Introductory text

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 300(3) and Article 305 thereof,

Having regard to Council Decision 2014/930/EU of 16 December 2014 determining the composition of the Committee of the Regions^f1,

Having regard to the proposals made by each Member State,

Whereas:

Article 300(3) of the Treaty requires that members or alternate members of the Committee of the Regions, besides being representatives of regional or local bodies, either hold a regional or local authority electoral mandate or are politically accountable to an elected assembly.

Article 305 of the Treaty provides for the members of the Committee of the Regions and an equal number of alternate members to be appointed by the Council for five years in accordance with the proposals made by each Member State.

As the term of office of the members and alternate members of the Committee of the Regions expired on 25 January 2015, it was necessary to appoint new members and alternate members.

On 26 January 2015, the Council adopted Decision (EU) 2015/116^f2 appointing the members and alternate members proposed by the Belgian, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Estonian, Irish, Greek, Spanish, French, Croatian, Italian, Cypriot, Latvian, Lithuanian, Luxembourg, Hungarian, Maltese, Dutch, Austrian, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovenian, Slovak, Finnish, and Swedish Governments, 23 members and 23 alternate members proposed by the German Government and 18 members and 16 alternate members proposed by the Polish Government for the period from 26 January 2015 to 25 January 2020. Members and alternate members whose nominations had not been communicated to the Council by 22 January 2015 could not be included in Decision (EU) 2015/116.

On 2 February 2015 and on 3 February 2015, the list of members and alternate members proposed by the UK Government as well as the list containing one member and one alternate member proposed by the German Government were submitted to the Council. Those members and alternate members should be appointed for the same period running from 26 January 2015 to 25 January 2020 as the members and alternate members appointed by Decision (EU) 2015/116. This Decision should therefore apply retroactively from 26 January 2015. A third Decision appointing the remaining members and alternate members of the Committee of the Regions for the period from 26 January 2015 to 25 January 2020 will be adopted at a later date,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: