International Conference “Efficient Local Self-Government as a Basis for Efficient Democratic State - Ten years of Ratification of the European Charter of Local Self-Government by the Russian Federation”

Moscow, 10 April 2008

Speech by Yavuz Mildon, President of the Chamber of Regions of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe

Mr President,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is in the cities of the ancient world where democracy began, at the times of city states, well before the nations were formed – when people spoke of Rome, Athens, or Muscovy, not of Italy, Greece or Russia. This comes as no surprise because it is in the cities where people dwell, and it is the word “city” which gave birth to the word “citizen”.

Today, we are witnessing the rebirth of city power. The end of the ideological confrontation in Europe, the fall of Communist regimes and the consequent enlargement of both the Council of Europe and the European Union paved the way to the creation of a truly pan-European space and, as borders continue to disappear, the devolution of power towards territorial communities. Against this background, municipalities are taking on an ever greater importance in the political, economic and social fields, as the competences and financial means are being transferred from the national to territorial level.

This creates an excellent opportunity for developing what we call today City Diplomacy, with cities concluding cooperation agreements not only with other cities or regions but even with national governments. External relations are no longer an exclusive issue of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs within national governments, with cities regaining much of the power which used to be in the remit of central authorities. Cities have an important role to play in consolidating democracy, ensuring peace and stability, and enhancing citizens’ participation in democratic processes, projecting it to the national and, eventually, international level. We see today the growing number of city twinnings and networks – Cities for Peace, Cities for Human Rights, the Municipal Alliance for Peace, the recently created European Network “Cities for Children”, or the Cities for Local Integration Policies, CLIP, launched in September 2006 with the support of the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities which I represent as President of the Chamber of Regions.

The possibility for such inter-municipal cooperation in Council of Europe member states is featured prominently in Article 10.1 of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, whose ratification by Russia ten years ago is the occasion for this conference. Over the recent years, the institutional and economic scope of such co-operation has expanded considerably for many local authorities caused by the vitality of modern societies, their drive to efficiency and through globalisation itself. Other factors accounting for the significant growth of inter-municipal co-operation include the problem of the small size of municipalities, the increasingly complex and costly services to be provided by municipalities, inadequate financial resources and the lack of sufficiently qualified staff. I know that you are well familiar with these problems in the Russian Federation as well, especially in the light of the recent municipal reform which led to the creation of 12,000 new municipalities.

At the same time, inter-municipal co-operation is increasingly relevant to assessments of the effectiveness of local and regional authorities. Inter-municipal co-operation may be described as the right of local authorities, in exercising their powers, to co-operate as part of specific structures and to form consortia with other local authorities in order to carry out tasks of common interest. In this regard, Article 10.1 of the Self-Government Charter deals explicitly with co-operation between local authorities and their right to form consortia with a view to “seeking greater efficiency through joint projects or carrying out tasks which are beyond the capacity of a single authority”. In addition, Article 10.3 of the Charter addresses the issue of transfrontier co-operation between local and regional communities. This is also the subject of a specific Council of Europe Convention, the European Outline Convention on Transfrontier Co-operation between Territorial Communities or Authorities, known as the 1980 Madrid Convention.

In 2007, the Congress examined a report on the institutional framework for inter-municipal cooperation and adopted a recommendation to national governments. The Congress considered that the development of inter-municipal co-operation was essential given the numerous challenges facing local authorities. Among these challenges is the need for modern societies to be efficient in the context of decentralisation and globalisation, in order to meet growing and increasingly complex social demands of a more mobile and sometimes unduly fragmented population (big cities, small size of municipalities, municipal fragmentation, highly scattered rural population, etc.).

The Congress was also of the opinion that inter-municipal co-operation has significant advantages in comparison with the merging of municipalities and the privatisation of public services. Mergers sometimes run counter to the traditions of the local population, and the privatisation of public services is not sufficient to compensate for the lack of public bodies responsible for managing and taking decisions on municipal affairs. Furthermore, inter-municipal co-operation is all the more desirable in countries where regionalisation is less developed.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Inter-municipal co-operation may take a wide variety of forms in Europe. It may be freely chosen by local authorities or imposed. It may be provided for by law or by other means (for example, by contract). It may entail setting up a public-law or private-law legal entity or a new local authority, which may or may not be subject to the provisions of the European Charter of Local Self-Government. Last but not least, it may be governed by very general or, on the contrary, highly specific, binding provisions.

This diversity is not in itself a disadvantage either in the day-to-day performance of decentralised authorities and their inter-municipal co-operation bodies or for the purposes of transfrontier co-operation between local authorities and their inter-municipal co-operation bodies. However, in some cases recourse to inter-municipal co-operation can be seen to lead to a democratic deficit, particularly because the public is not consulted when inter-municipal co-operation bodies are set up, or because the members of the councils and boards of such bodies are not elected by the citizens. Sometimes the purpose of inter-municipal co-operation can also be distorted so as to enable locally elected representatives to shirk their political responsibilities. This is sometimes the case when  by delegating the provision of public services is delegated to inter-municipal bodies that are distant or lack transparency and are not attached exclusively to any particular municipality.

In the light of the above, we in the Congress are calling upon Council of Europe member states to establish a sufficiently specific, predictable and accessible legal framework for the practice and development of international co-operation. Central authorities should make local elected representatives aware of the advantages of inter-municipal co-operation and provide them with necessary training. We also call for  enhancing the role of the local population when setting up or closing down inter-municipal co-operation mechanisms and bodies, taking partnerships and the locality into consideration, in order to preserve the cultural and landscape diversity of Europe, in particular in rural areas.

Furthermore, specific measures should be adopted to ensure that the population concerned is effectively involved in matters for which public or private inter-municipal bodies are responsible. There should also be a guarantee that representation of minority groups in local assemblies is reflected in the structures of inter-municipal co-operation. On the other hand, a municipality should be required to join a specific co-operation body only for objective reasons of supra-municipal interest, duly specified by law, and after consulting other municipalities concerned.

At the same time, local authorities in Council of Europe member states should take specific measures to encourage the development of an appropriate legal framework and the use of existing inter-municipal co-operation opportunities. They should ensure that local populations are involved when special inter-municipal co-operation mechanisms and bodies are set up or closed down, as well as in matters for which public or private inter-municipal bodies are responsible.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The question of inter-municipal cooperation is especially important for Russia, the vast federal state with the huge number of municipalities. The steps that have been taken so far in this regard are encouraging for us in the Congress, and we look forward to further measures and legislation aimed at setting up the legal and institutional framework of which I have just spoken. For our part, the Congress stands ready to provide advice, expertise, training and other possible assistance to make it a reality.

Thank you.