Rapporteur: François PAOUR (France, L)

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

After preparing the Draft European Landscape Convention, the Congress, in its Recommendation 40 (1998), asked the Committee of Ministers to adopt this convention and open it for signature during the Council of Europe's "Europe - a common heritage" Campaign (October 1999 - October 2000).

In reply to this request, the Committee of Ministers asked the Cultural Heritage Committee (CC-PAT) and the Committee for the Activities of the Council of Europe in the field of Biological and Landscape Diversity (CO-DBP) for an opinion on the draft convention prepared by the Congress.

In early 1999, the CC-PAT (17 February) and the CO-DBP (19 April) examined this text and gave a very positive opinion. Consequently, in July 1999, the Committee of Ministers decided to set up a Select Committee of Governmental Experts and to instruct it to finalise the draft Convention.

In particular, the Committee of Ministers asked the Committee of Experts to pay special attention to Articles 10 and 12 concerning the question of the monitoring of the application of the Convention at international level and the question of the recognition of landscapes of European significance.

In taking this decision, the Committee of Ministers showed that it was in favour of the draft Convention but that it also had some reservations with regard to the idea of introducing new bodies and new instruments for European co-operation.

The Committee of Governmental Experts set up by the Committee of Ministers met three times (in September and November 1999 and in January 2000). The Congress and the Parliamentary Assembly attended its meetings as observers.

Once it had completed its terms of reference, the Committee of Experts forwarded a revised Draft European Landscape Convention to the Committee of Ministers via the CC-PAT and the CO-DBP. Despite the concerns voiced by the Committee of Ministers with regard to the questions concerning Articles 10 and 12, the Committee of Experts proposed that an ad hoc committee on the Convention be set up to monitor its application and that the principle of the recognition of landscapes of European significance be upheld.

While examining the Committee of Experts' conclusions at their joint meeting on 10 March 2000, and before forwarding them to the Committee of Ministers, the CC-PAT and the CO-DBP discussed the draft convention which has attracted a broad consensus.

However, some delegations, in particular the German one, had serious reservations, particularly with regard to Articles 10 and 11 which provide for the setting up and specific tasks of an ad hoc committee on the Convention, which would be responsible for monitoring its application. The German delegation proposed that the monitoring be entrusted to the Council of Europe's existing intergovernmental committees and that the Congress should be involved in these activities.

Further comments were made by other national delegations with regard to the recognition for landscapes of European significance and on the need to increase the number of ratifications required for the Convention to enter into force.

Despite these comments, the CC-PAT and the CO-DBP did not wish to amend the text drawn up by the Committee of Experts and forwarded it as it stood to the Committee of Ministers with general and specific comments (which now form part of the report of the joint meeting).

At its meeting on 30 March 2000, the Committee of Ministers took note of the final Draft European Landscape Convention prepared by the Committee of Experts and of the comments of the CC-PAT and the CO-DBP but did not examine these documents in detail.

Following an initial discussion on the financial problems of setting up new committees within the Council of Europe, the Committee of Ministers decided to forward the Draft Convention to the Assembly and the Congress for an opinion and to re-examine the question in detail at one of its next meetings.

On this basis, the Parliamentary Assembly adopted its Recommendation […(2000)] in which it reiterated its support for the Draft Convention and for its rapid adoption by the Committee of Ministers.

Furthermore, in order to take account of the opinion voiced by some of the delegations to CC-PAT and CO-DBP and the Committee of Ministers, the Assembly, in consultation with the Bureau of the Congress, proposed that:

a) the monitoring of the application of the Convention be entrusted to the Council of Europe's existing intergovernmental committees¹ and that the Congress should be involved in this exercise;

b) any reference to the recognition of landscapes of European significance be deleted;

c) the number or ratifications necessary for the Convention to enter into force be increased from 5 to 10.

The line taken by the Parliamentary Assembly appears to be the right one, as it is difficult to imagine that the Committee of Ministers, given the recent changes in the Council of Europe's structures and objectives to bring them into line with the new situation in Europe, might agree to set up new committees which might give rise to additional costs.

It was therefore agreed that the idea of entrusting the monitoring of the Convention to existing Council of Europe committees working in the same field as the Convention - and on which all future Contracting Parties could be represented - would make it possible to keep costs very low.

The Congress' participation in the monitoring of the application of the Convention would be a new concept reflecting the fact that European local and regional authorities now have increasing responsibilities in protecting, managing and planning landscapes.

The proposal to delete any reference to the recognition of landscapes of European significance and to increase the number of ratifications necessary for the Convention to enter into force meets the repeated demands of States which are in favour of the Convention but which, for political reasons, cannot accept some of its provisions.

In view of the Parliamentary Assembly's opinion, the positions taken by the intergovernmental committees concerned and the Committee of Ministers, but also with a view to ensuring that the adoption of the Convention is not held up by discussions concerning the financial or administrative aspects, the Congress invites the Committee of Ministers to adopt:

a) the Draft European Landscape Convention proposed by the Select Committee of Experts:

i. with the exception of the provisions concerning the monitoring of the application of the Convention, replacing the articles providing for the establishment and the functions of an ad hoc committee on the convention ("European Landscape Committee") by articles which entrust this monitoring to the competent Council of Europe committees (to date the CC-PAT and the CO-DBP), in consultation with the Congress (and also with regard to the "European Landscape Award" )

ii. after amending Article 14.2 so as to increase to ten the minimum number of Contracting Parties necessary for the Convention to enter into force.

b) the draft explanatory report on the European Landscape Convention drawn up by the Select Committee of Experts, replacing the paragraphs providing for the establishment of an ad hoc committee on the convention ("European Landscape Committee") by new paragraphs which are consistent with the amendments proposed in paragraph a) above;

With a view to facilitating the Committee of Ministers' task, the Congress proposes that the articles concerned in the Draft Convention prepared by the Committee of Experts (Appendix I to this Opinion) be redrafted. The wording of these articles is identical to that proposed by the Parliamentary Assembly.

A new wording of the draft explanatory report of the Convention prepared by the Committee of Experts is also proposed (Appendix II to this Opinion).