8 December 2005

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

Dear Minister Blaga, Secretaries of State, dear members of this panel, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen:

It is a pleasure and an honour for me to address you today on the occasion of this 6^th Forum of Cities and Regions of South-East Europe. I am very pleased to share my thoughts with you on the role and action of the Congress in South-East Europe. We are here at the invitation of the Prahova County Council and I want to thank them, especially Ms Ludmila Sfirloaga, Vice-president of the Congress, for their invitation to hold this Forum here in such a beautiful place as Sinaia. We also appreciate that this Forum is considered as one of the major events of the beginning of the Romanian chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers. I would like to pay tribute to our Romanian hosts for the enormous efforts they have made in order to make this dream possible: bringing together major players of local and regional democracy in South-East Europe, taking stock of the past achievements and reflecting upon future steps to be taken.

Very often I am asked by journalists: “What is the Congress for, and what are its achievements?” When I see so many elected representatives of South-East Europe, experts and NGOs with their sponsors gathered in this splendid building I think to myself that our action is fruitful and in direct line with Council of Europe priorities and Congress objectives: to promote co-operation between local and regional authorities and work in close co-operation with the associations of local and regional authorities.

This is also in line with the decisions of the Warsaw summit of the Council of Europe heads of State and Government that have created the European Forum for the Future of Democracy;

We are particularly pleased that this Forum is taking place in Romania, a country which will soon be a new member of the European Union. Taking into account its geographical position, we are convinced that Romania will become a new bridge between South-East Europe, the countries of the Black Sea and the European Union. Since one of the major objectives of the Council of Europe and of our Congress is to avoid the creation of new dividing lines, we fully support this new role of Romania within the European space.

Ladies and gentlemen, those of you who have attended the previous Forums, you will know that we dealt with most of the major concerns of local and regional authorities in South-East Europe, such as the effects of the economic situation, the future prospects for development of sustainable tourism, the fight against corruption at local level, the problems of refugees and displaced persons, and so on. I am convinced that there will be no future for democracy without economic development. The programme of the next two days is mainly devoted to the necessary reform of public administration, in particular at local and regional level. Our objective is to promote the professionalism of both civil servants and elected representatives at local and regional level. In the same spirit, our aim is to ensure that local authorities are able to resist attempts at corruption linked to the process of transition. In this respect, the Congress is proud to have fixed the major guidelines in this field in the “European Code of Conduct for Local and Regional elected representatives”.

The present Forum will also be considering other important topics: the development of the associations of local authorities and the future of the Network of National Associations of Local Authorities of South East Europe (NALAS), the development of participation of citizens at local and regional level in the framework of the 2005 campaign “Year of citizenship through education”. We will also discuss the role of local authorities in the process of co-existence of different minorities and finally, the most recent initiatives of co-operation between local and regional authorities of South-East Europe. I am pleased to be able to welcome all the speakers, who are too numerous to name, and to thank them for agreeing to contribute to our debates over the next two days.

Ladies and gentlemen, the situation of local and regional authorities in South-East Europe is dependent on the political framework which is derived from the last wars and crises in the area. As you know, one of the major activities of the Congress is to prepare country-by-country reports on the situation of local and regional democracy in all member states and ensure that the principles of the European Charter of Local Self-government are implemented. We are preparing a new report on local and regional democracy in Bosnia Herzegovina and we shall, of course, take due account of the planned constitutional reforms. We hope that these reforms will reinforce the unity of the whole country whilst developing local democracy. In addition, we continue to follow, on the basis of the Ohrid agreement, the process of decentralisation in the “former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”. After my discussions with the minister responsible for local authorities and the association of local authorities, we can only hope that this process will contribute to the stability in this country. The Congress should like to encourage the authorities of this country to continue on this path.

Concerning Kosovo, I feel that we can all welcome the United Nations’ initiative to begin discussions at the highest and appropriate level. We expect that these talks will lead to a peaceful solution acceptable for all parties concerned and respecting human rights for all.

Ladies and gentlemen, each previous Forum has lead to pragmatic conclusions among which the most successful was the creation of the NALAS network. During the last one in Budva, I made a plea to develop the Adriatic-Euro region. I’ll give you information on the future developments tomorrow in this respect. In the meantime, the project of the Black Sea – Euro region has been launched and is officially supported by the Romanian authorities. I can assure you that the Congress will give its full support to the preparation of this project; in particular by a first conference to be held this spring in Constanza. The speech just delivered by Secretary of State Niculescu is encouraging in this respect.

I should like to inform you that our Congress is now promoting the creation of a centre to develop the co-operation between regions in Europe with the support of the Russian Federation. I am very pleased to learn that the Romanian chairmanship is supporting such an initiative. Actually, I feel that the regions in Europe have moved from observer to actor status and that they should contribute to re-establish the confidence of citizens in the European institutions and better explain what European co-operation is and what it does. This Center would enable regions to cooperate better also in the important field of economic development; regardless whether they belong to EU or non EU countries.
I would also create a closer link between the Russian Federation and the other member states of the Council of Europe.

We are sure we can count on the Romanian government and parliament to reinforce local and regional powers in Romania. Minister Blaga has been very clear on this issue. Secretary of State Niculescu has recalled the positive attitude of the Romanian Chairmanship of the Council of Europe in order to reinforce co-operation and to establish the Black Sea Euro-region. While the European processes have problems, regions and municipalities have to take their responsibilities and to act as a watchdog for the development of territorial democratic strategies for economic cohesion, co-operation and innovation.

Let me conclude by saying that local and regional authorities have a key role to play in the development of stability and sustainable democracy in this part of Europe which has suffered so much in the past. But I am also convinced that local and regional authorities must contribute to creating an environment which is favourable to economic development and innovation.