Strasbourg, 16 April 2009 CDLR(2009)18
Item 8.8 of the agenda
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE ON LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEMOCRACY
(CDLR)
INFORMATION ON THE MAASTRICHT PRE-CONFERENCE
Secretariat Memorandum
prepared by the Directorate General of
Democracy and Political Affairs
Directorate of Democratic Institutions
 |
Practical approaches towards effective European transfrontier co-operation
A preparatory conference for the Council of Europe’s 16th session of the Conference of Ministers responsible for Local and Regional Government
6 and 7 July 2009 in Maastricht, The Netherlands
The language of this pre-conference will be in English, German, French, Russian and (Italian)
Location: Provincial Government Buildings, Maastricht, The Netherlands
NB Several names in this provisional programme are tentative and are as yet unconfirmed
The Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG), the province of Limburg and the municipality of Maastricht have initiated an international conference on transfrontier co-operation as prelude for the Council of Europe Conference of Ministers responsible for Local and Regional Government taking place in Utrecht in November, The Netherlands. This conference is to be held on 6 and 7 July 2009 in the City of Maastricht.
Background
Cross-border movements of all types are ever-increasing as a result of European integration and internationalisation. Many local and regional authorities as well as citizens in the border regions are discovering daily that their location on the border with a neighbouring country is linked not only to opportunities but also to stumbling blocks. This is true for people who work, live and go to school across the border, to economic activity, environmental issues, police cooperation, contingency planning, public transport links, provision of health services and so on. This proximity necessitates good administrative co-operation between local and regional authorities across borders and a sound legal basis for this co-operation. One of the most widely used forms of transfrontier co-operative arrangement is that of the euroregion in which local and regional authorities on either side of the border work together according to public or private law formats. However, such bodies are not well known yet to citizens, which also leads to questions concerning their legitimacy and base of support.
Objective
In order to facilitate further euroregional co-operation, the Council of Europe's Committee on Local and Regional Democracy (CDLR) is currently drafting a Third Protocol to the Madrid Outline Convention[1] on Euroregional Co-operation Groupings. This protocol aims to provide the basic legal provisions which will govern the capacity and setting up of such Groupings. Depending on progress made on the draft text, the Council of Europe Conference of Ministers responsible for Local and Regional Government taking place in November in The Netherlands, could be a good opportunity to open the Third Protocol for signature and ratification by member states of the Council of Europe thus enabling the ministers to avail themselves of the opportunity to sign the agreement during the session.
The goal of this conference in Maastricht is twofold. On the one hand, it aims to ascertain the factors that enhance or hinder transfrontier co-operation Europe wide, to provide elements for the discussion on transfrontier co-operation in Utrecht. On the other hand, it will provide a forum for discussion for local and regional authorities and other actors in the field in which to exchange information and expertise, to identify best practices and to discuss practical tools for furthering transfrontier co-operation.
Results
The conclusions of the conference will not only inform the Utrecht Ministerial Conference’s discussions on this issue, but will also discuss the future work of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, in particular the work of its Working Group on Inter-regional Co-operation in the field of transfrontier co-operation.
The Conference
The two-day conference aims to contribute to the important debate on the quality of local and regional transfrontier co-operation. The conference programme is comprised of 3 parts. In the plenary opening session, prominent keynote speakers will set the stage for the conference by identifying major themes and challenges of transfrontier co-operation. Keynote speeches will be delivered by
● Mr Ian Micallef, President a.i. of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe
● Ms Odile Wolfs, member of the Provincial Executive of Limburg
● Mr Gerd Leers, Mayor of Maastricht
● Ms Guusje ter Horst, Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (to be confirmed)
● Mr Frans Timmermans, Minister for European Affairs (to be confirmed)
● Mr Karl-Heinz Lambertz, Chair of the Congress Working Group on Inter-regional Co-operation
During the second part of the conference, opportunities and challenges regarding trans-frontier cooperation will be addressed by a number of speakers and discussed during two panels.
During the first panel, several practitioners from Eastern, South-East and Western Europe will engage in a discussion with the representatives of the CoE and Mission Opérationnelle Transfrontalière (MOT) on the problems they encounter in practice because of certain legal obstacles, and what legal instruments they find necessary to make their work easier. The conference participants are invited to join the discussion. This panel discussion will result in several statements on which the Conference will elaborate during the three following sessions.
Between the first and second panel a number of speakers will address topics among others on the value of legal frameworks within transfrontier co-operation, the implementation of multilateral legal frameworks and multi-level governance. Also three concrete experiences will be presented focusing on best practices and lessons learnt on transfrontier co-operation throughout Europe.
During the closing panel, the conference participants are invited to pose questions to the panel members and to reflect on the statements. This panel will also discuss the future work of the Council of Europe in the field of transfrontier co-operation and will result in adjusted statements that subsequently will be translated into the final declaration to be adopted on Tuesday morning.
The Conference Working Group will prepare a final declaration on the basis of the input of speakers and participants during the conference. The declaration will be presented to the CLRD on the last day before the meeting of the Bureau of the Congress for Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.
Conference location
The two-day conference will be staged at the Government Buildings of the province of Limburg in Maastricht. This location is well-chosen for a number of reasons. In this building, situated on the banks of the river Meuse, the world-renowned ‘Treaty of Maastricht’ was signed in 1992 by the twelve member states that then formed the European Union. This treaty was the birth certificate of the European Union and paved the way for the introduction of the Euro. In the years afterwards, several European high-level conferences have been held in Maastricht.
Maastricht
The City of Maastricht with a population of 120,000 is the capital of the province of Limburg, which is situated right next to the Belgian border in the southernmost part of the Netherlands. Maastricht is a highly internationally orientated city with a university, an academic hospital and more than a hundred European and international institutes that have established themselves here. Their activities may be diverse, but there is one thing they all have in common: their geographical position, networks and relations allow them to be in contact with the entire world, every day.
Limburg
Of all the provinces in the Netherlands, Limburg is the most European in character. Limburg shares a longer border with Belgium and Germany than with the rest of the Netherlands. The citizens here are in contact with their neighbours every day. The geographical position of the province and its history mean that cross-border cooperation is a fact of life. It is therefore no surprise that Limburg is a European region in hart and soul and is a member of four different Euregions.
Together with the German and Belgian neighbours, Limburg is taking on challenges in a variety of fields. The aim is to become a cross-border Top Technology Region in Europe. An international business-climate ‘without borders’ is needed. In order to achieve this goal, cross-border mobility and cooperation have to be simplified and barriers removed. It is therefore that Limburg welcomes the initiative of the Dutch government to start a process together with all the border-provinces and the Belgian and German governments to remove national barriers that hinder cross-border cooperation. Limburg plays a very active role in this process. To emphasize its unique position, Limburg has recently been declared an Experimental Region in Cross-border cooperation by the Dutch Parliament.
Euregio Meuse-Rhine
One of the four Euregions that Limburg is part of is Euregio Meuse-Rhine, often called ‘Little Europe’. It is a region where three countries meet around Liège, Maastricht, Hasselt and Aachen. Incorporating three countries, three languages and five regions, this region reflects Europe’s exciting sense of versatility and diversity. Together with the province of Limburg and the City of Maastricht, the conference programme will also include an interesting practice-oriented field visit.
Programme
Sunday 5 July
18:00 – 19:00 Reception, at the invitation of the municipality of Maastricht and the province of Limburg
Welcome by Mr Gerd Leers, Mayor of Maastricht
Monday 6 July
08.00 – 09.00 Registration of the participants and welcome coffee
09.15 Opening address
· Mr Ian Micallef, President a.i. of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe
Welcome address
· Ms Odile Wolfs, member of the Provincial Executive of Limburg
· Mr Gerd Leers, Mayor of Maastricht
Keynote address
· Ms Guusje ter Horst, Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (to be confirmed)
· Mr Frans Timmermans, Minister for European Affairs (to be confirmed)
10.30 – 10.50 Current status of transfrontier co-operation in Europe and the latest developments
· Mr Karl-Heinz Lambertz, Chair of the Congress Working Group on Inter-regional Co-operation
10.50 – 11.20 Coffee/tea break
11.20 – 12.20 Panel discussion on which legal instruments can facilitate best transfrontier co-operation
Panel moderator: xxx (to be confirmed)
Panel members:
· A practitioner from Eastern Europe (to be confirmed)
· A practitioner from South-East Europe (to be confirmed)
· A practitioner from Western Europe (to be confirmed)
· Mr Alfonso Zardi, Head of the Department of Local and Regional Democracy and Good Governance, Directorate of Democratic Institutions, Directorate General of Democracy and Political Affairs
· Mr Auke van der Goot, Chair of the Committee of Experts on Transfrontier Co-operation of the Council of Europe, Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations of the Netherlands
· Ms Ludivine SALAMBO, Mission Opérationnelle Transfrontalière (MOT) (to be confirmed)
12.20 – 12.40 Assessing the value of legal frameworks
· Prof. Yves Lejeune, Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium (to be confirmed)
12.40 – 13.00 Beneluxconvention on territorial co-operation: time for innovation
· Mr Jan van Laarhoven, Secretary General of the Benelux Union
13:00 – 14:30 Lunch, at the invitation of the province of Limburg and the municipality of Maastricht in the Banqueting Hall (Feestzaal)
14.30 – 14.50 Multi-level governance: an integrated approach to addressing problems through co-operation among local, regional and national authorities
· Mr Thom de Graaf, Mayor of Nijmegen, The Netherlands (to be confirmed)
14.50 – 15.20 Euregio Meuse-Rhine: an experiment in transfrontier multi-level governance
· Mr Steve Stevaert, Governor of the province of Limburg, Belgium (to be confirmed)
15:20 – 15:50 Black SeaEuroregion: Congress’ experience in the field of Euroregional co-operation
· Xxxxxx (Romania?) (to be confirmed)
15.50 – 16.20 Coffee/tea break
16.20 – 16.40 Transfrontier co-operation among non-EU members
· Ms Nataliya Romanova, Vice-President of the Congress, President of Chernihiv Regional Council, Ukraine (to be confirmed)
16.40 – 17.00 Prerequisites for successful co-operation on the boarders of EU and its neighbours
· Mr Arunas Mazulis, Advisor on EU Issues, Association of Local Authorities in Lithuania; Member of the joint monitoring steering committees of cross-border co-operation for Lithuania-Poland, Latvia-Lithuania, Latvia-Lithuania-Belarus and Lithuania-Poland-Kaliningrad region of Russian Federation
17.00 – 17.40 Panel discussion
Panel moderator: xxx (to be confirmed)
Panel members:
· Mr Thom de Graaf, Mayor of Nijmegen, The Netherlands
· Mr Steve Stevaert, Governor of the province of Limburg, Belgium
· Xxx, ERAC
· Xxx (Romania?)
· Ms Nataliya Romanova, Vice-President of the Congress, President of Chernihiv Regional Council, Ukraine
· Mr Arunas Mazulis, Advisor on EU Issues, Association of Local Authorities in Lithuania
17.40 – 18.00 Concluding remarks
· Mr Miljenko Doric, Member of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly
18.00 – 18.30 Meeting of the Conference Working Group for the preparation of the final declaration
20.00 Dinner, at the invitation of the province of Limburg and the municipality of Maastricht at xxxxx
Tuesday 7 July
09:00 – 09:30 Welcome with coffee and tea
09.30 – 09.50 xxxx (to be confirmed)
09.50 – 10.00 Adoption of the final declaration
· Mr Leon Frissen, Governor of the province of Limburg
10.00 – 12.30 Field visit to Euregio Meuse-Rhine (optional)
Avantis European Science and Business Park - the first cross-border German-
Dutch business park
10.00 – 12.30 Meeting of the Bureau of the Congress for Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe
11.00 – 11.30 Coffee/tea break
11.30 – 12.30 Meeting of the Bureau of the Congress for Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (continued)
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch, at the invitation of the province of Limburg and the municipality of Maastricht in the Banqueting Hall (Feestzaal)
14.00 – 15.30 Meeting of the Bureau of the Congress for Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (continued)
15.30 – 16.00 Coffee/tea break
16.00 – 17.30 Meeting of the Bureau of the Congress for Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (continued)
17.30 Farewell drinks
[1] Council of Europe European Outline Convention on Trans-frontier Co-operation between Territorial Communities or Authorities