Strasbourg, 20 September 2012                                                       CDLR-Bu(2012)19

                                                                                             Item 6 of the agenda

BUREAU OF THE

EUROPEAN COMMITTEE ON LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEMOCRACY

(CDLR)

REFLECTION DOCUMENT ON POSSIBLE CDLR ACTION FOLLOWING CM DECISIONS ON CONGRESS’ TEXTS

Secretariat Memorandum

prepared by the

Directorate of Democratic Governance, Culture and Diversity

Democracy, Institution-Building and Governance Department

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 its previous meeting, the Bureau of the CDLR, pursuant to the Committee’s terms of reference enabling it to raise issues and make proposals to the Committee of Ministers, had an exchange of views on possible follow up action to Committee of Ministers’ decisions pertaining to Congress’ recommendations.

It requested the Secretariat to make preliminary suggestions as to what action, if any, it might recommend to the Committee of Ministers in relation to the latter’s decisions on Congress’ monitoring recommendation in order to facilitate the institutional dialogue in order to increase the effects of the recommendations.

The Secretariat has accordingly considered the “monitoring” recommendations adopted by the Congress at its latest session (20-22 March 2012) and the decisions adopted by the Committee of Ministers thereupon (at the 1142nd meeting of the Deputies).

The analysis consists of (a) a short presentation of the Deputies’ decisions, (b) a table listing all the topics covered by Congress’ recommendations with a cross-reference to the country(ies) concerned and (c) some suggestions as to possible action.

Action required

The Bureau is invited to discuss the information and comments provided in the Appendix and give guidance to the Secretariat as to the further refining of this document for consideration at the next plenary session of the CDLR.

APPENDIX

Possible CDLR action following CM decisions on Congress’ texts

a)           Analysis of the decisions taken by the CM regarding the 22nd Plenary Session of the Congress (Strasbourg, 20-22 March 2012)

Recommendation 319 (2012) – “Local and regional democracy in the Czech Republic”[1]

         

          a.       CM took note of Recommendation 319 (2012);

b.            CM agreed to bring it to the attention of the authorities of the Czech Republic.

The recommendations made by the Congress are mainly focusing on further (possible) improvements. Among others the Congress recommends the development of a specific legal provision for consulting local and regional authorities on matters concerning them directly, which is missing in the Czech system (article 6c) and the introduction of a more coordinated and simplified system for administrative supervision (6d).

Recommendation 320 (2012) – “Local and regional democracy in Germany”[2]

          a.       CM took note of Recommendation 320 (2012);

          b.       CM agreed to bring it to the attention of the authorities of Germany.

 

The recommendations (article 6) are focusing on the financial autonomy of local authorities and the participatory rights of associations of local authorities and are more of a political than technical nature.

 

Recommendation 321 (2012) – “Local democracy in Lithuania”[3]

          a.       CM took note of Recommendation 321 (2012);

          b.       CM agreed to bring it to the attention of the authorities of Lithuania.

The Congress made several recommendations of technical nature (article 6) concerning the institutional and financial autonomy of local authorities (articles 6 a, b, d), the competences of the Association of Local Authorities of Lithuania (article 6 c) and the follow-up to the opinion of the Venice Commission (article 6 i). 

Recommendation 322 (2012) – “Local and regional democracy in the Republic of Moldova”[4]

          a.       CM took note of Recommendation 322 (2012);

b.       CM agreed to bring it to the attention of the authorities of the Republic of Moldova.

The Congress made recommendations (article 5 c, d, e, j) concerning the financial autonomy, supervision and consultation of local authorities with regard to the principles of the Charter of Local Self-Government.

Recommendation 323 (2012) – “Local and regional democracy in Portugal”[5]

          a.       CM took note of Recommendation 323 (2012);

          b.       CM agreed to bring it to the attention of the authorities of Portugal.

The recommendations mainly concern the position and competences of the associations (article 6 a, b) as well as the impact on local authorities of measures taken to redress the country’s economy (article 6 c).

Recommendation 324 (2012) – “Local and regional democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina”[6]

          a.       CM took note of Recommendation 324 (2012);

b.       CM agreed to bring it to the attention of the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Congress made several recommendations of technical nature addressing the institutional and financial autonomy of local authorities and inter-municipal cooperation.

b)   Table with the list of issues/countries

Congress Recommendations 22nd session	Czech Republic	Germany	Lithuania	Moldova	Portugal	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Recognize the principle of subsidiarity by law			x
Improve procedures for the consultation of local authorities	x	x	x	x	x
Ensure that associations can represent all municipalities in domestic courts			x	x	x
Merging municipalities to improve the quality of local democracy	x
Promote inter-municipal cooperation						x
Draw up reform plans on decentralisation						x
Establish a ministry of Local Authorities responsible for decentralisation and reform				x

Adopt a legal framework for recognising municipal property						x
Allow elected representatives some authority in the planning policy			x
Take steps to end the intimidation of local elected officials				x
Safeguard local authorities' right to decide on their own staff policy				x
Revise legislation in order to ensure the participation of national minorities on local level			x
Ensure that financing local authorities is corresponding with the delegated tasks	x	x	x	x		x
Establish standards and criteria for concomitant financing of local authorities		x	x			x

Permit local authorities to collect more local  taxes				x	x
Simplify and improve the system of administrative supervision	x		x	x
Consider setting up a national stability board in order to streamline budgeting procedures					x
Consider setting up special aid programmes or procedures to strengthen the economic competitiveness					x
Full ratification of the Charter	x				x
Sign and ratify the Additional Protocol	x	x	x	x	x	x
Encourage citizens participation			x
Take measures to ensure the free movement of people and goods				x
Relaunch the debate to give Vilnius a particular status			x
Implement new law on the status of the capital city,  Chisinau				x

Revise the constitution in accordance with opinion 308/2004 of the Venice Commission						x
Amend the constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in light of Congress recommendation 219 (2007)						x
Continue the discussion on revising the constitution of the Republika Srpska in order to grant a special status to the city of Banja Luka						x
Bring the Statute of the city of Mostar and the Electoral Law of the Federation in line with Article 3 of the Charter						x
Call on the expertise and assistance of the Congress in drawing up the reform programmes						x

c)           Preliminary considerations

In addition to the information presented above the following may be added.

The Committee of Ministers has taken note of the Congress’ recommendations and transmitted each of them to the country concerned. No specific invitation is made to pay attention to or follow Congress’ recommendations.

According to the procedure adopted by the Congress (Resolution 307 (2010)[7]) “the recommendation shall be transmitted to the Committee of Ministers for debate and transmission to the authorities of the state concerned and to the Parliamentary Assembly”. Furthermore, the implementation of the recommendation “shall be followed up by the member states concerned and by the Congress as well as the intergovernmental entities of the Council of Europe competent in the area of local and regional democracy, inter alia within the framework of the ongoing dialogue established with the authorities during the visit”.[8]

The Committee of Ministers has not requested the CDLR to provide advice or take action on any of the abovementioned recommendations. It has not held any debate on the recommendations referred to above, limiting itself to dispatching them to the countries concerned.

The CDLR could therefore consider whether, in performing its role of technical advisory body to the Committee of Ministers, it could assist the Committee of Ministers in the preparation of the debate(s) on the “monitoring” recommendations and in any follow up thereto.

As regards the preparation of the debate(s), the CM could, prior to placing the “monitoring” recommendations on its agenda, and possibly following an exchange of views in the GR-DEM, request the CDLR to prepare a contribution for it to use when examining the “monitoring” recommendations.

This contribution could be either country-based or thematic (or both).

The CDLR could have exchanges of views with the country(ies) concerned on the issues raised in the relevant Congress’ recommendation(s) with a view to clarifying the scope of the Congress’ remarks and the country’s own position. The CDLR could inform the CM of the content and outcomes of this (these) discussion(s) and of possible solutions or measures identified (agreed upon) during the discussion.

The CDLR could also consider those issues that are raised in connection with more than one country. These issues may point to a theme that deserves to be discussed in depth and to which responses could be found in existing Council of Europe’s acquis and tools – such as those of the Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform.

In both cases, since discussions will take place in the CDLR, the Congress will be associated with and contribute to them.

Possible solutions to be mentioned in any CDLR contribution to the CM could be:

1. Action to be undertaken by or within the CDLR, such as:

 

-       rapid response questionnaire (if the country wants to know more precisely what practice other member states follow on a given issue),

-       workshop (if the country wishes to compare approaches and discuss options),

-       peer-review (if the country wishes other member states to assess more in depth its situation and come up with proposals based on their own experience).

2. Cooperation with the countries concerned based on:

-       the existing acquis of the Council of Europe (Council of Europe treaties, CM recommendations, guidelines, strategy for innovation and good governance),

-       the tools of the Centre of Expertise such as legal expertise and capacity building programmes (financial benchmarking, local government associations, public ethics, human resources management, leadership, local strategic planning, performance management, etc.).

The CDLR contribution could be discussed in the GR-DEM (with the participation of the Congress) prior to any decision being taken by the Committee of Ministers.

Having regard to the stipulation in Congress Resolution 307 quoted above as to the follow up to be given “by the intergovernmental entities competent in the area of local and regional democracy”, the CDLR could suggest to the CM to entrust it with any follow up action it might consider appropriate.