Strasbourg, 28 June 2010                                                              CDLR-Bu(2010)15

Item 10 of the agenda

                                                                                                                      

BUREAU OF THE

EUROPEAN COMMITTEE ON LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEMOCRACY

(CDLR)

FOLLOW-UP TO THE KIVINIEMI REPORT:

STEPS AND MEASURES AGREED IN THE UTRECHT DECLARATION

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

This document contains an overview of the steps and measures to strengthen the intergovernmental co-operation, adopted in the Utrecht Declaration – Part II,  further to the report on “How to enhance the work of the Council of Europe in the field of local and regional democracy” (The Kiviniemi report). For the purposes of facilitating the discussion they have all been brought together in a table that appears below.

At its last meeting in March 2010, the CDLR decided that the list of steps and measures should be discussed in each of the CDLR’s sub-committees. The sub-committees took note of the steps and measures agreed in the Utrecht Declaration in order to follow-up on the report by Minister Kiviniemi. Particular emphasis was put on the importance of ensuring awareness and co-ordination through appropriate communication inside the ministries responsible for local and regional government, as well as with other ministries, notably the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The sub-committees had concrete proposals for action to make and these proposals are included in the document below.

Action required

The Bureau members are invited to examine the table below and taking account of the proposals emanating from the CDLR’s sub-committees, to prepare concrete proposals for consideration and adoption by the CDLR at its meeting in October 2010.


Measures set out in the

Utrecht Declaration

Proposals for action by the

CDLR

In order to improve the effectiveness of our international co-operation, to review working methods and enhance communication channels at domestic level, so that:

(a)      relevant “line” ministries are informed about and if appropriate contribute to our work on local and regional democracy and colleagues responsible for foreign affairs are fully briefed about the local and regional democracy issues on the Committee of Ministers’ agenda in order that appropriate instructions can be given;

§  ensuring awareness and co-ordination through appropriate communication inside the ministries responsible for local and regional government

§  appropriate communication with other ministries, notably the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

§  contacts with the Permanent representations of their countries during their stay in Strasbourg

(b)      in our ministries, appropriate synergies are developed and parallelisms are avoided when we shall discuss issues related to local and regional democracy as members of international organisations and structures;

§  share reports from the CDLR and sub-committees meetings

(c)      decisions by international organisations and structures contrary to the acquis of the Council of Europe in the field of local and regional democracy are avoided; 

§  ensuring awareness and co-ordination through appropriate communication inside the ministries responsible for local and regional government and other relevant ministries

(d)      in the various international organisations and structures of which our countries are members, a coherent approach is adopted and information between member States about possible implications before decisions are taken in these other fora is exchanged, as appropriate, in consultation with local and regional authorities;

§  ensuring awareness and co-ordination through appropriate communication channels


In the spirit of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Council of Europe and the European Union

To invite the European Commission to share information with the Council of Europe on respective approaches to good governance and to make use of the Council of Europe’s know-how in the design of programmes and initiatives pertaining to local and regional democracy and good governance;

§  reinforce links with the High Level Group on Governance and the EU, and to invite a representative of the Belgian EU-Chairmanship to attend the Bureau meeting for exchanging of views on ensuring synergies between the two.

§  If appropriate, propose issues for consideration by EU-CoE quadripartite meetings

In order to enhance the visibility and transparency of our work

To encourage the European Committee on Local and Regional Democracy to develop, in partnership with our respective ministries a comprehensive communication strategy at national and European level that enhances visibility and transparency, seizing the opportunities that modern information technologies provide;

  • pursue the CDLR work on communication

In order to improve the capacity of the Council of Europe as a whole, we invite the Committee of Ministers

To speed up the modernisation of the budgetary process aiming at simplification, multi-annuality and devolution, and

To streamline the approach to cooperation with non-member states keeping in mind the core functions of the Council of Europe;

§  to gather information on developments and make proposals as appropriate

In order to give full effect to the Kiviniemi report

As concerns strong ownership by member States

To make greater use of the Council of Europe’s acquis, tools and services in the field of local and regional democracy and good governance;

§  translate the Council of Europe’s acquis on national languages

§  share reports from the CDLR and sub-committees meetings

§  share experience

To take the necessary steps to ensure that the priorities of the communication strategy are followed up at domestic level;

§  co-ordination and communication through appropriate channels


To designate from our respective ministries representatives of sufficient seniority and capacity – both in substance and working languages – to sit in the intergovernmental co-operation bodies, share information, enter into negotiations and make commitments, as the case may be;

§  to be taken up in the course of preparation of the Kiev Conference (questionnaire?)

 

To let our representatives to take on the function of rapporteur (adviser) in multi-lateral activities where their know-how of, and experience in national policies and intergovernmental co-operation alike can be put to fruition;

To consider favourably providing the additional resources necessary for hosting meetings of the European Committee on Local and Regional Democracy, its sub-committees and other events in our respective countries;

To step up the dialogue with our respective national delegations to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities to ensure mutual awareness about issues and our positions;

To ensure that in our dialogue with national associations of local and regional authorities, the Council of Europe and its acquis and work are taken fully into account;

To give positive consideration to requests for the secondment of competent officials to the Council of Europe Secretariat and to facilitate the organisation by the Council of Europe of dedicated summer/winter schools for officials and representatives from local and regional government;


As concerns the efficient cooperation with other international players

To ensure that the Council of Europe and its member States are kept informed of the work relevant to local and regional democracy, we undertake individually and with others in other international organisations and structures;

To promote, as members of other international organisations and structures to which we respectively belong, partnerships and co-operation between the Council of Europe and the OECD as concerns local and regional finance, the European Union as concerns Eurostat, its regional policy and its partnerships and initiatives, the OSCE and UNDP;

To make use of - and strongly encourage other actors in our respective member States, including our colleagues of foreign affairs, to make use of the Council of Europe’s experience and know-how – which includes the Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform - when considering and designing assistance programmes in the field of local and regional democracy and good governance;

§  ensuring awareness and co-ordination through appropriate communication inside the ministries responsible for local and regional government and other ministries, notably the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

§  share reports from the CDLR and sub committees meetings

§  share experience

As concerns organisational flexibility and efficiency

To enter into discussions with our respective colleagues of foreign affairs and the Committee of Ministers about introducing in the Council of Europe true multi-annual budgets and decentralisation of responsibilities in order that the best possible use be made of available resources for chosen priorities;


As concerns opening up

To promote the involvement of civil society in the work of the Council of Europe in the field of local and regional democracy and good governance, particularly as it leads to concrete action at local level and to invite the Conference of INGOs to promote awareness about the procedures and structures for the involvement of NGOs;

To aim towards making the Council of Europe’ expertise available for use outside of its borders, once its performance in serving the needs of member States enables and allows it to do so.