Strasbourg, 8 February 2010                                                                  CDLR(2010)3

                                                                                        Item 7.1.1 of the agenda

EUROPEAN COMMITTEE ON LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEMOCRACY

(CDLR)

FOLLOW-UP TO THE 16^th SESSION OF THE

MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE

Preliminary draft programme of

activities 2010-2013

Secretariat Memorandum

prepared by the Directorate General of

Democracy and Political Affairs

Directorate of Democratic Institutions

This document is public. It will not be distributed at the meeting. Please bring this copy.

Ce document est public. Il ne sera pas distribué en réunion. Prière de vous munir de cet exemplaire.

Introduction

At Utrecht Ministers instructed their representatives in the European Committee on Local and Regional Democracy (CDLR) “to draw up at the Committee’s meeting in March 2010 a concrete programme of activities for the years 2010-2013 that reflects the priority the Ministers had given to the challenges, takes account of the priority given to actions at national and regional level and determines outputs that meet the highest possible level of support.”

At its meeting in January, the Bureau examined first elements prepared by the Secretariat on the basis of the Utrecht Declaration, notably Declaration I (A) on the impact of financial/economic crisis on local and regional government and Declaration I (B) on government action to overcome obstacles to trans-frontier co-operation, including Protocol No 3 to the Madrid Outline Convention, and the replies that had by then been received to the questionnaire launched in December on the activities to meet the challenges identified in the Utrecht Agenda.

The Bureau instructed the Secretariat to prepare a preliminary draft programme of activities for consideration and adoption by the CDLR at it meeting in Marchon the basis of its discussion and suggestions made. It requested that this document group together closely related outputs in a single activity, propose a timeframe in respect of each output and identify (potential) partners for their implementation.

The current document contains the requested preliminary draft programme of activities for 2010 in the form of a table (Appendix). It includes the activities stemming directly from the Utrecht Declaration, activities proposed in the replies to the questionnaire (the replies are collated in document CDLR(2010)3 Addendum II), supplemented with proposals by the Bureau.

The list of outputs in the table is thus a proposal which is to be reviewed in-depth by the Committee before being adopted. Members are invited to make additional proposals for outputs/activities and/or to propose removing outputs/activities from the list, bearing in mind the instruction by ministers quoted above.

It is suggested that the CDLR may at this stage wish not to determine all activities and outputs for the full period of 2010-2013. Rather it may wish already now to identify those which already clearly meet the requirements and keep open the possibility of identifying further outputs and activities at a later stage. CDLR’s sub-committees could be entrusted with this latter task already in 2010.

Concerning the table, the following further explanations can be given:

Outputs that are closely linked are grouped together under one activity (1^st column).

The timing suggested for outputs (3^rd and 4^th column) is provisional and all suggestions from CDLR members are welcome.

In addition to those specifically mentioned as partners in the implementation of the outputs (5^th column), all those identified in the terms of reference of the CDLR as participants, other participants and observers are invited to contribute/take part.

The 6^th column identifies by number the challenge to which the outputs are related. The outputs currently on the list address several of the seven priority challenges identified by the Ministers at Utrecht.

The column of outcomes (7^th column) has been deliberately left open.  Because it is of great importance for the expected outcomes to be determined all members are invited make proposals in this respect.

As regards the activity of monitoring and responding to the impact of the financial crisis, a detailed proposal is contained in Addendum I.

As part of measures set out in the Utrecht Declaration to achieve strong ownership by member states, CDLR members are encouraged to take on the function of rapporteur (adviser) for activities. Members are thus encouraged to propose themselves as a rapporteur for activities in which their country has a particular interest and they themselves have know-how and experience.

CDLR members are also encouraged to consider favourably hosting meetings of the CDLR, its sub-committees and other events in the respective countries.

Action required

The CDLR is invited to review in-depth the preliminary draft programme of activities 2010-2013 and particularly:

-      to decide the activities, outputs, time frame, outcomes, sub-committees and rapporteurs to be included in the programme;

-    to adopt the resulting programme of activities and to give the CDLR sub-         committees the necessary instructions for taking the work forward;

-      to request the CDLR’s sub-committees to make proposals for further outputs/activities that could be included in the programme at a later stage.

APPENDIX

Preliminary draft programme of activities 2010-2013

ACTIVITY	OUTPUT	Start	End	Partners[1]	Challenge Addressed[2]	Expected outcome	Sub-committee	Rapporteur
Monitoring and responding to the financial crisis	Report on impact of the financial crisis and follow-up to guidelines	2010 I	2010 II	LGI Budapest	1, 3, 4, 6, 7
	Review report for 17th session of the Ministerial Conference	2011 I	2011 II	LGI Budapest	1, 3, 4, 6, 7
	Evaluation conference	2010 I	2010 II	LGI Budapest	1
Promoting the Additional Protocol	Report on the implementation of the Additional Protocol to the European Charter of Local Self-Government on the right to participate in the affairs of a local authority	2012 I	2013 II		2, 4, 6
	Workshops to promote the Additional Protocol	2010 I	2013 II	Hosting by Governments	2, 4, 6,
Analysing participation trends	Report analysing the low democratic participation by certain groups in society	2010 I	2010 II		2, 3, 4, 6
	Report on participatory budgeting	2010 I	2010 II		1, 2, 3, 4, 6

Reducing the complexity and costs of the current system of local and regional government	Report on reducing the complexity and costs of the current system of local and regional government	2010 I	2011 I		1, 3, 4, 6, 7
	Guidelines on reducing the complexity and costs of the current system of local and regional government	2011 I	2011 II		3, 4, 6, 7
	Workshop on reducing the complexity and costs of the current system of local and regional government	2010 II	2013 II	Hosting by Governments	3, 4, 6, 7
Strengthening the Good Democratic Governance	Feasibility of Recommendation on good democratic governance	2010 I	2011 II		1, 2, 3, 4, 6
	Update of Handbook on Public Ethics	2010 I	2010 II		2, 3, 4, 6, 7
	Workshop to exchange good practices on the implementation of the Strategy for Innovation and Good Governance in pilot countries	2010 I	2013 II	Hosting by Governments	2, 3, 4, 6, 7
Exploring new challenges	Exploratory report on the impact of demographic/migration trends	2010 I	2010 II		5
	Exploratory report on improving access to public services delivered at local and regional level	2010 I	2010 II		2, 3, 4, 6, 7

Strengthening the transfrontier co-operation	Appendices to Protocol 3	2010 I	2011 II		7
	Review Conference	2010 I	2010 II	Spain, Netherlands
	Report on the opportunities for funding the transfrontier co-operation EU/non EU funds	2010 I	2011 I		7
	Updating the report on the current state of administrative and legal framework of transfrontier co-operation in member states	2011 I	2011 II		7
	Report on cross border e-services	2011 I	2011 II		3, 4, 6, 7
	Workshop to promote Protocol 3	2011 I	2013 II	Hosting by governments	7

Challenges

1: Managing the impact of the current financial/economic crisis

2: Addressing the low level of democratic participation in public life at local and            

    regional level

3: Reducing the complexity and cost of the current system of local and regional

    government and enhancing its efficiency

4: Enhancing the capacity for and quality of governance in local and regional

    communities or authorities

5: Addressing the impact of demographic/migration trends

6: Improving access to public services delivered at local and regional level

7: Making it easier for local and regional authorities to co-operate across frontiers