Chamber of Regions

23^rd SESSION

CPR (23)1

17 October 2012

Chamber of Regions activity report (March 2012 – October 2012)

presented by: Mr Herwig van Staa, Austria (EPP/CD[1]), President of the Chamber

General activities of the Chamber of Regions

The major event organised by the Chamber after the last plenary session was the International Conference on ”Regions with legislative powers in Council of Europe and European Union - challenges and strategic goals“ organised in Innsbruck on
1 June 2012. Several important topics were discussed, including regionalisation in Europe, and regional actions in the fields of democracy, transparency and human rights, and cross-border cooperation. Special attention was devoted to the development of various systems of regional democracy (federal countries, regionalised countries, regions with special status) and to the representation and role of regional governments and parliaments within the Council of Europe and its intergovernmental bodies.

On 27 July 2012 the Chamber of Regions co-organised in Tirana an International Seminar on “The state of regionalisation in Albania: Progress and Challenges”. The Chamber was represented in the programme of the Seminar by the Secretary General of the Congress, Andreas Kiefer, by Professor Francesco Palermo as expert, and by myself. The seminar can be considered successful and can be considered a step forward towards regionalisation in Europe. During my visit to Tirana, I met Mr. Sali Berisha, the Albanian Prime Minister, who expressed his full support to the Congress.

During the 22nd Session (14 March 2012) the Chamber organised three round tables.

A round table on “Recent Developments of Regionalisation in Europe”. The guest speakers were: Mr. Urs Wüthrich-Pelloli, Switzerland (R, SOC), Vice-President of the Assembly of European Regions; Mr. Karl-Heinz Lambertz, Belgium (R, SOC), Minister-President, German-speaking Community; Mr. Stane Vlaj, Professor at the Ljubljana University; Ms. Svetlana Orlova, Russian Federation (R, EPP/CD),
Vice-President of the Federation, Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, and Mr. Abdelkébir Berkia, Member of the Parliament of Morocco. We looked at the evolution of regionalisation in three member states (Belgium, Slovenia and Russia) and in Morocco. The round table made it clear that regionalisation in Europe is advancing but the pace of progress is very varied.

A second round table took place on “Regional governance: efficiency, transparency and control”. Several distinguished speakers took part in the round table:
Mr. Stephen Taylor, President of EURORAI, (the European organization of regional finance audit institutions); Mr. Christophe Rosenau, President of the Regional Court of Auditors of Alsace and Mr. Reinhard Krismer, Director of the Regional Court of Auditors of the Tyrol. We acknowledged that regions have limited financial resources due to the present economic crisis. This is why proper management and transparency of costs are more vital than ever. The work that regional auditors undertook is essential for ensuring efficiency and transparency of regional governments. As a conclusion of the round table we acknowledged that the regional audit offices play a crucial role to help regions optimise their expenditure and combat corruption.

A third round table had transfrontier co-operation as their major subject.
Mr. Alexander Mikhaylov, Governor of Kursk Region and Mr. Yuriy Chmyr, Head of Sumy Regional Administration, presented an interesting example of inter-regional cooperation: the “Yaroslavna” Euroregion, recently created between these regions of the Russian Federation and Ukraine.

Cooperation with European associations of regions

Concerning the cooperation with the Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies (CALRE) and the Conference of European Regions with Legislative Power (REGLEG), on 31 May 2012, in the framework of the Innsbruck Conference, we held a meeting with the two organisations and we put the basis for reinforcing cooperation with them in the future. Regional institutional models and regional democracy will be the main areas of the cooperation.

On 21 September  both Ms. Barbara Toce, Italy (L, SOC), member and Rapporteur of the Congress on the crisis and I took part in the Summit on “The Crisis and the Regions”, organised by the Assembly of European Regions (AER) in Pescara (Italy).

The Chamber was also represented by Secretary General, Andreas Kiefer, in the General Assembly of the Assembly of European Regions in Strasbourg, in
October 2012.

Together with the AER and the Alsace Region, on 10 October 2012 the Chamber organised a Conference on “Regionalisation and Democracy” in the framework of the Council of Europe World Forum of Democracy. Mr. Jean-Pierre Liouville, France
(R, SOC), Vice-President of the Lorraine Region and Mr. Leen Verbeek, Netherlands (R, SOC), Queen’s Commissioner for the province of Flevoland, were the key speakers for the Chamber.  

Future activities

In addition to the report on regional legislation, and action to combat sexual exploitation and abuse against children, and to the report on the governance of macro-regions, all to be adopted by the Chamber to-day, the Chamber will examine 3 additional reports in 2013: a report on Regions with special status (Governance Committee) whose Rapporteur is Mr. Bruno Marziano, Italy (R, SOC) ; a report on Inter-regional cooperation (Governance Committee) whose Rapporteur is
Mr. Stewart Dickson, United Kingdom (R, ILDG); and a report on migrants’ access to regional labour markets (Current Affairs Committee) whose Rapporteur is
Mr. Philippe Chesneau, France (R, SOC).

 

The Chamber also launched an important initiative on recent developments in regionalisation in Europe which will be prepared by the Governance Committee and adopted by in 2013. 

In the near future, the Chamber will also take part in the General Assembly of the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) in Berlin on 8-11 November 2012; in the General Assembly of the Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies in Mérida (Spain), 28-30 November 2012, and in the next General Assembly of the Conference of European Regions with Legislative Power (REGLEG).