Workshop on actual development issues of local self-government in Europe

Brussels, 7 October 2008

Speech by Ulrich Bohner, Secretary General of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Council of Europe

Mr Chairman,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a pleasure and an honour for me to address this workshop today as Secretary General of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. It is my pleasure because I see many participants who are already familiar with our work in the field of local self-government, and even some who are actually directly involved in this work. I am certainly pleased to have this opportunity to exchange opinions with you.

It is also a great honour because the Congress which I represent has been indeed at the source of our efforts to promote, consolidate and reinforce local democracy across the European continent. The spectacular advance of local and regional democracy across Europe, which is a landmark of contemporary European societies, has been achieved through our championing this cause for more than 50 years.

This march of territorial democracy was started, I would say, with the first session of the European Conference of Local Authorities in January 1957; it received a further boost when regional dimension was added to the Conference’s activities, making it Conference of Local and Regional Authorities; it was then codified into a legal treaty, the European Charter of Local Self-Government, in 1985 which, in turn, led to the creation of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in 1994, replacing the Conference.

I would like to underline that the Congress is the only European body charged with monitoring the implementation of the Local Self-Government Charter and thus the development of territorial democracy. It is by this virtue that we carry out country-by-country monitoring exercises to assess situations at local and regional level, fact-finding missions to look into cases of potential violations of the Charter, and observation of local and regional elections to see the Charter’s practical application to the electoral process.

Over the years, the Congress has gained considerable experience and knowledge of various models of local and regional self-government, various methods and practices of the Charter’s implementation, and various tools for improving local democracy. As a body representative of more than 200,000 territorial communities of Europe, the Congress offers a unique pan-European platform for cooperation and sharing this experience, a forum for an exchange of new approaches and best practices, and a framework for coordinating our action for the benefit of communities. I should add that Congress’ recommendations, and its legal expertise of national legislation on local self-government, helped many Council of Europe member states with their legal reforms in this domain.

But let me come back to the European Charter of Local Self-Government, which has become truly the cornerstone for local democracy in Europe and an integral part of national good governance. Its entry into force twenty years ago, on 1 September 1988, heralded a new stage of democratic development on our continent, leading to a democracy which is more citizen-oriented, more participatory and therefore more effective.

First and foremost, the Charter recognises local self-government as a right of communities to manage their own affairs through freely elected bodies, the right that should be enshrined in the Constitution. The Charter reaffirmed that it is at local level that the right of citizens to participate in the conduct of public affairs can be exercised most directly, and laid down, for the first time in history, the principle of subsidiarity – that the responsibility for public services should be transferred to the level where they can be delivered most efficiently, the level closest to the citizen.

The Charter also stipulated that local authorities should have their own administrative structures and their own finances matching their competences, and that local elected representatives should exercise their duties without interference from any other authority, national or regional.

But beyond the recognition of the need for decentralisation, the Charter represented an evolution of our understanding of democracy, reflecting the conviction that local democracy was a constituent element of democracy itself, not just a tribute paid to the growing power of local authorities. This new understanding acknowledged that the devolution of power towards local communities would release their potential and stir up action involving numerous players at all levels of governance, which would make it possible to take up the great challenges of today. Today, local authorities have become the first line of response to the issues of concern to our societies – be it biodiversity, cohesion within and between communities, climate change and sustainable consumption, intercultural dialogue, or urban environment.

Of course, the rights recognised in the Charter apply first and foremost to local authorities. However, the Charter also stipulates that they may also apply to regional authorities where such authorities exist. As our view of a democratic society continues to evolve, our eyes are increasingly turning to regional democracy.

Regions have been clearly on the rise in Europe for some time now, and regionalisation has been high on the political agenda of the Congress, reflecting the growing power and importance of regions in many Council of Europe member states and the strengthening of regional democracy on our continent. Indeed, many national parliaments today have regional representation in the second chamber; a growing number of countries have regions with legislative power; still others are in the process of developing regional structures.

This is why we in the Congress strongly believe that the Charter of Local Self-Government must be supplemented by a similar treaty for the regional tier of government. Our work in this area resulted in the European Charter of Regional Democracy, adopted at the Congress’ plenary session in May this year. Apart from being the first legal text laying down the tenets of regional democracy, the Charter reaffirms respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity as one of its main principles, and offers a variety of models for regional autonomy, which could also be used in settling territorial disputes. We are convinced that flexible models of regional autonomy constitute a sound alternative to conflict, and I could use as an example the status of Gagauzia in the Republic of Moldova, which the Congress helped to negotiate. But first and foremost, the new Charter will serve to preserve and enhance regional identity and development in the political, economic, social and cultural spheres.

I should add that during its Autumn Session this year, on 2 December, the Congress will hold a debate on the consequences of the conflict in South Caucasus for local authorities and communities, which will also be an opportunity to address the issue of how a special or autonomous status can contribute to a comprehensive solution for territories which are subject of conflict.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The importance of local and regional democracy, and self-government, as the foundation of any democratic system has been recognised by all stakeholders in the democratic process. It is at the level of our communities, in our cities and in our regions, where the concerns of our citizens are responded most directly, and the results of our political action are most tangible. As I have said at the outset, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities has been ensuring the Charter’s implementation since its entry into force. We have been engaging in our monitoring exercises, on the one hand, the Group of national independent experts for the legal backing of the Charter’s use and, on the other hand, national and European associations of local and regional authorities, using them as an “early warning system” in their respective countries.

We are also playing particular attention to the application of the principle of subsidiarity, laid down, for the first time in history, by the Charter in its Article 4, paragraph 3, which reads: “Public responsi­bilities shall generally be exercised, in preference, by those authorities which are closest to the citizen. Allocation of responsibility to another authority should weigh up the extent and nature of the task and requirements of efficiency and economy.” Today, this principle has also been firmly recognised by the European Union, and became an important point on the political agenda of its Committee of the Regions, and thus another area for cooperation between the Congress and the Committee, our partner within the EU.

We will now be taking our action further. The Congress is currently revising its procedure to ensure compliance by member states with its recommendations – in other words, the follow-up involving exchanges of views with government officials and the feedback from national associations. We will also continue to insist that the Charter of Local Self-Government be integrated into national legal systems, and that member states withdraw their reservations on the application of the Charter, which they made under Article 12 when ratifying it. Last but not least, we are calling on the remaining three countries that are not party to the Charter – Andorra, Monaco and San Marino – to ratify it, making the Charter’s ratification universal within the Council of Europe.

In this regard, we are pleased that last month, in September, Montenegro responded to the appeal made by Ian Micallef, President of the Chamber of Local Authorities of the Congress, by becoming the 44^th country which ratified the Charter. Montenegro joined the club – if I may say so – of some long-standing important members, such as Russia, which ratified the Charter ten years ago, long before even some founding countries such as France, which did so in January 2007. In April this year, I had the pleasure of participating in a conference in Moscow to mark the tenth anniversary of the Charter’s ratification by the Russian Federation.

I should also add that beyond Europe, the Charter was taken up by the United Nations and inspired “decentralisation guidelines worldwide”, adopted by the UN-Habitat in 2007. Thus, through the Expert Group on the implementation of the guidelines, the Congress is cooperating with the UN in promoting decentralisation and local self-government on the global scale as well.  

To sum up, these are the tasks on our agenda as we reaffirm our commitment to building a Europe of territorial communities, a Europe which enables citizens to take control of their destiny in the cities and regions that they inhabit. In other words, as the Declaration adopted by the Warsaw Summit of Council of Europe Heads of State and Government put it, a Europe of sustainable communities where people want to live and work.

This is the future of European democracy.

Thank you.