Strasbourg, 18 September 2012                                                       CDLR-Bu(2012)25

                                                                                             Item 6 of the agenda

BUREAU OF THE

EUROPEAN COMMITTEE ON LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEMOCRACY

(CDLR)

CDLR REPORT ON POSSIBLE SYNERGIES AND CO-OPERATION WITH OTHER INTERNATIONAL ACTORS IN THE FIELD OF LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEMOCRACY AND CROSS-BORDER CO-OPERATION

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

According to its Terms of reference for the period 2012-2013 the CDLR is requested to prepare a report to the Committee of Ministers on possible synergies and co-operation with other international actors in the field of local and regional democracy and cross-border co-operation.

The CDLR requested the Secretariat at its meeting on 2-3 April 2012 to draft a list of proposed actors. CDLR members were invited to provide information for possible cooperation. The Secretariat has not received any suggestions.

The Secretariat has prepared the draft appearing at the Annex to this paper for consideration by the Bureau. The list only includes intergovernmental organisations with which the Council of Europe and the CDLR in particular have or could develop working relationships in the field of local and regional democracy. It does not mention associations (such as the Council of European Municipalities and Regions, the Assembly of European Regions or the Association of European Border regions) that enjoy observer or participatory status with the CDLR and therefore have already working relationships with it.

Action required

The Bureau is invited to comment on the attached preliminary paper and give instructions to the Secretariat as to its finalisation (discussion by the CDLR at its next meeting on 19-20 November 2012).

APPENDIX

CDLR report on possible synergies and co-operation with other international actors in the field of local and regional democracy

and cross-border co-operation

Introduction

According to its Terms of reference, the CDLR is expected to follow the work of other international actors in the field of local and regional democracy and cross-border co-operation, report to the Committee of Ministers on possible synergies and co-operation with these actors and develop such synergies on the basis of the decisions taken by the Committee of Ministers.

From this perspective the Secretariat drafted a list with possible actors to develop synergies and co-operation which could be divided into three main field of cooperation:

1      (E) Democracy/ (E) Governance

2      Cross-border cooperation

3      Human rights at local level (depending on the decisions to be taken by the Committee of Ministers on the follow-up to the Kyiv ministerial conference).

1          (E) Democracy/ (E) Governance

The CDLR should follow the work of other organizations in the field of local and regional democracy. The CDLR could pay special attention to the development of E-Democracy and (E)-Government in Europe and could contribute with its experience to the development of standards in the field of e-government and e-governance respecting the principles of good democratic governance.

Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA)

The FRA helps to ensure that fundamental rights of people living in the EU are protected. It does this by collecting evidence about the situation of fundamental rights across the European Union and providing advice, based on evidence, about how to improve the situation.

The FRA is developing in the context of the Joined-up Governance project a draft toolkit on joined-up governance in fundamental rights. The focus of this toolkit may be complementary to the 12 principles of Good Governance at Local Level. Having regard to the CDLR’s decision to have human rights at local level on the agenda of the Kyiv ministerial conference, the secretariat established some working contacts that led to a formal invitation being issued to the FRA to attend the Kyiv conference. The Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform was subsequently invited to contribute to the FRA’s toolkit and did so. The toolkit to be published soon by the Agency takes the Centre’s contributions into account.

According to contacts, the FRA would like to explore the possibilities for closer and sustainable cooperation with the CDLR on this topic.

OSCE

OSCE is a longstanding partner of the Council of Europe in a number of fields of work. Political dialogue between the Committee of Ministers and the OSCE’s Secretary General takes place at regular intervals. In the field of local and regional democracy, practical cooperation is engaged in a number of countries where the OSCE has “missions” or “presences” with a view to jointly promoting the democratisation and decentralisation agenda(s) of the countries concerned. At central OSCE level, the main partner is the Office of the Coordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities. In 2010-2011 the Coordinator was associated with some SEE regional event managed by the Centre of Expertise and the Centre is invited to contribute to the concluding event of the 20^th OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum (Prague, 13-14 September 2012) whose theme is Promoting security and stability through good governance.

Given the focus of both Organisations on good governance, it would be worthwhile to explore further the possibilities for sustainable cooperation in this field. Good governance is a crucial condition for security and cooperation. The OSCE could benefit from the experience of the CDLR and OSCE experience could feed into CDLR’s work and outputs.

European Commission: EU Digital Agenda

The CDLR could increase its participation in the activities on the EU Digital Agenda. If the CDLR would decide to increase cooperation with the EU on this topic it should focus on the development of (additional) fundamental standards to guarantee good democratic governance in the field of e-government. This would be beneficiary for CDLR members who are also member of the EU, but also for the other members by guaranteeing the development of equal standards for the whole of Europe.

Several items of the Digital agenda[1] could be of interest of the CDLR, namely:

§  Action 64 on accessibility of public sector websites

§  Action 89 on e-government and e-governance

§  Action 91 on cross-border public services

§  Action 97 on the internationalisation of internet governance.

UN Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM)

The Division assists the United Nations intergovernmental policies by providing information on and policy-oriented analysis of the role of public administration, public finance and public economics in the development process via the United Nations Committee of Experts in Public Administration. It contributes to the identification of options, mechanisms and practices instrumental in strengthening key governance institutions, in promoting the rule of law, in increasing the participation of citizens in the decision-making process and in creating an enabling environment for public sector effectiveness.

The CDLR could establish more sustainable contacts within DPADM to benefit from analysis, recommendations and publications.

UNDP

UNDP is a specialised agency of the United Nations working at country and regional level to promote human development. In the implementation of its programmes for democratic stability, the Secretariat and the Centre of Expertise have often cooperated with UNDP in individual countries (Albania, Moldova, Ukraine...) and at regional level (several regional conferences co-organised). The Centre of Expertise has also produced two tools with the Bratislava based UNDP Regional Centre for Europe and CIS: in 2006 the one entitled "Towards a Modern Local Government Association” (with VNG International) and in 2010 another on “Inter-municipal Co-operation” (with LGI). The good working relations established between the Council of Europe and the UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and CIS have been formalised in a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the CoE Secretary General and the UNDP-RBEC Director in 2009.

UNDP is interested in promoting good governance at local and central level making use of or reference to Council of Europe’s principles and tools. It could become an interesting partner of the CDLR, having regard in particular to the fact that UNDP is active in several member states of the Council of Europe.

 

2          Cross-border Cooperation

The CDLR made already several contributions to the development of cross-border cooperation in Europe. Several instruments and models to facilitate cross-border cooperation have been developed. However, there are still aspects of this cooperation which are open for improvement. It is suggested that the harmonization of domestic legal norms to enable or facilitate cross-border cooperation is one of those policy areas which could contribute more from the expertise of the CDLR.

BENELUX Union

The CDRL cooperated already on several topics with the BENELUX Union. The CDLR could explore together with the BENELUX if and how CDLR members could benefit from combined activities to overcome the obstacles of harmonizing legal frameworks in cross boarder areas.

Interact

Interact is a European Union programme created for assisting territorial cooperation programmes. Interact provides practical support, training and advice to European territorial cooperation programmes. INTERACT also provides guidance to cooperation programmes between Member States and Candidate and Potential Candidate Countries, co-financed by the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA).

The CDLR could establish more sustainable contacts with Interact to ascertain whether and to what extent their respective activities could benefit from closer cooperation (for instance, in relation to the setting up of EGCTs under EU Regulation 1082/2006 and ERCGs in accordance with Protocol No 3).

3          Human rights at local level

Local and regional authorities are in many cases among those authorities whose policies and actions would have an impact on the enjoyment of fundamental rights by those under their jurisdiction (for instance, as regards housing, pre-school education, primary social and health care, etc.). Some international bodies already work in this field.

Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA)

The FRA developed in the recent years an indicator for human rights at national level. The FRA also recognizes that in a number of cases local and regional authorities have to deal with the practical aspects of the protection of human rights.  Therefore the FRA would like to develop an additional indicator for human rights at local level. Interest has been expressed for discussing with the CDLR how the development and use of this indicator could benefit from the technical knowledge of the CDLR. 

The FRA would also like to explore further cooperation on Roma integration at local level with the same focus on providing technical support to those authorities who have to deal with these issues. 

OSCE (ODIHR)

ODIHR is active throughout the OSCE area in the fields of election observation, democratic development, human rights, tolerance and non-discrimination and rule of law.

Cooperation between the Council of Europe and OSCE/ODIHR in the field of local and regional democracy takes place in the framework of the Agreement concluded between the two Secretaries-General in November 2005. In execution of the Agreement, the Council of Europe Secretariat informs and wherever possible cooperates with OSCE field missions (in SEE states) in the implementation of country or regional assistance programmes. ODIHR helps in coordinating regular stock-taking and information meetings between OSCE field offices and Council of Europe staff. An ODIHR senior official attended the latest meeting of the CDLR.

The CDLR as such could envisage having a dialogue with ODIHR (or its representatives) in order to foster the understanding of respective roles and identify as appropriate areas for cooperation.

Modalities

The report should explore in depth the roles, working methods and strengths of the various bodies and Organisations mentioned above with a view to finding areas for cooperation in areas where joining forces would result in faster and more effective outcomes for the benefit of member states, local authorities and citizens.

One important aspect of this exploratory work would be the identification at national (domestic) level of the actors (senior civil servants, experts) involved in the work of other Organisations with which cooperation would be worthwhile so that effective coordination starts at national (domestic) level at the same time as it is pursued at international level. This coordination is one of the measures advocated by the Kiviniemi Report.

The CDLR should adopt guidelines for its members to follow in this respect. It could also select a few (maximum three) rapporteurs from among its members with a view to sharing the workload of contacting the various Organisations/bodies and developing proposals. A consultant could also be hired.