SUMMARY

December 2008:

Request for information submitted by the the Ministry of Regional Policy and Construction of Ukraine:

-          on any special law on transborder cooperation existing in French or English and

-          on any information on transborder “clusters” and on the experiences European countries made with their development (economic measures, specific legislation etc.)

Key data of this RRS:

-          Request send out: 16 December 2008

-          Deadline for replies: 16 January 2009

-          Replies received from 6 member States (7 delegations): Belgium Brussels Capital, Belgium Flanders, Greece, Hungary, Monaco, Spain, United Kingdom

For more details, see Appendix I.

January 2009:

Request submitted by the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania for any information available in English on:

-          the position of directly elected mayors within the framework of a municipality (e.g. is the post of mayor a representative function, or does it entail executive powers or both?) and

-          any laws and documents in which the competence of directly elected mayors is defined.

Key data of this RRS:

-          Request send out: 8 January 2009

-          Deadline for replies: 19 January 2009

-          Replies received from 13 countries (15 delegations): Belgium Brussels Capital, Belgium Flanders, Belgium Wallonia, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Malta, Monaco, Norway, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovak Republic

For more details, see Appendix II.

January 2009:

Request for information submitted by the Dutch delegation on the financial crisis and its impact on local and regional authorities.

Key data of this RRS:

-          Request send out: 8 January 2009

-          Deadline for replies: 30 January 2009 (extended to 11 February)

-          Replies received from 20 countries (22 delegations): Austria, Belgium Brussels Capital, Belgium Flanders, Belgium Wallonia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom.

For more information on this RRS, please refer to document CDLR(2009)8, which contains a detailed compilation of replies to this survey provided by member States.

Belgium Brussels Capital

The Region of Brussels Capital does not have any borders to the exterior of Belgium and does therefore not have any specific legislation in this field. It is however a fully-fledged partner of the BENELUX in the area of transfrontier co-operation, and not yet a participating party to the Madrid Convention and its two additional protocols (it will be as soon as the second protocol will be entirely ratified).

Belgium Flanders

Supply of the following document:

Benelux Convention of 12 September 1986 referring to transfrontier co-operation between local and regional authorities with the Protocol of 22 September 1998 completing the abovementioned Benelux Convention.

Greece

Supply of relevant extracts from the following documents:

-          Law 3345/2005 (OJ 138/A/16-6-2005) regarding financial matters of Prefectural Authorities and the regulation of other administrative matters

-          Municipal and Communal Code (Law 3463/2006 (OJ 114/A/8-6-2006)  

-          Law 3613/2007 (OJ 263/A/23-11-2007) regarding matters of the competences of the Ministry of Interior

-          Common Ministerial Decision 36808/30-6-2008 (OJ 1262/B/1-7-2008) regarding regulation of matters for the implementation of Regulation (EC) 1082/2006 of the European Parliament and the Council of 5th July 2006 on a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC)

Hungary

Supply of the following documents:

-          Act XCIX of 2007 on the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (translated to English)

-          An introduction to the Hungarian situation (in English): Transborder cooperation in Hungary – legal bases and transborder “clusters”

Monaco

No special legislation on transfrontier co-operation at the moment and no work ongoing to prepare such legislation.

Spain

Supply of the main regulations on the European transfrontier (CoE) and territorial (EU) cooperation concerning Spanish regional entities

As far as transborder clusters are concerned, supply of the following information about partnerships of a public nature:

-          Agreement and statutes of the EGTC formed by the Spanish Region of Galicia and the Portuguese Regional Coordination Commission "North" (in Spanish)..

-          Interesting organisations and their websites are:

o    Working Community [no legal entity] between the Regions of Galicia (Spain) and North (Portugal) [regional nature]: Transfrontier co-operation Agreement in accordance with the Treaty of Valencia: www.galicia-nortept.org

o    Consortium [legal entity] Pirineos-Pyrénées [regional nature]: Transfrontier co-operation Agreement in accordance with Treaty of Bayonne: www.ctp.org

o    Consortium [legal entity] Bidasoa-Txingudi [local nature]: Transfrontier co-operation Agreement in accordance with Treaty of Bayonne: www.txinzer.com/

United Kingdom

The UK has not signed or ratified the Outline Convention on Transfrontier Co-operation so there is no legislation in this respect.

The UK has implemented the Regulation to establish a European Grouping of Territorial Co-operation (EGTC) and there is some guidance which other delegations may find useful. 

Relevant UK legislation can be found under the following links:  http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2007/uksi_20071949_en_1 ; http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/regional/european-structural-funds/grouping/page40444.html

Belgium Brussels Capital

The Belgian bourgmestres (heads of local executive or mayors) are appointed by the Government of the Region of Brussels Capital and are presented in writing by the elected representatives. The act must be signed by at least a majority of elected representatives from the list on which the candidate was presented mayor and at least a majority of the elected council.

Belgium Flanders

The mayor is not directly elected in the Flemish Region – instead he is elected to the local council and appointed by the Flemish Government. The persons elected to the local council can propose in an act one of them as a candidate mayor. In order to be admissible, this act has to be signed by more than half of the persons elected to the local council, as well as by the majority of the persons elected to the local council and who belong to the same political party as the candidate for mayor. If a new mayor has to be appointed by the Flemish Government during term, the local councillors can also propose in an act one of their colleagues as a candidate for mayor. In exceptional circumstances, a mayor who has not been elected to the local council can be appointed by the Flemish Government. He or she has to be a voter for the local elections who is at least 25 years old. The provincial deputation (the executive organ of the province) has to give a concurrent advice about the candidate. This procedure of appointing a mayor who has not been elected to the local council is nearly never used.

Belgium Wallonia

Supply of a document covering the relevant aspect (speech of Minister of the Interior and Public Administration of the Region of Wallonia, who presented the reforms taking place since 2005 in the field of local democracy and the election of burgomasters at the CDLR meeting of December 2008)

Bulgaria

Supply of the Bulgarian Law for the Local Government and the Local Administration

(drawing the attention towards articles 38 – 45)

Germany

In Hesse and all other German regions (Laender) the mayors are directly elected by the citizens of the municipalities. The direct election was usual in Southern Germany (Bavaria and Bade-Wurtemberg) since 1946 and was introduced in the local government laws of the other regions in the last decade of the past century. The number of affairs/executive powers the mayor has been entrusted with by law differs from region to region. While the mayor has much power in Southern Germany, in Hesse he is only part of a collegial body that heads the local authority administration: this municipal council consists of the full-time mayor as the chairman and other councillors. Only the mayor is directly elected by the citizens in a majority election; his term of office is six years. The other members, professional and honorary councillors, are elected by the local parliament. The number of councillors is fixed by the local parliament. Full-time councillors are usually only to be found in towns with more than 20 000 inhabitants. In Frankfurt, for example, there are eight professional councillors. More detailed information in English is to be found on the following websites:

-          http://www.iuscomp.org/gla/statutes/GOBayern.htm (The Local Government Law of Bavaria)

-          http://www.iuscomp.org/gla/literature/localgov.htm#ToC16 (Notes on a local government constitution : using the example of the Local Government Law of the Free State of Bavaria)

Greece

Supply of extracts from relevant legislation

Hungary

Hungary (continued…)

The constitution provides that the community of the voters of every village, town, the capital and its districts and of the county have the right to self-governance. Citizens exercise this right through the representative body elected by them directly, every four years and through local referenda.  The organs of local governments include the body of representatives, the committees, the mayor (deputy mayor), the town clerk and the mayors’ office. The body of representatives is chaired by the mayor (in Budapest the Lord Mayor, in the counties the chairperson of the assembly); he convenes and chairs the meetings.

The mayor is the senior official of the body of representatives of the local government. Mayors, including the Lord Mayor of Budapest, are elected directly, while the chairperson and deputy chair of county assemblies are elected from among the members of the assembly, by secret ballot. The mayor is a member of the body of representatives (council) and he represents the council. He shall be treated as a councillor for the purposes of quorum, decision-making and operation of the council. The council shall exercise employer's rights over the mayor. The mayor performs his local government and state administration functions and competences through the office of the body of representatives. Exceptionally, an Act or, pursuant to the authorisation of an Act, a government decree may confer state administration duties and powers on the mayors of municipalities, the Lord Mayor of Budapest or the chairpersons of county assemblies, as well as on the town clerks, metropolitan clerks and in exceptional cases, the office personnel. When carrying out assigned state administration responsibilities, the council shall not be entitled to intervene in the actions of the mayor. These special state administrations are mainly present in the field of disaster management and civil protection administration. The representative body establishes a single office, called the mayor’s office, to perform functions relating to the operation of the local government, the decision preparation and implementation of state administration issues.  The office is headed by the mayor, in accordance with the decisions of the body of representatives and within his own competence, while its professional work is directed by the town clerk. It means that the mayor directs the office, and the town clerk manages it. The mayor exercises employer’s rights over the vice-mayor, town clerk and the heads of local government institutions. The town clerk exercises employer’s rights over public servants employed by the office. The mayor’s approval is necessary for decisions made by the town clerk that fall under the mayor’s competence; for staff appointments to and removal from the office and for granting bonuses. The body of representatives, upon the proposal of the mayor, elects a deputy mayor (or may elect several deputy mayors) from among its members by secret ballot to substitute for the mayor and assist his work. The mayor shall perform his municipal and state administration responsibilities as a full-time mayor, or filled as a community (voluntary) mandate in villages with less than three thousand residents.  There are several and strict incompatibility rules concerning the function of a mayor. When the mayor commits repeated infringements, the council may file charges against him at the county or Budapest court. The council shall oversee the prudent management of the local self-government's finances, while the mayor is responsible for the legality of management.

Ireland

Ireland does not at present have directly elected mayors, however is engaged in further work in relation to the modernisation of its local government system. As part of this the Minister published a Government Green Paper on local government (Stronger Local Democracy) in April 2008. The Green Paper sets out policy options to be considered and involved a subsequent wide ranging consultation phase with the public as well as local government interests and deals with the issue of the introduction of directly elected mayors. A follow on Government White Paper on Local Government (i.e. a statement of Government policy) is due to be published shortly.

Malta

Malta (continued…)

The position of the Mayor is that of the "political head" of the Council. He is also, at law "the representative of the Council" for all effects under the Local Councils Act. He also presides during Council meetings (where he enjoys a casting vote in case there is a tie in votes cast). He is also at law responsible for supervision of all the functions of the Council. To date, Mayors, serve on a honorary and voluntary basis. In 2005, the Local Councils Act (Chapter 363, Laws of Malta) was amended with respect to the election of Mayors and Deputy Mayors. The new law states that: "(...) the office of Mayor in any Local Council shall be occupied by such elected Councillor who at the last local election shall have obtained the highest number of votes in the first count amongst the candidates of the political party which at such elections obtained the absolute majority of Councillors in such Council. Such Councillor shall assume the office of Mayor at the first sitting of the Council after such local election.

If for any reason such Councillor refuses to occupy the office of Mayor, the Councillor with the second highest number of votes from the aforesaid political party shall assume office, and so on, until the office of Mayor is filled." The Local Councils Act is available in Maltese on the following website: http://docs.justice.gov.mt/lom/legislation/english/leg/vol_10/chapt363.pdf

At the moment, there are a number of proposals being put forward as part of the local government reform. With respect to the office of Mayor, it is being considered whether it is time to give the opportunity to Mayors to become full time Council employees.

Monaco

In Monaco, a city council of fifteen members is elected for 4 years in the direct universal suffrage and in the list system of proportional representation in two ballots with possibility of mixing and without preferential vote – the ballot is secret. The city council meets 30 days after the election, from amidst its members, of the mayor and the assistants who constitute the municipality. If after two ballots, no candidate obtained the absolute majority, the third ballot takes place; the election takes place in this case in the relative majority; if there is equality of votes, it is the first one in the first ballot of the municipal election that is elected. It is necessary to say that the mayor is, in fact, a chief candidate: the voters determine their future mayor in a practically direct way.

Norway

Supply of two scientific articles on the issue which will be made available through the LOREG database.

Portugal

In Portugal mayor is the head of the political party which won the elections for the municipal assembly. His mandate is 4 years long.

Romania

In accordance with the national legislation the mayors are directly elected and have both representative and executive functions. Information on the position of mayor provided by the law 215/2001 on local public administration and Law 67/2004 on election of the local public authorities. Supply of documents in Romanian (which will be made available through the LOREG database).

San Marino

In San Marino mayors are directly elected every 5 years in all the 9 municipalities. The candidates for the post of mayor are the heads of connected civic lists and the winner is the one with more votes casted. The winning list has a majority adjustment to have enough seats to govern. The mayor has representative powers and an executive power connected with the budget of the municipality only on some defined subjects. Competences are defined in the electoral code for the elections of the municipal council. The document in Italian is available on request.

Slovak Republic

The election of mayors is according to basic, general, equal and direct right with closed ballot. For the position of mayor can be elected a person with a permanent address in municipality, 25-years old and having no obstacles in execution of suffrage (for example: restriction of personal liberty by law, execution of punishment, execution of military service etc.). Position of mayor and his powers are regulated by the Act no. 369/1990 Coll. on municipal establishment as amended by the later enactments. The mayor is the representative of municipality and highest executive body. He invokes and leads the sessions of parish council and municipal council, signs their resolutions, performs municipal administration tasks and substitutes municipality in relation to state authorities, corporate entities and natural persons. He also decides on all matters of municipalities, which are not reserved to the parish council by act or by statute of municipality. The mayor is a statutory body in financial relations and in labour relations of municipality employees and also an administrative body in administrative relations. The election of mayors is regulated by the Act No. 346/1990 Coll. on election in self-government municipality authorities.