Strasbourg, 20 February 2008 CDLR-Bu(2009)4
Item 5.3 of the agenda
BUREAU OF THE
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE ON LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEMOCRACY
(CDLR)
COMMUNICATION CONCERNING THE CDLR AND
THE LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEMOCRACY IN MEMBER STATES
Secretariat Memorandum
prepared by
Directorate General of Democracy and Political Affairs
Directorate of Democratic Institutions
 |
Introduction
This document summarises the state of affairs concerning communication tools and publications of the CDLR and the field of local and regional democracy at the Council of Europe and puts forward ideas for reflection and action to be followed depending on the opinion of the CDLR Bureau.
Website
The Local and Regional Democracy website remains the main communication tool for the CDLR. It was completely revised in 2008 and will be further enhanced in 2009. The main objectives of this consequent revision are to take advantage of more up-to-date technical features, to present the issues of local and regional democracy in a more coherent and more attractive manner and according to a clearer navigation structure, and finally to facilitate the search and downloading of working documents.
The new website has gone online in February 2009 and can be found at the usual direct link www.coe.int/local or by clicking on the tab “Democracy and Political Affairs > Local and Regional Democracy” on the Council’s homepage.
Amongst the objectives for further developing the website are a stronger involvement of members in the updating procedures (national information briefs for the homepage, newsletter etc.) as well as the strengthening of the website as a European platform on local and regional democracy. Via a questionnaire adopted by the CDLR in December 2008, member States were surveyed about their willingness to contribute more actively to future updates and about their interest for the development of the “platform fucntion” of the website. The 26 replies received (from 23 countries) have shown that a great majority of responding countries is generally in favour of such developments (see detailed results of the survey in the Appendix). Following the results of this survey, concrete measures for further developing the relevant functions of the website could be proposed to the CDLR at its meeting in April 2009 in order to be adopted as part of a new “strategy” for the site.
LOREG database
In 2008, the substantial revision of the LOREG database was completed and the new database presented to the CDLR and the LOREG correspondents. The number of member States participating in the network increased by 10 in relation to the preceding years. This takes the total number of participants in the Network to 20 countries (Azerbaijan, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovak Republic, Serbia, Switzerland).
A joint initiative with the Open Society Institute Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative (Hungary) will be launched in 2009. Other possibilities for partnerships will also be studied in order to raise the profile of LOREG with the audience identified.
“MORE” - database for transfrontier co-operation
The Council of Europe database on transfrontier and transnational co-operation, “MORE” (Matching Opportunities for Regions in Europe), set up with the support of the Italian Government and officially launched in 2007, enables local and regional authorities, their associations and training institutions on transfrontier co-operation to look Europe-wide for suitable partners in co-operation, as well as publish information on their activities in the field.
In 2008, MORE was presented to the Congress and to representatives of cities and regions with the European Union (by intermediary of the Committee of the Regions). Almost 400 regional authorities were invited to use MORE in a joint letter from the Congress and the CDLR, and the contact with partners and potential supporters of the project was also reinforced (CoR, CMRE, AER, AEBR, CRPM, etc.). In spite of a modest reaction at the beginning, the current use made of MORE is increasing. At the beginning of 2009, 231 entries were counted (103 of which from Italy).
Publications of the CDLR
Several European Practice Reports were adopted by the CDLR in 2007 and were published in electronic and paper versions in 2008. Several country reports were also prepared in collaboration with member States and published (Denmark, Italy, Netherlands). They were all made available to CDLR members at the December meeting.
With regard to preparing and publishingthe CDLR country reports (series “Structure and Operation of Local and Regional Democracy in Council of Europe Member States”), the Secretariat, in collaboration with the Department of Information Technology (DIT) of the Council, examined in 2008 the possibility of setting up an electronic collaborative work system, which could in particular facilitate the partial updating of reports (in order to simplify updating procedures). First examinations have, however, shown that such electronic systems can only be set up as custom-tailored solutions and would therefore require important investments exceeding the available resources. Alternative solutions could possibly be examined at a later stage.
Action required
Bureau members are invited to take note of the information provided above and present any suggestion they wish to make. They are invited to comment in particular on the lines of action suggested for the website in order to give guidance to the Secretariat for the next steps to be taken with regard to the CDLR.
APPENDIX
SUMMARY OF RESULTS OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE
ON THE FUTURE ORIENTATION OF THE
LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEMOCRACY WEBSITE
OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE
The results of the questionnaire are based on 26 replies provided by 23 countries.
The general tendency shows that:
- the local and regional democracy website of the Council of Europe is mostly visited once a week
- the main aim of delegations visiting the website is to find legal instruments or other publications on local and regional democracy, as well as for downloading working documents for upcoming meetings (or past meetings)
- the inquired countries mostly consider that the website meets their expectations
- the delegations suggested substantial improvements concerning the structure and contents of the website, including the visual presentation
- the countries usually do not know other websites which may serve as a platform for local and regional democracy
- a vast majority of the countries is interested in transforming the website into a platform for local and regional democracy
- considerable interest has been shown towards a possible newsletter
- almost all countries would like to see in such a newsletter news on local and regional democracy at the Council of Europe, as well as on national developments in that field
- a majority of the countries expressed their willingness to contribute to newsletter, which should be preferably issued quarterly
- most of the countries are convinced that establishment of a reciprocal “html link” between the local and regional democracy website and the website of their respective ministries is possible
- the countries provided list of national organisations which may become potential partners and to which a link could be established
- Frequency of visits
|
Never, or hardly ever |
2 |
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Only before CDLR / other committee meetings |
2 |
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Once a month |
6 |
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Once a week |
10 |
|
More than once a week |
2 |
|
Other replies given by individual delegations:
|
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- Main reasons for visiting
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In order to look at the News items |
17 |
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In order to download working documents of upcoming meetings |
19 |
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In order to find legal instruments or other publications on local and regional democracy |
21 |
|
Other replies given by individual delegations:
|
|
3. Adequacy of the website for the needs (scale 1-5)
|
1 (corresponds perfectly) |
2 |
|
2 |
14 |
|
3 |
8 |
|
4 |
1 |
|
5 (does not correspond at all) |
4. Improvements suggested
|
Visual presentation
Structure (navigation)
Contents of the website
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5. Interest in the website to become a platform on local and regional
democracy
|
Yes |
23 |
|
No |
3 |
6. Other websites of this kind
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Yes, I know such websites. |
9 |
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Websites I regularly visit are: |
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European Union |
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www.europa.eu |
European Union |
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European Commission |
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European Parliament |
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www.cor.europa.eu |
Committee of the Regions |
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European Union at United Nations |
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www.eur-lex.europa.eu |
European Union law |
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Council of Europe |
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www.echr.coe.int |
European Court of Human Rights |
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www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/Policies/CEMAT/default_en.asp |
European Conference of Ministers responsible for regional/spatial planning |
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Other international organisations |
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www.oecd.org |
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development |
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National governments |
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www.minregionbud.gov.ua |
Ministry of Regional Development and Construction of Ukraine |
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Foundation for Local Self-Government of Ukraine and Ukrainian Delegation to the Congress of the Council of Europe |
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Associations |
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Council of European Municipalities and Regions |
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www.kunnat.net |
Local Finland-Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities |
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Association of the City and the Municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region |
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www.aebr.net |
Association of European Border Regions |
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Research institutions |
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International Institute of Administrative Sciences |
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Networks |
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Assembly of European Regions |
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European Public Administration Network |
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http://myeurope.eun.org |
myEUROPE- network of schools |
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www.interact-eu.net |
INTERACT. Sharing Expertise |
|
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Yes, I do regularly visit these websites. |
10 |
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No, I do not know any websites of this kind. |
14 |
7. Interest in a newsletter
|
Yes |
24 |
|
No |
1 |
8. Possible newsletter’s content
|
News on local and regional democracy at the Council of Europe (upcoming meetings, new legal instruments, recently published reports etc.) |
2 |
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News on national developments (recent reforms, exceptional developments, new legislation having a significant impact, legislation based on Council of Europe standards, etc.) |
- (see below) |
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Both |
24 |
9. Possible newsletter’s frequency
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Bi-annually |
3 |
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Quarterly |
13 |
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Once a month |
7 |
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More often |
1 |
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Whenever new developments occur |
5 |
10. Willingness to contribute
|
Yes |
22 |
|
No |
2 |
11. Establishment of reciprocal “html link” with ministries represented
at the CDLR
|
Yes |
20 |
|
No |
3 |
|
Do not know yet |
1 |
12. Other national organisations as potential partners to be referred
to by “html link”
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National governments |
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Swiss Confederation |
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Government of Luxembourg |
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Guichet Portal |
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German-speaking community in Belgium |
www.dglive.be |
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National Centre for Public Administration and Local Government |
www.ekdd.gr |
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Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works |
www.mrrb.government.bg |
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Ministry of State Administration and Administrative Reform |
www.mdaar.government.bg |
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Ministry of Finance |
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Ministry of Regional Development and Construction of Ukraine |
wwww.minregionbud.gov.ua |
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Union of Prefectural Authorities of Greece |
www.enae.gr |
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Local Government Denmark |
www.kl.dk |
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Associations |
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Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions |
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Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities |
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Syndicat des Villes et Communes Luxembourgeoises |
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Association of Municipalities of Slovenia |
www.zdruzenjeobcin.si |
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Local Finland- Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities |
www.kunnat.net |
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Association of Estonian Cities |
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Association of Municipalities of Estonia |
www.emovl.ee |
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Association of Flemish Cities and Communities |
www.vvsg.be |
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National Association of the Portuguese Municipalities |
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Association of Local Authorities in Lithuania |
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Central Union of Municipalities and Communities of Greece |
www.kedke.gr |
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National Association of Municipalities in Republic of Bulgaria |
www.namrb.org |
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Regional Association of Municipalities „Central Stara Planina” |
www.rso-csp.org |
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Regional Association of Municipalities "Trakia" |
www.ram-trakia.org |
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Regional Association of Municipalities “Yantra” |
www.ram-yantra.eu |
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Union of Bulgarian Black Sea Local Authorities |
www.ubbsla.org |
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Association of Danube River Municipalities “Danube” |
www.adodunav.org |
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Association of Rhodope Municipalities |
www.arm-bg.org |
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Regional Municipalities Association "Maritza" |
www.maritza.info |
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Association of Southwest Municipalities |
http://aswm.net |
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Association of South Central Region Municipalities “Hebar” |
www.hebar-bg.org |
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Association of Mountain Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria |
www.bulmonte.org |
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National association “Legal initiative for Local Government” |
www.nalilg.org |
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Association of Towns and Municipalities of Slovakia |
www.zmos.sk |
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Association of Slovenian Municipalities and Towns |
www.skupnostobcin.si |
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Danish Regions |
|
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Local Government Association |
www.lga.gov.uk |
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Improvement and Development Agency for Local Government |
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Local Government Information Unit |
www.lgiu.gov.uk |
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Research institutions |
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Service central de la statistique et des études économiques |
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Financial Institute for Regional Development |
www.qca.pt/english/ifdr/default.asp |
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Catholic University of Mons |
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University of Namur |
www.fundp.ac.be |
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University of Liège |
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Lithuanian Institute of Public Administration |
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Foundation for Local Government Reform |
www.flgr.bg |
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Center for the Study of Democracy |
www.csd.bg |
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Institute of Local Administration |
www.ita.org.gr |
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Catholic University of Leuven |
www.uclouvain.be |
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Networks |
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International Network for Studies in Technology, Environment, Alternatives, Development |
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