CIVEX

From a socialist and progressive perspective, the CIVEX Commission for Citizenship, Governance, Institutional and External Affairs covers some of the  most  politically sensitive topics, such as migration, human rights and enlargement, as well as external relations, subsidiarity and governance-related issues. The Conference on the Future of Europe as a horizontal issue linked to democracy and possibly Treaty changes also falls under the CIVEX remit. As such, the CIVEX commission is crucial in achieving some of the most important political priorities of the PES group, particulary in strengthening the EU' s democratic foundations of the EU and improve its governance through active subsidiarity, as well as to ensure that an EU framework for migration is delivered taking into due account the voices of cities and regions. Furthermore, it is through the CIVEX Commission that Local and Regional Authorities will seek to have their voices heard in the Conference on the Future of Europe.

The CIVEX commission mirrors several parliamentary committees in the European Parliament, among which AFET, DROI, LIBE, AFCO and DEVE. CIVEX also interacts with different Directorates-General (DG) of the European Commission: the DGs for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (NEAR), International Cooperation and Development (DEVCO), Migration and Home Affairs (HOME).

The remit of the CIVEX Commission covers the following fields:     

• Area of Freedom, Security and Justice   
• Immigration Policy, asylum and visas     
• EU Charter of Fundamental Rights     
• Active Citizenship
• Devolution
• Constitutional Affairs
• Governance, better Law-Making, Subsidiarity and Proportionality     
• External Relations, including administrative external cooperation and capacity building
• International Treaties and negotiations, terrorism and border controls
• Neighbourhood Policy (including Eastern Partnership and Euro-Med cooperation), decentralised cooperation for development and EU enlargement issues

In addition, CIVEX is responsible for the following bodies (related to CIVEX remits):

• CORLEAP
• ARLEM
• Working Groups and Joint Consultative Committees
• Ukraine Task Force
• Nicosia Initiative (cooperation with Libyan municipalities)
• Portal of Decentralised Development Cooperation
• Cities and Regions for Integration initiative
• Subsidiarity Monitoring Network (supports all Committee’s commissions)
• High-Level Group Congress of the Committee of the Regions