Autumn Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe
Speech by Armen Gevorgyan, Vice Prime Minister, Territorial Administration Minister of the Republic of Armenia
2 December 2008
Distinguished President;
Dear Congress Members;
Ladies and Gentlemen;
Allow me to start off by expressing my profound gratitude for the invitation to take part in this session of the Congress. I would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude for the continuing fruitful cooperation with the Council of Europe.
The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe has been our partner all along.
The Armenian government has always attached great importance to local election observation reports and the Congress reports on local democracy. They are regularly consulted in the local democracy strengthening policy-making process in Armenia.
Armenia’s 12-year old system of local self-government already enjoys a sound legislative framework, clear development priorities, and effective institutions that can safeguard the democratic development of the system. The Armenian Constitution separates local self-government from state government bodies, guaranteeing the autonomy of the former.
Local self-government bodies, which include the community mayor and the council, are elected for a four-year term through free, confidential, equal, direct, and universal ballot.
The Communities Association of Armenia has been active since 1997, representing and upholding the interests of local self-government bodies. I believe you would agree that the Association properly represents Armenia’s local self-government system and successfully cooperates with the Congress.
Through partnership and active collaboration with the Association, the Armenian government has been able to consider the opinion of local authorities in the decision-making process.
The Armenian President and Government are currently focused on the following main issues: further decentralization of power, improving access to financial resources, enhancing the governance powers and capacity of local self-government bodies (community mayors and councils), and further harmonizing our laws with the principles enshrined in the European Charter of Local Self-Government.
We realize that neither decentralization nor the implementation of the fundamental principles of local self-government can be achieved overnight through “quick fixes” in legislation. It takes persistence, political will, and time, as the local self-government system has cultural and traditional elements, as well.
In 2005, the Armenian Constitution was amended. The amendments concerning local self-government reflect the outcome of our discussions with experts of the Council of Europe.
The term of local self-government bodies was extended to four years; in 2008, they were already elected for the longer term. The procedure for state government bodies to dismiss elected community mayors was revised: the opinion of the Constitutional Court is now required. By December 2009, there will be an election of local self-government bodies in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.
659 community mayors and 765 councilors were elected in a total of 822 communities during 2008. In spite of some remaining deficiencies in the organization and conduct of elections, as reported also by the Congress observation mission, we believe that these elections were better organized and drew a larger number of active citizens than in the past.
In the area of financial decentralization, the property and land tax collection administration and database management functions were transferred to the communities.
We plan to adopt a new approach whereby communities will have the power to introduce other local taxes, should they so wish, in addition to collecting mandatory taxes.
The categories and rates of “voluntary” taxes will be defined by law. The specific types of taxes (except for mandatory taxes) and their rates will be determined by the local self-government bodies.
To strengthen local tax administration, we plan to give local self-government bodies the power, in tax evasion cases, to initiate court proceedings and, when needed, to initiate a property assessment and submit the results to the competent state authorities.
Starting from 2010, a number of additional factors reflecting the differences between communities will be applied to determine the community subsidies, which will improve the targeting of the “equalization” subsidies.
The adoption of a Law on Municipal Service improved the framework for continuing professional training of local self-government servants, as well as the terms of their remuneration and promotion. The Armenian Government has earmarked funding for the first set of training courses for municipal servants.
Effective enforcement of a code of conduct in public administration is high on the agenda for the Republic of Armenia. In cooperation with the Council of Europe, the Armenian legislation was analyzed against the model initiatives package for public ethics at local level.
We plan to improve the quality of community service and the effectiveness of local self-government through the institutional regulation of community service and a national training strategy for local self-government.
We participated in the drafting of the declaration concerning regional self-government, led by the Council of Europe, and believe that regional self-government can only be achieved if an effective system of local self-government is in place. It is the only way in which the next, regional level of self-government can succeed.
Armenia greatly values the European Outline Convention on Transfrontier Cooperation as an additional possibility for establishing and intensifying regional cooperation at the horizontal level. Armenia has signed and ratified this Convention.
Our commitment and determination in this sphere is illustrated by the proposal of the Armenian Delegation to the Congress to organize a Conference on Transfrontier Cooperation in the South Caucasus.
Our vision can logically grow into a STANDING FORUM OF LOCAL AND REGIONAL AUTHORITIES OF THE SOUTH CAUCASUS under the aegis of the Council of Europe, which can become the vehicle for process continuity and dialogue.
Honorable President;
Armenia has always welcomed any constructive initiative and project of regional cooperation. There are several proposals on regional cooperation, and their implementation should be mutually reinforcing, rather than mutually exclusive. Cooperation projects can support confidence building and the settlement of conflicts.
There is now progress in the Armenia-Turkey relations. Armenia remains firm on its desire to achieve a friendly neighboring relationship with Turkey based on mutual respect, confidence, and good will.
The opening of the Armenian-Turkish border will be essential to maintaining and developing dynamic contacts between states and peoples and advancing trade and commercial relations. It is necessary to define the cooperation agenda. Regional cooperation initiatives can change the meaning and mood of reconciliation between peoples and facilitate the political dialogue.
Settlement of the Nagorniy Karabakh issue is an important foreign policy priority of Armenia. Armenia stands ready to continue the process and is committed to peaceful settlement of the issue. A constructive and unbiased approach by international organizations, especially reputable ones such as the Council of Europe, is very important here.
There is some recent progress towards settlement of the Nagorniy Karabakh conflict: the Moscow Declaration signed by the presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia on November 2 is a vital step towards settlement of the conflict. The Declaration has provisions on political settlement of the conflict, the need to go on with mediation by the Minsk Group Co-Chairs, the continuation of talks on the basis of the Madrid proposals, the importance of combining peaceful settlement with legally-binding international guarantees on all the aspects and phases of the future agreement, and the facilitation of confidence-building measures.
Armenia considers that, with this document, the commitments of the sides can reinvigorate the negotiation process.
Honorable President;
Ladies and Gentlemen;
I presented our progress towards strengthening and ensuring the effective operation of local and regional authorities in Armenia.
The Armenian government has the political will to continue supporting the development and effective functioning of the local self-government system as an essential pillar of democratization and civil society.
At this point, I would like to present some of the challenges that lie ahead of us. Indeed, we are ready and hopeful to cooperate with you along this path.
We will strive to have local self-government bodies with stronger capacity and greater accountability.
Local authorities in Armenia currently enjoy autonomy and operate independently within the scope of their legal authority and responsibility.
In the future, it will be crucial to further strengthen the capacity of local self-government bodies, whilst enhancing their accountability to achieve high-quality public services.
To this end, it is very important to establish the required institutional and financial safeguards for the council, the representative body of the community, to perform its work to the fullest. Through legislative reforms, we should facilitate the strengthening of the community councils, making their activities more transparent and public. Moreover, we will provide adequate safeguards for collaboration, as well as effective checks and balances, between the different bodies of local self-government, the council with its expanded mandate and the community mayor with a greater degree of protection.
By solving these problems, we will be able to bolster public trust in local self-government bodies and their functions.
There is already trust: the latest elections showed the growing interest and active participation of the public, political organizations, and non-governmental associations in local self-government bodies. The Government’s task is simply to promote this process further.
We will strive to unite efforts of the state and local authorities to achieve a new quality of life and improved living standards.
Our next challenge is related to disparities in regional development, despite strong economic growth. By increasing the effectiveness of local self-government bodies and pursuing a state policy of overcoming disparities in regional development, we will strive to create a new atmosphere in communities in order to improve the living standards of our population.
Here, we will need to optimize the current administrative-territorial division system on the basis of our experience to date: I am referring, in particular, to the consolidation of communities as a ways of strengthening the capacity of communities and developing a more effective system of government. At the same time, we have the ability to introduce a variety of tools for inter-community cooperation.
These challenges can be overcome through closer and more coherent collaboration between local self-government and the state, namely the territorial administration bodies, as well as the introduction of modern technologies and culture of governance.
In the collaboration between the state and communities, there should be a proportional division of responsibility. Local self-government bodies, like state bodies, need to maintain a strong focus in their activities, collecting their shares of revenues and adequately performing their functions in accordance with law.
Distinguished President;
Dear Congress Members;
Allow me once again to express our gratitude to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, as well as other structures of the Council of Europe for the constant attention and support to local democracy development in Armenia and the possibility to present to the Congress our progress to date and vision of the future.
I hope that our discussions will generate a new plan of action that will underlie our future cooperation with the Council of Europe.
Dear Colleagues;
We highly appreciate our cooperation with other European states as a common objective, and mutual understanding as a factor which, regardless of the priorities and projects of individual states, promotes in our peoples the understanding that they belong to the same community known as the European Family.
Thank you for your attention.