Speech by Giovanni Di Stasi, President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, at the 23rd General Assembly of CEMR
Mr Chairman,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear friends,
It is an honour and a pleasure for me to address this Assembly today. It is an honour because your Council of European Municipalities and Regions has been a close partner of the Council of Europe Congress for quite some time, and we have developed good working relations and cooperation in many areas, to promote local democracy not only across our continent but also at the world level, working through the United Nations, involving the local authorities in the Middle East, fostering the Euro-Arab dialogue – and the Congress’ participation in the preparation of the Dubai conference on this issue is just one example.
But it is also a particular pleasure to speak to you today because I truly feel among friends here, as I look at the President of your Council, Michaël HAUPL, Mayor of Vienna, or the Mayor of Innsbruck, Hilde Zach, who is chairing the Congress’ Committee on Culture and Education, or Herwig van Staa, the Governor of Tyrol – and the Vice-President of the European Union’s Committee of the Regions – who is a former President of the Congress. We are a tight-knit company, indeed, and I wish to use this occasion to express my gratitude for the teamwork in which all of us participate.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This Conference has been another proof of the increasing role of territorial governance in a new European landscape – the landscape shaped following the fall of Communist regimes and the unification of Europe on the basis of the shared values of pluralist democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law. This process, which also gave a boost to the European integration, presented a historic chance for the decentralisation of power towards the territorial level. It is no accident that the Council of Europe Congress of which I am the President brings together today representatives of more than 200,000 territorial communities of our continent, serving as a genuine pan-European platform for cooperation and joint action not limited to the European Union alone but for the benefit of all 800 million Europeans living in 46 Council of Europe member states.
This shift in the national/local balance, which we are witnessing today, creates new challenges and new opportunities, increasing the institutional role of such bodies as, for example, the Council of Europe Congress and the European Union’s Committee of the Regions, in close partnership with such associations as your Council. Taking upon ourselves new responsibilities is, of course, a big challenge. However, it is also a great opportunity for us to improve the quality of governance and public services delivered at the level closest to the citizen, which has been one of the main themes of this conference.
So, how shall we go about to achieve this improved delivery of good governance and public services? In our changing and increasingly knowledge-based society of today, we definitely must develop innovative strategies and novatrice approaches responding to the new demands. We in the Congress have recently launched a number of activities to put together such a strategy and advance the European process. I could mention the creation of Euro-regions of a new generation, bringing together national, regional and local authorities from both EU and non-EU member countries. The first such regions, the Adriatic Euro-region, was launched in February this year. The Congress is working now on establishing the Black Sea Euro-region, and the Baltic Sea Euro-region is in the pipeline.
Another initiative which is gaining wide support is the proposal to create a Council of Europe Centre on inter-regional and transborder cooperation, to be located in St Petersburg. The objective of this Centre will be to achieve greater political, economic and social cohesion among European regions, to build cooperation links and foster cultural exchanges.
We are pleased to say that these efforts of our Congress, and its role in the European process today, have been recognised by the Warsaw Summit of Council of Europe Heads of State and Government in May last year and, more recently, by Prime Minister of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Juncker in his report on relations between the European Union and the Council of Europe. On these and other initiatives, the Congress and the Committee of the Regions will work together as we confirmed this morning during the meeting I had with President Michel Delebarre.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Of course, while promoting new ideas and introducing changes, we must be clear about our unchanging political goals of building a society of democracy. More than 2,500 years ago, during the Athenian Golden Age, Pericles, looking at the Acropolis, said: “They will say of us that we have created the most beautiful and happiest of the cities.” A happy and prosperous society is our main goal, and democracy is the only way of achieving it.
Dear friends,
We have many challenges ahead of us. Let us turn them into great opportunities. To turn the challenges into opportunities will be possible if we are ready to meet our responsibilities. This refers to delivering good governance in our municipalities and regions. We have to be aware of the fact that European citizenship can be implemented only if territorial authorities are able to deliver high quality services and to promote cultural, social and economic development at territorial level, through appropriate political leadership. On the other hand, cooperation through twinnings, Euroregions, the European Centre of St-Petersburg can really help to abolish dividing lines within the European space. We can do something that is very difficult for representatives of national level: uniting through cooperation all the territories belonging to the European continent. In this way, we do not only take part in the implementation of the current European strategies, but we also propose an additional instrument for the creation of a large and strong Europe covering the entire continent. A Europe based on values such as democracy, human right, solidarity and tolerance will be best place to work in favor of the “millennium goals” together with local and regional authorities.
Thank you.