Ukrainian Municipal Hearings

Kyiv, 18 December 2007

Speech by Congress Vice-President Emin Yeritsyan

Mr Chairman,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The European Charter of Local Self-Government, adopted by the Council of Europe in 1985, was a major breakthrough for local democracy on our continent. Today, more than 20 years later, it continues to inspire similar developments worldwide. The Charter has recently served as a reference text for the UN Guidelines on Decentralisation, adopted by the UN HABITAT Governing Council in April this year. Only last week, Ian Micallef, President of the Chamber of Local Authorities, represented the Congress at a meeting of the Advisory Group of Experts on Decentralisation in New Delhi, India, which discussed the implementation of the Guidelines. The discussions included many references to the European Charter as a model for a World Charter of Local Self-Government.

The Charter remains the main legal framework in the field of local self-government and a cornerstone treaty for the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, which I represent today. It is thanks to the Charter that the Congress, which is responsible for monitoring its implementation, is a unique body in the European political architecture, tasked with watching over the state and development of local democracy on our continent.

As you know, the Charter lays down common European standards for protecting and developing local authorities’ rights and freedoms. It requires states to provide guarantees for the respect and independence of local self-government, and to comply with a number of conditions, principles and practices in this area. To date it has been ratified by 43 of the 47 Council of Europe member states.

However, today we are very much aware that we need to go further in expanding the legal framework for local democracy. This is why today we in the Congress have prepared an additional protocol to the Charter. At the Congress’ request, its Institutional Committee has drafted a protocol with the aim of strengthening the Self-Government Charter in the light of the experiences of the Congress in its activities with the monitoring of local democracy.

The Additional Protocol covers issues related to local authority property, local finances, relations between different levels of government, and the internal organization of local authorities. Allow me to say a few words about each of them.

· Local authority property

The right to property is not expressly protected by the European Charter of Local Self-Government in its current form. The protocol will protect the right to acquire, use, exploit and freely dispose of municipal property, which is becoming an increasingly important matter if the efficient functioning of local self-government is to be assured.

· Local finances

The issue of local finances refers in particular to the necessity of adequate, sufficient and developable resources available to local authorities, the principle of connectivity, burden-sharing, endowment and subventions as well as to exceptional budgetary restrictions. The Protocol deals in particular with general and specific grants and the question of what the Americans call the “unfunded mandate”, meaning the restrictions and responsibilities transferred to local authorities without sufficient financial compensation, or indeed without any compensation at all.

· Relations between different levels of government

This subject encompasses two separate issues: provisions concerning forms of participation by local authorities in decisions by higher-level authorities and provisions on the supervision and the powers of substitution that can be exercised in regard to local authorities. Here we are talking in particular about the involvement of local authorities in decisions concerning them, as well as the power of substitution in cases where a local authority is failing in its duty and is unable to provide its citizens with the minimum basic service.

· Internal organisation of local authorities

The issue of internal organisation refers in particular to the direct election of mayors, the responsibility of the executive before the local assembly, the competency of the local assembly and procedures for the resolution of conflicts between the executive and the local assembly.

The Protocol will allow signatory parties to choose amongst a set of paragraphs by which they would undertake to consider themselves bound, and a further set of paragraphs which can be selected “à la carte” by each party.

Last November, the Congress launched consultations on the draft text involving all actors at both local and regional level, with a debate held during its Autumn Session in Strasbourg in the Chamber of Local Authorities. We invite all of you to participate in these consultations aimed at fine-tuning the draft Additional Protocol before finalising the text and adopting it as a proposal to the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers.

We are convinced that the Additional Protocol will enrich the existing legal framework for local democracy in Europe and beyond, and will further strengthen local self-government for the benefit of our communities. This is why I am delighted to be here, at this hearing. On behalf of the Congress, I welcome this initiative of the Ukrainian authorities, and look forward to our deliberations.

Thank you.