General Assembly of the Union of Baltic Cities

Pärnu, Estonia, 27-28 September 2007

Speech by Vice President Alan Lloyd, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe

Mr Mayor,

Mr President,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear colleagues,

It is an honour for me to address the Conference of the Union of Baltic Cities on behalf of the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, and I wish to express my gratitude to all organisers and the Estonian authorities in particular for giving me this opportunity – and the opportunity to visit the beautiful seaside city of Pärnu, the summer capital of Estonia, albeit in the first week of autumn.

It is also my pleasure to speak to you today because the Union of Baltic Cities has been a long-standing active partner of the Congress with which it enjoys observer status, and I am sure that our common efforts to consolidate territorial democracy and cooperation in the Baltic Sea area will only be increased in the future.

In fact, the importance of joint activities in this region has just been stressed once again at a conference on cooperation in the Baltic Sea area and the High North, organised by the Congress on 3 July this year in Tromso, Norway. The conference participants pointed out, in particular, that cooperation in the Baltic region could serve as an example to be followed in other areas where there have previously been conflicts or tensions.

There are many fields where initiatives brought about by local and regional authorities in the Baltic area could be of great benefit to our citizens: environmental protection, transport and infrastructure, coastal management, inter-cultural exchange, as well as involving young people in transborder cooperation, to mention but a few. It is heartening to see that the themes chosen for this conference – climate change, culture as driving force for municipal development, and involvement of youth in democracy – reflect the same approach within the Union of Baltic Cities.

These themes are also priority areas for action by the Congress and its Committees on Sustainable Development and on Culture and Education. We have been actively working for quite some time on the issue of climate change and the importance of action at local and regional level in coping with it. Just two weeks ago, our Committee on Sustainable Development held a workshop on adaptation to climate change, which stressed the need for territorial authorities to evaluate their vulnerability and reinforce their capacity to adapt in order to develop strategies and preventative measures.

The role of culture for municipal development, and the question of involving young people in democratic processes have been high on the agenda of our Committee on Culture and Education. The concrete result of its work is the Revised European Charter on Youth Participation, which proposes a framework for enhancing young people’s involvement in political life at local and regional level.

Among some of the more recent initiatives of the Congress is the creation of Euro-regions of a new type, aimed at building bridges between local and regional authorities of both European Union and non-European Union countries bordering on European semi-closed seas, and to involve national authorities in their initiatives. The Adriatic Euro-region is already operational, the Black Sea Euro-region is in the pipeline, and reflection has been given to the setting up of a Euro-region in the Baltic Sea area. The Congress is actively pursuing this reflection process, which, we are sure, will receive a new impetus under the Swedish Chairmanship of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers beginning of May 2008.

Indeed, we see many possibilities for synergies between the Congress’ Euro-regions and the Baltic Sea organisations. The Congress can clearly benefit, for its future activities, from the experiences brought about by regional organisations of the northern part of Europe, while providing a platform for networking Euroregional and regional organisations, at least in the Baltic area. It goes without saying that cities, and their organisations such as the Union of Baltic Cities, have an important role to play in boosting intermunicipal cooperation within these Euro-regions.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is clear that what we are witnessing today is the growing importance of the cities against the background of the devolution of power towards territorial level, coupled with the transfer of competences and finacial means from central authorities. I could mention such a new phenomenon as City Diplomacy – the direct involvement of cities in action for peace and democracy, in developing networks such as Cities for Children, Cities for Human Rights, Cities for Peace.

This comes as no surprise because local authorities are at the forefront of facing today’s problems and challenges or dealing with their consequences, from threats to the environment or access to social rights or integration of migrants to combating trafficking in human beings or domestic violence. All these phenomena are taking place in our cities, places where our citizens live, making municipal authorities the first line of defence of people’s rights and the first line of action for their benefit.

I am sure that organisations such as the Union of Baltic Cities will take an active part in these many initiatives which I have just described and which receive full support of the Council of Europe Congress. For its part, the Congress stands ready to provide its expertise and to pool the resources of the organisations such as yours for our common action. 

 

I would like to conclude by stressing once again the need for synergies between such institutions and organisations as ours, the need to join and increase our efforts in order to succeed in making the Baltic Sea area a region of sustainable communities for our fellow Europeans.

I wish your conference every success.

Thank you.