Conference on the role of territorial communities in ''Tourism, international relations and peace initiatives''

Eilat, Israel, 30 January 2007

“The role of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in peace initiatives”

Speech by Ian Micallef, President of the Congress Chamber of Local Authorities

Mr Chairman,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It was Martin Luther King Junior who once said: “Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.”

It took Europeans centuries of wars, strife and division, culminating in the horrors of the Second World War, to realise this truth. There can be no lasting peace without a genuine culture of peace permeating all levels of society – a culture based on tolerance for each other’s differences, acceptance of diversity, and respect for another person’s opinion. Without it, the only thing we can achieve is a truce, an armistice, a pause before a new conflict which is more often than not used to regroup and rebuild the forces.

Burnt by the war, burned by the Holocaust, we in Europe have become aware – finally – that the only way to peace is peace itself. Peace IS the way – and much like love, peace is unconditional. But this, of course, must go both ways, must go all ways, for everybody involved in a tension.

The culture of peace, embedded in the philosophy of “Never Again” born out of the ashes of the Second World War, replaced the old philosophy encapsulated in the adage of ancient Romans: [“Si vic pacem, para bellum”] “If you want peace, prepare for war.” This new culture made it possible to put an end to all “hot” conflicts on our continent, and, at least in Western Europe, to live in peace for more than 60 years.

The Council of Europe, which I represent today as President of the Local Authorities’ Chamber of the Council of Europe Congress, has been toiling since its creation in 1949 to foster peace and security by promoting and consolidating the core values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Of course, we still have many challenges in front of us. But, having secured, to a large extent, democratic and peaceful development on our continent, we see it as our task and duty to share our experience and spread the culture of peace beyond Europe, first and foremost to our immediate neighbours on the southern rim of the Mediterranean, including the Middle East.

As I said at the outset, peace is only effective when it begins at the grassroots level, at the level of territorial communities, both local and regional, at the level of every individual, every family. Violence, this adversary of peace, starts in our houses and on our streets, in our cities and villages.

Yesterday’s terrorist attack here, in Eilat, proved it once again. This cowardly act, which happened at the very place where we are holding this conference on peace and international relations, the place which has been seen for a long time as a safe haven, deserves nothing but condemnation and will lead to nothing but escalation of violence if Israel decides to respond – the escalation that must be prevented at all costs, or the horror of yesterday in Eilat will become tomorrow the nightmare for all, because violence begets violence.

Yesterday’s attack reminded all of us of the burning need to break this cycle of violence. It reminded us that peace is the cause of people of good will. We cannot let peace be held hostage by extremists of all kinds – we must distance this cause from criminals, starting from the grassroots level.

Here is where the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe comes into play, as it provides a perfect forum for truly pan-European cooperation and exchange of ideas between representatives of more than 200,000 territorial communities from 46 European countries.

The Congress has been associated with many peace initiatives put forward by local authorities and their networks, such as, for example, the Municipalities for Peace in the Middle East (MAP) or the Network for Decentralised Cooperation in the Middle East. Both the Union of Local Authorities in Israel (ULAI) and the Association of Palestinian Local Authorities (APLA) have observer status with the Congress, making it possible to develop tripartite cooperation for the sake of peace.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We in the Congress see local authorities as having an important role to play in spreading the values which constitute the culture of peace at the level closest to the citizen, not least through exchanges between our citizens. This is why the Congress has been actively promoting cross-border cooperation at local and regional level, and strengthening local and regional self-government to ensure the delivery of high-quality public services, which very often helps to air frustration and defuse potential conflicts. The need to delegate responsibilities for public services, accompanied by the transfer of financial means, to the level closest to the individual – known as the principle of subsidiarity – was enshrined in the European Charter of Local Self-Government, this cornerstone treaty adopted in 1985. This principle was also included in the draft Constitutional Treaty of the European Union.

Let me tell you some more about the current axes of the Congress activities. The Congress is actively involved in creating national associations of local authorities to ensure the good functioning of local democracy, with a particular focus on South-East Europe, where we helped to set up the Network of Associations of Local Authorities (NALAS) and in South Caucasus, where our action has brought to fruition the project of creating the National Association of Local Authorities in Georgia (NALAG) and where we continue similar work in Azerbaijan. In the fact that these two European regions recently troubled by conflicts are now at peace we see our contribution as well.

Indeed, our first reaction to the end of wars in the Balkans was the establishment of Local Democracy Agencies (LDAs) in countries ravaged by conflicts, to build up, through concrete projects, local democracy and to promote confidence-building measures between communities which have been fighting with one another in the recent past. Over the years, these Agencies evolved into the Association of Local Democracy Agencies (ALDA), which is supported by the Congress and which has now expanded its activities to South Caucasus, with the opening of an Agency in Kutaisi, Georgia, in September last year.

Apart from its activities to ensure the development of territorial democracy across our continent, through its monitoring reports on the state of local and regional democracy and through election observation, the Congress seeks to reinforce transfrontier and interregional cooperation, by setting up Euroregions of a new generation (the Adriatic, Black and Baltic Sea Euroregions) which will bring together national, regional and local authorities from both EU and non-EU countries. The Adriatic Euroregion has already become operational last year, with the signing of its Statute and the creation of the Adriatic Council of Europe, its main governing body. The Black Sea and Baltic Sea Euroregions will follow suit. We are convinced that they will serve as new models for boosting cooperation between territorial communities, and will inspire similar action across the Mediterranean. In the same vein, we are currently working on setting up a Centre for interregional and transfrontier cooperation, to be based in St Petersburg, which will build links between regional and local authorities in Europe and beyond.

The Congress has also been increasing its participation in the Council of Europe’s North-South Centre for Global Interdependence and Solidarity, whose objective is to promote cooperation and mutual understanding between European countries and those to the South of Europe, and whose functioning is based on the system of quadrilogue, bringing together representatives of national governments, parliamentarians, local and regional authorities, and NGOs.

Another important area of the Congress activities is action to foster interreligious and intercultural dialogue, which takes on a particular importance in the Middle East. One sure way of developing the peace culture is by getting to know one another. Fear of the unknown Other is similar to the fear of the unknown itself. By developing transfrontier cooperation, we provide an excellent framework for exchanges between people, including, of course, through tourism. Cultural tourism, which is so spread in the Middle East, is a very important factor in instilling the culture of peace, as people of different origins and ethnic groups learn about each other and get to understand one another.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This year we are celebrating fifty years of local democracy in Europe. The European Conference of Local Authorities, established by the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, held its first session in January 1957. Since then, territorial democracy has been constantly on the rise on our continent. The fall of Communist regimes paved the way for pan-European unification, bringing under one roof 46 European democracies. As the European integration process goes forward and the administrative borders are disappearing, we are witnessing a shift of power from national to interterritorial level in political, economic and social fields. With this shift in the national/local balance, the role of the Congress is also increasing, opening new opportunities for its action in favour of local and regional democracy.

We would like to share our experience with you, our neighbours, to inspire you for similar action to ensure that local democracy, without which there is no democracy at all, is thriving on the southern rim of the Mediterranean, for the benefit of our citizens and for the sake of peace. We have already mounted some joint activities – for example, last autumn the Congress organised a round table on how European cities can help the peace process in the Middle East. But we must go further, and this is why I appreciate so much to be able to address this conference, which I wish every success.

Let us go further bearing in mind the words of Martin Luthr King Junior with which I began this speech – that peace is not only a goal, but also a means. It is with this spirit that peace will be won.

Thank you.