a comprehensive picture of the articulation of each CoR Opinion, from initial letters of referral to the publication in the Official Journal, passing through the draft opinions, amendments, records of proceedings, to the final opinions. Significantly, the CoR’s first Opinion, included in this transfer, was the ‘Proposal for a Council Regulation establishing a Cohesion Fund and the Proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) laying down detailed rules for implementing establishing a Cohesion Fund’.
The three respective series on the commissions, sub-commissions and working group meetings provide further insights into the topics on the CoR representatives’ agenda: these bodies conducted consultations, prepared draft opinions and delivered seminars and conferences on their areas of competence.
Finally, but also with respect to research, this fonds will likely be of special interest to political scientists and scholars of constitutional law because of the CoR’s intrinsic relevance to the European Union principle of subsidiarity.
The Committee of the Regions and the Historical Archives of the European Union
The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the EU advisory body that represents regional and local authorities. It gives them a voice in the EU decision-making and policy-making process by setting out Opinions on proposed legislation that affects regions and municipalities. Adopted Opinions are shared with the European institutions early in the policy-making process.
Following the Council Regulation 2015/496 amending the original Archives Regulation 354/83, all EU institutions, bodies and agencies are obliged to deposit their archives at the HAEU in Florence, where they are made available to the public according to the 30 years rule governing access to archives of the European Union.
Many of the CoR documents available at the HAEU are in multiple languages.
Consult the Committee of the Regions archives.