Speech of Giovanni Di Stasi, President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities

At the Conference to launch the Adriatic Euro-region (Venice, 6 February 2006)

Mr Chairman,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Divide et impere – Divide and rule – was the slogan of ancient Rome, whose conquest of land and power extended the empire across the Mediterranean and Europe; the empire which, together with ancient Greece, gave birth to what we call today modern civilisation and which was the cradle of democracy and the rule of law. However, those were the times of empires, the times when the will was imposed by force, the times of war, not of peace.

Today, as we are launching the Adriatic Euroregion on the same shores which were used by ancient Romans to send ships for their wars of conquest, we are driven by a different philosophy – not “Divide and rule”, but “Unite and prosper”. Today, we are launching the Euroregion of a new type, uniting countries both members and non-members of the European Union – but all of which are members of the Council of Europe, whose Congress of Local and Regional Authorities brought forward this initiative a few years ago. Today, we are paving the way for the six Adriatic countries to join their forces at the national, regional and local level in order to achieve greater unity, greater prosperity and greater economic and social cohesion.

The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities strongly believes that today’s democracy requires an important power shift from the national to regional and local level – a power shift which we are already witnessing in everyday life. Economic competition is devolving to inter-territorial level as local economy is taking on an increasing importance. Social issues – schooling, vocational training, housing, employment, health care – can also be best addressed at regional and local level, which also offers a better opportunity to foster intercultural and interreligious dialogue between ethnic communities – a priority set by the Summit of Council of Europe Heads of State and Government in Warsaw last May.

We hope that this initiative, which has received broad international support and which is coming to fruition today, will contribute a great deal to the stability of the region, many countries of which have been ravaged by wars in the not-so-distant past. We also hope that it will help them with their integration into the common European space on the basis of our shared values of pluralist democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights – including social rights.

The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, which I represent and which brings together more than 200,000 territorial communities of Europe – at both regional and local level, in its Chambers of Regions and of Local Authorities – is an appropriate platform for cooperation among the countries of the Adriatic Euroregion, much as of other European regions. Over the years, we have mounted substantial action in favour of regional and cross-border cooperation, not least through the Council of Europe Outline Convention on Transfrontier Cooperation which marked its 25th anniversary last year. We are also paying particular attention to the countries of South-East Europe, and especially the West Balkans which are participating in the Adriatic Euroregion – Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Albania. Last year, the Congress has set up the Network of Associations of Local Authorities in South-East Europe – NALAS – which brought together local authorities representing some 60 million people. Our Association of 11 Local Democracy Agencies (ALDA) was among the Congress’ first initiatives to promote local self-government and confidence-building measures in South-East Europe.

It comes therefore as no surprise that we have been actively supporting the creation of the Adriatic Euroregion, and I would like to thank in particular the Croatian Istria region and the Italian region of Molise for their contribution to this initiative. But the Congress will not stop at that. The Adriatic Euroregion is the first in a series of our projects for semi-closed seas, to be followed by the Black Sea Euroregion and the Baltic Sea Euroregion. We will continue our work in the spirit of “Unite and prosper”, overcoming the years of division on our continent and breaking up the walls which used to stand between our countries.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to conclude by referring back to ancient Rome and its conquest for new lands – because today we are embarking on a new conquest, a conquest for peace, stability and prosperity. Today, we are sending the ships of peace, not the ships of war, to the shores of our Adriatic neighbours.

Let us wish them seven feet under the keel.

Thank you.