25^th Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe

Strasbourg, 29-31 October 2013

Communication of Herwig van Staa, President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe

Dear members of the Congress,

Dear observers and guests of the session,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear friends,

This session marks a mid-term for the Congress leadership. It is exactly one year ago that the Congress membership was renewed, and it is exactly one year since you placed your trust in me, the Presidents of the Chambers, members of the Congress Bureau and Chairs of its Committee to lead this assembly.

If I were to takes stock of this past year, I would describe it as a year of the advance of the Congress. Over these twelve months, we have firmly set this assembly on the track of a targeted, practical approach to our priorities, leading to concrete action on the ground. We are becoming less theoretical and more practical, more professional if you wish, in dealing with the problems and challenges we uncover during our monitoring, election observation and thematic activities.

First and foremost, we have further consolidated the legal basis of the Congress work – the European Charter of Local Self-Government, which entered into force 25 years ago this September. With the ratification of the Charter by San Marino last week, following its ratification by Monaco in January, all 47 member states of the Council of Europe are now party to this key convention for local democracy. During this session, we will have a special ceremony to celebrate this achievement!

Furthermore, countries that have already ratified the Charter continue to review and accept its provisions that were left non-ratified at the beginning. This brings us closer to our goal of having a 100 per cent Charter for 100 per cent of the continent, with all of the Charter provisions applied on the entire Council of Europe territory. This would complete a common legal space of uniform standards for local democracy in Europe.

On this legal basis, in addition to our political consultative work, we have re-oriented Congress activities to rest on three pillars:

-          first, to pursue our core activities and to improve procedures and effectiveness of our monitoring and election observation;

-          secondly, to develop post-monitoring and post-election observation dialogue addressing the existing problems and helping with the implementation of our recommendations;

-          and finally, when it is necessary, to develop co-operation activities based on the results of our monitoring and post-monitoring dialogue, and focused on the priorities established by this Committee and the mandate given by our member states to the Congress.

As I said during my exchange with the Committee of Ministers last month, to become more efficient, our focus today is on creating a “virtuous cycle” of monitoring – post-monitoring – co-operation activities.

In March, the Congress adopted its resolution on developing post-monitoring dialogue with member states, in order to improve the application of the European Charter of Local Self-Government through a working political partnership with national authorities. We are currently pursuing this post-monitoring dialogue with the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia and Portugal, which serves to draw up a roadmap for the implementation of Congress recommendations. In March, we also had a meeting of this kind in Baku to work on our recommendation for Azerbaijan, and I trust that we can repeat this exercise to make our recommendations more effective.

Further to post-monitoring dialogue, the Congress has pursued its co-operation activities to promote local governance and strengthen local elected representatives’ role in political decision-making. Over the past year, the Congress has systematically contributed proposals to Council of Europe Action Plans for specific countries – such as for Ukraine and Armenia as well as for Georgia, Azerbaijan and Moldova, which are being prepared. We have also launched our own co-operation programmes in Albania, Armenia and Ukraine, and we are grateful to member states – especially Denmark and Switzerland – for their voluntary contributions.  

As for thematic activities, our efforts for improving the situation of Roma have led to the launch of the European Alliance of Cities and Regions for Roma Inclusion in March this year, with 120 participating municipalities and regional entities. The Alliance has opened new perspectives of our concrete co-operation with the European Union, and an agreement was signed last September by the Council of Europe Deputy Secretary General and the European Commission for a new Joint Programme, ROMACT, to support the work of the Alliance. This Joint Programme represents a significant support for our activities in favour of Roma in Europe.

The Congress is also taking an active part in the Council of Europe’s “One in Five” Campaign, which is an excellent example of inter-institutional co-operation with the intergovernmental sector and the Parliamentary Assembly. Over the past year, we have launched a Pact of Towns and Regions to stop sexual violence against children, and an online platform to showcase good local and regional practices. I can only use this opportunity to call on you once again to sign up for the Pact and to join the Alliance for Roma Inclusion.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Congress continues to align its priority action with the rest of the Organisation, as a loyal and reliable partner that adds a political local and regional dimension to the work of the Council of Europe. 

We have broadened and deepened our political dialogue both within the Council of Europe and with external partner institutions and member states. Within the Council of Europe, I have had two exchanges of views with the Committee of Ministers over the past twelve months, and the Congress has made an active contribution to the activities of Committee of Ministers chairmanships. Our co-operation with the intergovernmental sector is also becoming stronger, as is our co-operation with the Parliamentary Assembly – which is reflected in particular in the joint declaration of the Presidents of our two assemblies, to be adopted during this session.

Outside the Council of Europe, this dialogue has been pursued through numerous meetings with political leaders, senior government officials and parliament speakers of member states over the past year, to discuss issues of common concern and possible joint action.

However, I would not be honest if I did not point out that these accomplishments have taken place against the background of a worsening budgetary situation. As you know, the Congress has also been called upon, along with other bodies of the Council of Europe, to make sacrifices in these trying economic times for member states. Our budget has been tangibly reduced as we were asked to contribute our share to the rest of the Organisation and to do more with less resources. Proportionally, the Congress has made an even bigger contribution than other entities, and the impact of these budget cuts is beginning to be seriously felt. For example, monitoring missions had to be reduced by 27 per cent this year, and election observation had to be limited to three per year, meaning that we had to decline some invitations.

Any additional cuts would endanger the work of the Congress and undermine its unique capacity to advance local and regional democracy in Europe. The Congress Bureau made it clear in its position paper submitted to the Committee of Ministers and its Rapporteur Group dealing with the budget. Nevertheless, further reduction in our budget has again been proposed for coming years, and this proposal is currently under discussion. We remain in constant dialogue with the Committee of Ministers and with the Council of Europe Secretary General to drive through the message that to succeed in our mission, we need adequate resources and a competent and sufficient secretariat working under the political authority of the Congress leadership. This is the very understanding of the European Charter of Local Self-Government. This dialogue continues, and we strongly hope that it will bear fruit.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In conclusion, I can only reiterate what I said at the last session in March: never before has there been so much recognition of the importance of local and regional democracy and grassroots action in response to these challenges, giving us a truly historic opportunity to engage in concrete action together with national governments.

Looking back on the past twelve months, I can say with confidence that we have a firm grip on this opportunity. It has been a highly productive and successful year, full of concrete results, and the Congress is increasingly becoming an institution that commands respect and interest as a co-operation partner.

Lest us make sure that this advance of the Congress continues firmly and steadily.

Thank you.