Strasbourg, 16 September 2011 CDLR(2011)42
Item C.4. of the agenda
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE ON LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEMOCRACY
(CDLR)
UTRECHT REVIEWS
For information and guidance
Secretariat Memorandum
prepared by the Directorate General of
Democracy and Political Affairs
Directorate of Democratic Institutions
 |
Introduction
Overleaf appears the draft of the Report to the Conference of Ministers responsible for Local and Regional Government “Council of Europe: Towards a Multi-Level Governance”, prepared by Mr Manuel Chaves, Second Vice-President of the Government, Minister of Territorial Policy and Public Administration of Spain.
This document will be presented at the CDLR meeting by the Spanish delegation to the CDLR and members will have the opportunity to discuss it and make comments and suggestions in respect of it. These will be brought to the attention of Minister Chaves.
Action required
CDLR members are invited to examine the draft document and to make any comments and suggestions they deem appropriate.
The CDLR is further invited to give guidance to the CDLR Bureau for the preparation of relevant elements to be included in the draft Kyiv Declaration.
Draft
Report to the Conference of Ministers responsible for
Local and Regional Government
Council of Europe: Towards a Multi-Level Governance
Manuel Chaves
Second Vice-President of the Government of Spain
Minister of Territorial Policy and
Public Administration
Introduction
The statement is aimed at proposing a reflection on the situation of local and regional democracy at the Council of Europe and on the challenges in an ever-changing world in which the level of interrelation between local, regional, national and international institutions must inevitably strengthen. That is why multilevel governance is the corner-stone for Europe to meet the global challenges our continent is facing nowadays.
In practice, such multilevel governance is an agreed, binding, transversal network that works between local, regional, national and European authorities in which organized civil society is also attaining an ever-greater role. Thus, the Reflection Group chaired by Felipe González, already affirmed that “in a multilevel governance system, each level of authority – European, national, regional and local – exercises its powers according to its own legal responsibility.”
Many Council of Europe bodies are crucial actors in this system of multi-level governance involving the different levels in their work: national governments, national parliaments, local and regional authorities. The Committee of Ministers is the highest decision-making body of the organisation and defines its priorities. Together with the conferences of specialised ministers it constitutes the so-called “intergovernmental sector”. The Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress are political institutional actors representing the Parliaments and the local and regional authorities of the 47 member states. The intergovernmental sector, the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress conduct a regular political dialogue in order to develop and strengthen multi-level governance within the Council of Europe.
In the current process of reflection on implementation of the Council of Europe’s reform, the promotion of local and regional democracy should be considered an essential priority, enhancing its key role in the consolidation of democratic processes in Europe and bringing good practices to other regions of the world.
The fundamental contribution of the “Kiviniemi Report”, which proposes new mechanisms to coordinate and boost Council of Europe’s work in the field of local and regional democracy, is the starting point for this statement. Its purpose is to suggest further steps on the path of reforms that the promotion of local and regional democracy requires in the frame of the Council of Europe. The proposal is based on the discussions and the will of the Congress to foster the relations and political dialogue between the different institutional levels responsible for local and regional governments within the Council of Europe. Multilevel governance should be in that sense one of the vectors to facilitate inter-institutional cooperation within the Organisation and also to maximize the efforts to ensure that local and regional democracy remains the spearhead of a more cohesive Europe.
The Council of Europe’s reform is an ongoing and complex process that has been adapting to new realities and decisions. This statement wanted to answer to the Utrecht’s mandate, concentrated in four specific fields for review:
A. The relations between intergovernmental sector and Congress of Local and Regional Authorities;
B. An agenda in common between the ministers responsible for local and regional issues and the Congress;
C. Monitoring of the European Charter of Local Self-Government; and
D. The evaluation of the Council of Europe’s work in the field of local and regional democracy.
However, taking into account these ongoing reforms in the Council of Europe and as this document is the result of a living and proactive process, I have chosen to focus on 3 main issues:
A. Council of Europe and the promotion and local and regional democracy
B. An agenda in common between Ministers responsible for local and regional government and the Congress
C. Towards a Multilevel Governance.
The key ideas here presented stem partly from my reflections on the answers to a questionnaire sent in July 2010 that member states have filled out and sent back, and furthermore from the consultations and contacts established with the main stakeholders, in particular the Congress.
A. Council of Europe and the promotion and local and regional democracy
The Council of Europe is undergoing a reform process that aims to improve its performance and added value to those issues that have always been “flag” in the Organization. The promotion of local and regional democracy in Europe is consolidated as a fundamental part of the democracy pillar and highlights the synergies required between the Committee of Ministers, the Conference of Ministers responsible for local and regional government and the Congress in this area.
The progress already achieved enhancing and improving the current level of cooperation between the Congress and the intergovernmental sector, particularly the Committee of Ministers also goes hand in hand with this line. Within the intergovernmental sector the essential role of the Ministers responsible for regional and local governments is also worth noting because, as Congress, they share a common objective of contributing to delivering good local and regional governance to all. They each pursue this objective within the sphere of their competence, taking into account the reality and nature of their responsibilities.
The reforms in the Council of Europe, as concerns local and regional democracy in particular, aim at avoiding duplication, suppressing redundant red-tape and maximizing the utility of documents, tools and actions developed by the Council of Europe, strengthening its overall coherence.
On one hand, within the intergovernmental sector, the relation between the Committee of Ministers and the authorities in each country competent on local and regional democracy issues, brought together in the Ministerial Conference, should be strengthened, as the Tolli Report mentions.
On the other hand, progress in strengthening stable political relations between Ministerial Conference and the Congress seems also necessary in order to contribute to the cooperation between the Committee of Ministers and the Congress by complementing those aspects that may require a more detailed knowledge of the subject matter and/or matters which for their effective implementation depend on the exercise of competent authority at the domestic level. This strengthening could be expressed by a working plan, based on issues chosen jointly the Ministerial Conference and the Congress in an agenda in common, that would require the Committee of Ministers’ approval.
Certainly, these proposals should be understood within the frame of the two principles contained in the “Kiviniemi Report”: budget austerity resulting from the current economic crisis and need for a better and more visibility of the Council of Europe’s works on local and regional democracy.
B. An agenda in common between Ministers responsible for local and regional governments and the Congress
This development gives effect to the work advanced in the “Kiviniemi Report” and the dual objective of internal consistency within the Council of Europe and better visibility and outreach of the Council of Europe, in the field of local and regional democracy. It is important to identify the fields deserving this effort and therefore to start building up an agenda in common between the Ministerial Conference and the Congress to be approved by Committee of Ministers as part of the wider CoE agenda on local and regional democracy.
In order to achieve that objective, the improved political dialogue described in the aforementioned A point should bring the coordination of political priorities and strategic lines to fruition.
Other Council of Europe’s bodies such as the Parliamentary Assembly and the NGO conference will also have to play a key role in this new process.
Proposals:
This agenda could be tackled from different perspectives, all of them seeking to integrate:
- Wide approach: “Local and Regional Democracy in the framework of the Council of Europe’s reform process “. That approach is needed in order to keep placing local and regional democracy at the core of the work and of the priorities of the Council of Europe, in full process of reform. This task will be carried out in close coordination with other international organizations and especially with the European Union and its Committee of the Regions.
- Joint Approach: "The Congress and the intergovernmental sector: common aims, converging approaches". It seeks to establish an agenda in common for topics of common interest as well as for modalities mentioned under point A, contributing to rationalized procedures, improved working methods and better coordination.
Thus, a first agenda in common could be developed around the issue of multi-level governance and local and regional democracy. Inter-institutional cooperation as central axis of the common denominator – local and regional democracy – would strengthen and maximize efforts.
The following more specific subjects are proposed:
1. Monitoring the impact of the economic crisis on local and regional government and the policy responses at central, regional and local level;
2. Strengthening citizens’ democratic participation
As it was highlighted in Utrecht, the low level of citizen participation in public affairs is a big challenge to be faced from all levels of political responsibility in the administration.
3. Developing the concept of multi-level governance in the Council of Europe
This aspect should be jointly taken up with the Committee of Regions and the High Level Group on Governance of EU member States.
4. Promotion of human rights at all levels and raising awareness among local and regional authorities.
Human rights are dealt with by different intergovernmental bodies of the Council of Europe. The Conference of Ministers responsible for local and regional governments, however, can substantially support these activities and co-operate with the Congress.
5. Multi-level cooperation to overcome obstacles in transfrontier cooperation
The drawing up of this list of issues by the intergovernmental sector and the Congress would stress the importance of the work and the added value of each of these bodies. In the spirit of the ongoing discussion, within the Committee of Ministers, of the reform of the Council of Europe, themes for future Ministerial Conferences could be selected from the agenda in common. Implementing this “agenda in common” from the intergovernmental side would require efficient use of current resources.
C. Towards a Multilevel Governance
Since the Utrecht Conference, the Congress has initiated an important reform of its monitoring of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, laid down in it Resolution 307 (2010). This encompasses, among others, a clarification of the procedures, which are more transparent and more precise and allows greater participation of the member state in the process. Despite this, the promotion of a constructive political debate between the intergovernmental sector and the Congress on this issue could contribute to improve the efforts already deployed by the Congress.
The monitoring activities comprise several stages from the preparation of the visit in close cooperation with the authorities of the member state concerned, the visit itself, the drafting and adoption of the report and the recommendations by the Congress, the discussion of the recommendation in the Committee of Ministers and its subsidiary bodies and the concrete follow up including the implementation of the recommendations in action plans together with the authorities of the member state concerned.
It is the latter and most crucial stage that the political dialogue with the member states represented in the Committee of Ministers and in the Ministerial Conference takes place. The support of member states of the implementation of the recommendations is the precondition and the guarantee for the Organisation’s efficiency in this core field of activities.
In order to better promote human rights and raise awareness of local and regional authorities of their responsibilities in the fields of their competencies and to support the many local initiatives in this regard the Congress has introduced the promotion of human rights at local level as one of its priorities, through Resolution 296 (2010). The Committee of Ministers notes that the Congress does not intend to monitor, or on its monitoring visits to assess, the implementation of human rights by local and regional authorities and that it will not duplicate the activities of Council of Europe monitoring bodies. (Reply adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 6 July 2011 at the 1118th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies).
On this basis the Ministerial Conference and the Congress envisage to cooperate in promoting human rights at local and regional level. A multi level approach is necessary to guarantee the efficiency of concrete actions of awareness raising to make local and regional elected representatives better aware of their scope of actions in the field of fundamental rights and protection of individual liberties.
This political exchange about the issues mentioned in this document and the implementation of common activities as outlined in the agenda in common take into account the responsibility and duties of the institutional partners in the Council of Europe as well as the tasks assigned to each sphere of administration at local, regional and national level and make progresses in order to make multilevel governance a reality within the Institution.