Strasbourg, 12 May 2014                                                                            GT-GD(2014)1

Item 4 of the agenda

EUROPEAN COMMITTEE ON DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE

(CDDG)

WORKING GROUP ON DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE
(GT-GD)

AD HOC TERMS OF REFERENCE BY THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS

Secretariat Memorandum

prepared by the

Directorate of Democratic Governance

Democratic Institutions 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 their 1190th meeting on 5 February 2014, the Ministers’ Deputies held a debate on the future of the Strategy for Innovation and Good Governance at local level and took the following decision:

“The Deputies invited the European Committee on Democracy and Governance (CDDG), in co-operation with the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and the other bodies participating in the Stakeholders’ Platform for Innovation and Good Governance, to examine ways of simplifying the tools and procedures used for the promotion of the twelve principles of good democratic governance at local level, as well as means to increase their visibility, and to report to their Rapporteur Group on Democracy (GR-DEM) by the end of 2014”.

At its 1st meeting on 3-4 April 2014, the CDDG agreed to instruct a working group to study these issues and to submit proposals to the Committee at its second meeting.

Action required

According to the above mentioned ad hoc terms of reference, the GT-GD is invited to:

-     examine the promotion and the visibility of the Strategy for Innovation and Good Governance at local level (see document GT-GD(2014)2);

-     examine the implementation of the European Label of Governance Excellence and, if appropriate, ways of reforming the procedures of the label (see document
GT-GD(2014)3).

The GT-GD may wish to carry out these tasks in the light of the CDLR report on “Initiatives to strengthen good governance, capacity building and citizen’s democratic participation at local level” which resulted from the Seminar on Good Governance (Strasbourg, 17-18 June 2013) and presents conclusions and ideas for promoting good governance.