27^th session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe

Congress Presidency 2012-2014: activities and achievements

Communication of Herwig van Staa, outgoing President of the Congress

Activities and achievements 2012-2014

Dear colleagues,

I have had the honour of being the President of this Assembly over the past two years. Let me say how exciting and rewarding it was to guide and accompany the work and the achievements of the Congress.

I would like to thank all of you, dear colleagues, vice-presidents, presidents of committee, dear members of the Congress, for your good co-operation, support and contribution during this mandate and I wish the next presidency much success. I would also like to thank the Congress Secretariat and especially its Secretary General, for their commitment and professionalism.

When I took over the presidency two years ago, I was firmly determined to consolidate and expand further the Congress’ operational capacity as well as its statutory role. I was convinced of the necessity to pursue its reform which I see as a permanent process.

This was the spirit of the priorities we adopted in October 2012 for 2013-2016: They were intended to ensure maximum contribution to the Council of Europe’s core objectives of promoting democracy, human rights and the rule of law. I built on the work of my predecessors to perpetuate and further develop the Congress as a reliable and operational partner to enhance the local and regional dimension of the Council of Europe work.

The core mission of the Congress is the effective monitoring of the situation of local and regional democracy in member states by assessing the application of this unique treaty that is the European Charter of Local Self-Government.

When the Charter was ratified by San Marino in October 2013, we reached one of our biggest achievements: the Charter’s provisions now cover effectively a huge pan-european area, namely all 47 member states of the Council of Europe. This last ratification was a historical moment which occurred 25 years after the entry into force of the Charter.

During the March 2014 session, the Congress celebrated its 20th anniversary. This gave our Assembly the opportunity to evaluate its achievements and work, together with some of its former presidents and representatives from its major institutional partners.

Today, national governments increasingly recognise local and regional authorities as major stakeholders and actors in responding to the challenges faced by European societies. The current economic crisis has shown the need for joint, coherent action of all parts of government, and this is an opportunity that cannot be missed. This gave the Congress a truly historic opportunity to engage in concrete action.

And we seized this opportunity. Through more targeted action, through reinforced monitoring of the Charter, through stronger dialogue with national governments and closer partnerships across the continent, the Congress has significantly reinforced its unique role and position in the European political architecture. It has further developed the “virtuous circle” of its monitoring – post-monitoring – co-operation activities to advance democracy and human rights on the continent. It has worked to strengthen the capacity of cities and regions, to promote good governance and ethics, to foster greater respect of fundamental rights, to fight discrimination and intolerance and help to build citizen’s participation in the democratic process.

The European Alliance of Cities and Regions for Roma Inclusion and the ROMACT project, the Pact of cities and Regions against sexual abuse of children as well as the cooperation programmes implemented in Albania and Armenia are some examples of concrete achievements the Congress has reached. In Ukraine, where the situation has been of major concern since end 2013, the Congress has enhanced a comprehensive programme including a post-monitoring dialogue with the authorities to help implementing its recommendations and undertake the necessary reforms at local and regional levels.

Dear colleagues, the conditions for realising our mission have however become increasingly difficult, because of budgetary and human resources constraints in the context of a worsening budgetary situation. The Congress has been called upon to make important cuts and their impact was seriously felt.

Any additional cuts would endanger the work of the Congress and we need to continue to drive through the message. To succeed in our mission, we need adequate resources and a competent and sufficient secretariat to fulfil the tasks conferred to us.

In our member states also, the economic crisis and austerity measures must not be used as an excuse to further centralise or devolve powers without providing corresponding financial resources. We must convince national governments that it is dangerous and short-sighted to roll back democracy and participation, by seeking to make short-term financial savings on a pretext of greater efficiency.

Greater decentralisation and more democracy at the grassroots is what Europe needs today. To regain citizens’ trust, we must work to embed in European governance a culture of strong and sound local democracy, with real responsibility and political accountability.

Never before has there been so much recognition of the importance of grassroots action, giving us a truly historic opportunity to engage in concrete dialogue with national governments and other European institutions.

Looking back on the past twenty four months, I can say with confidence that we have a firm grip on this opportunity. Let us make sure that this advance of the Congress continues firmly and steadily in the coming years.

Dear colleagues, let me once again wish you – wish us, I will remain a faithful and committed member of this Assembly – all the best for our future work.