Event organised by the UK delegations to the Congress and the Committee of the Regions

Liverpool (United Kingdom), 15 January 2007

Speech by Ian Micallef.

President of the Chamber of Local Authorities of the Council of Europe Congress,

Mr Chairman,

Ladies and Gentlemen

Dear colleagues,

In May 2005, the Summit of Council of Europe Heads of State and Government, held in Warsaw, entrusted Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker, in his personal capacity, with preparing a report on relations between the Council of Europe and the European Union. It was clear to everybody that there may be no rivalry or competition between these two sister institutions – one with 46 member countries, the other, now, with 27; one the precursor of the other; one a traditional international organisation, the other an institution with supranational powers – but both pursuing the same objective of building a Europe of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

It was clear that they must base their relations on complementarity, using their comparative advantages to further the process of European integration and consolidate democratic development across our continent, especially in central, eastern and South-East Europe and in South Caucasus – but also because of the debacle of the referendums on the EU Constitutional Treaty. As Giovanni di Stasi, President of the Council of Europe Congress at the time of the Summit, said addressing the Summit participants: (I quote) “At a time when globalisation and the shift of power towards far away institutions tend to widen the gap between citizens and public authorities, it is all the more important to strengthen good governance and democracy, citizen participation, at the local and regional level, the level closest to the citizens.” (end of quote)

The local and regional dimension takes a prominent place in the decisions of the Summit, which acknowledge the importance of strengthening territorial democracy in Europe for the future of its democratic development. I will elaborate on it later in greater detail.

Prime Minister Juncker presented his report to the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly at its session in April 2006. The title itself of the report reflects the need for increased cooperation and complementarity between the two institutions: “The Council of Europe and the European Union: A sole ambition for Europe”. Prime Minister Juncker took stock of the state of relations between the two, and made concrete recommendations for creating synergies between them through close institutional cooperation and joint programmes on the ground.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Europe in which we are living today is much different than it was sixty years ago. Over this period, we have achieved a tremendous democratic development on a continent ravaged by wars and strife for centuries. We have created a unique system for the protection of human rights, and embedded constantly evolving European values in law. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Communist regimes paved the way for European unification and further integration as we embraced young European democracies of the former Soviet bloc.

The Warsaw Summit, which brought together under one roof 46 democratic countries of our continent, clearly showed that we have achieved pan-European unity. Last but not least, the unification provided a historic opportunity for developing and reinforcing territorial democracy, with the acceleration of decentralisation processes, devolution of power towards local and regional level, and increasing transfrontier cooperation between communities.

However, the main challenge today is to keep the process going. We are witnessing people’s disenchantment with politicians and democratic institutions, apathy and indifference to democratic processes, which is reflected, in particular, in their falling participation in elections. Against this background, concerted action of all organisations and institutions which are part of the European political architecture is vital to restore public trust and turn Europe into a continent of participatory democracy.

This is the main thrust of Juncker’s report. He recommended a number of practical measures, in particular accession of the European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights and to Council of Europe membership, recognition of the Council of Europe as a Europe-wide reference source for human rights, establishment of a joint platform for assessment of standards and complementarity of texts, cooperation under the EU Neighbourhood Policy, and joint programmes in such fields as youth, education, culture and inter-cultural dialogue. Other recommendations included forging closer inter-parliamentary ties, and making institutional relations between senior officials of the two bodies more substantial.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Allow me now elaborate more on relations between the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and the EU Committee of the Regions, in particular in the light of Juncker’s report. The report identifies several potential areas of cooperation, for example the development of new-style “Euroregions”, covering regions in both EU and non-EU countries, on the lines of the Adriatic Euroregion, which was launched in February 2006.  The establishment of such “Euroregions” on the Black Sea and Baltic Sea, which is in the pipeline, will make for closer political and economic ties between local, regional and national authorities in EU and candidate countries, and Council of Europe countries outside the EU.

Other areas of cooperation included setting up the Centre for Inter-Regional and Cross-Border Co-operation in St Petersburg, developing new networks of local authority associations through joint EU/Council of Europe programmes in South Caucasus and Western Balkans, on the lines of the Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe (NALAS), supporting the Association of Local Democracy Agencies (ALDA), promoting intercultural and inter-religious dialogue, and taking action to improve integration and participation of immigrants and foreign residents at local and regional level.

I should add that cooperation between the Congress and the Committee of the Regions has been increasing since the signing of the Cooperation Agreement in April 2005. The same year, the Contact Group Committee of the Regions/Congress agreed on several common activities on waste management, natural disasters, local and regional democracy in Turkey, and in Cyprus, on Western Balkans, on the fight against terrorism, on access to social rights for migrants and on prevention of urban crime.

The Contact Group has been pursuing these joint activities through various commissions, including the Commission for External Relations (RELEX), the Commission for Territorial Cohesion (COTER) and the Commission for Constitutional Affairs and European Governance (CONST).

It was also agreed to include Committee members in Congress election observation missions. The first such joint delegation observed the referendum in Montenegro in May 2006.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to conclude by stressing once again the importance of local democracy, démocratie de proximité, for delivering good governance at the level closest to the citizen. Local democracy, which was born in the Agora square in Athens, is the cornerstone of the democratic edifice as a whole, and without local democracy there is no democracy at all. This is why we continue to work on strengthening local and regional self-government, and this is why I wish this event every success.

Thank you.