Speech by Giovanni Di Stasi, President of the Congress, at the Conference of National Associations of Local and Regional Authorities

Mr Chairman,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

First of all, I would like to welcome you to this first meeting of national associations of local and regional authorities of the 46 Council of Europe member states – the meeting, organised by the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in recognition of the very important role played by the national associations in advancing local and regional democracy across our continent.

Last May, the Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe, meeting for their Summit in Warsaw, put the main emphasis in their decisions – and in the Action Plan for our Organisation – on the need to enhance participatory democracy in Europe, acknowledging the difficulties in the process of European construction. They have decided, in particular, to set up a Forum on the Future of Democracy, to reflect upon the democratic development on our continent – as a reminder to all of us that democracy is not a status quo but a process that needs to be constantly maintained and advanced.

We all know, of course, the famous expression that all politics are local. So is democracy – our citizens gain their first democratic experience at the local level, and it is at this level where they learn about, and interact the most, with democratic structures. This is why the Congress, and I personally, strongly believe in the need of creating associations of local and regional authorities in our member states, which we see as the vehicle of developing local and regional democracy and as our partners in monitoring its situation on our continent – and even beyond, I would add, as the Congress has among its observers the Union of Local Authorities in Israel and the Association of Palestinian Local Authorities.

The Congress has always been actively promoting national associations of local and regional authorities, and today we are proud to say that they exist in most of the Council of Europe member states. Today, we are going further – creating networks of national associations, which bring together local and regional authorities of different countries. Our most recent success story is the setting up of the Network of Associations of Local Authorities in South-East Europe – NALAS, which unites authorities representing almost 60 million people of the region a big part of which was, not such a long time ago, torn by wars.

The Congress is now working on creating a similar network in South Caucasus – also a troubled region. The National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia – NALAG – is already in place, established with the help of the Joint Programme for South Caucasus of the Council of Europe and the European Commission. Two weeks ago, we had a seminar in Baku to discuss the setting up of an association of local authorities in Azerbaijan, and I am please to say that, when I visited that country last week, my interlocutors expressed their full support for creating such an association.
Another initiative of the Congress which offers a good opportunity for cooperation between associations of authorities at local and regional level is the creation of Euro-regions of a new generation, bringing together both members and non-members of the European Union. The first such region, the Adriatic Euro-region of the six Adriatic countries, was launched at a conference in Venice on 6 February. The Congress is now preparing a conference, to be held at the end of March in Constanta under the Romanian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers, to discuss the modalities for the Black Sea Euro-region – which will also include Armenia and Azerbaijan. In the similar spirit, we have also been thinking about a future Baltic Sea Euro-region, another semi-closed sea in Europe.

Our most recent endeavour, however, is aimed at establishing a Centre on inter-regional and transfrontier cooperation to foster political, economic and social cohesion between regions – but also local authorities – at pan-European level. This Centre, which may take the form of an Enlarged Partial Agreement also open for membership of the European Union, will serve to build links between countries regardless of their membership in the European Union. National – and international – associations of local and regional authorities have an important role to play in the development and activities of this Centre, which Russia offered to host in St Petersburg, and I count on your close cooperation and support in this effort. I also call on you to help us to build up support of your national governments for this Centre, the establishment of which is currently in the centre of discussions of a special Working Group of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, TRANSREG, chaired by the Permanent Representative of Norway.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As I said at the outset, the Congress regards associations of local and regional authorities as both partners in, and vehicles of, promoting local and regional democracy in Europe – but also as a kind of “watchdogs” helping us to monitor its state in your respective countries and regions, checking on the action of national governments to make sure that the principles enshrined in the European Charter of Local Self-Government are fully respected. This is why the Congress came up with the initiative of organising this conference. We would like to have your input and your reflections on how our partnership can be strengthened and developed further; we would like to hear from you what you expect from us, and to share with you our expectations.

It is my pleasure and indeed honour as President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities to open this first meeting of national associations. I look forward to your deliberations, and I wish you every success in your work.

Thank you.