Strasbourg, 6 September 2010 LR-FS(2010)6

EUROPEAN COMMITTEE ON LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEMOCRACY

(CDLR)

COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS ON LOCAL AND REGIONAL

FINANCE AND PUBLIC SERVICES

(LR-FS)

MEETING REPORT

28 – 29 June 2010

1. Opening of the meeting

Mr Alfonso Zardi, Head of the Department of Local and Regional Democracy and Good Governance, opened the meeting on behalf of the Secretary General and welcomed the participants (the list of participants appears in Appendix I).

2. Election of the Chair and Vice-Chair

Mr Markku Mollari (Finland) was elected to the Chair.

3. Adoption of the agenda

The agenda, as set out in Appendix II, was adopted.

4. Programme of activities of the LR-IC for 2010-2013

- Draft list of activities

- Target groups and check list for development of communication action plans

The Committee first discussed the document prepared by the Secretariat (LR-FS(2010)1) in general and then reviewed it point by point. The document included the activities stemming directly from the Utrecht Declaration and activities proposed by member states in the replies to the questionnaire, supplemented with proposals by the Bureau and CDLR.

The Committee reviewed all the activities listed in the document, and agreed on the objectives, impact, time-frame, and rapporteurs responsible for the implementation of the activities. It agreed to use the framework document to describe and monitor the implementation of the activities, and instructed the Secretariat to prepare the updated version of the document incorporating the comments and amendments.

An in-depth debate was held regarding the outputs within the activity on Report on participatory budgeting. In a tour de table members reported on experiences and developments in their own country with regard to this issue. The general conclusion was that the interest for this issue is significantly higher than the experience. The envisaged report should provide insight of the legislation and identification of practices of participatory budgeting in the member states. However, the first step would be to organize a workshop with concrete examples of participatory budgeting at local level. Such a workshop could be held as part of a forthcoming meeting.

This output will be implemented in co-operation with the LR-GG Committee. The LR-FS Committee appointed Ms Annie Biefnot-Vanboterdal (Belgium) as its rapporteur. She will work together with Ms Neza Vodusek (Slovenia), the LR-GG rapporteur. The Secretariat was asked to ensure the co-ordination. Finally, the Committee decided to pay particular attention to the communication aspects of this activity. It was also suggested that the workshop might be held as part of a joint meeting between the two committees.

On the basis of this in-depth review the LR-FS adopted its programme of activities 2010-2013 for the implementation of the Utrecht Agenda. In doing so, it took care to reflect the priority that Ministers had, through their voting at Utrecht, given to the challenges and to identify outputs that meet the highest level of support.

5. Economies of scale / The policy choice between promoting co-operation between or amalgamation (merger) of local authorities

- Presentation on the Nordic experience with inter municipal partnership

Following the workshop held at the previous LR-FS meeting (10-11 December 2009) on the policy choice between promoting co-operation between or amalgamation (merger) of local authorities, the Committee invited Mr Antti Moisio from the Finnish Ministry of Finance to share the Nordic countries’ experience on inter municipal co-operation. Mr Moisio presented the main features of the Nordic local government, the sub-national government structure and inter-municipal co-operation, as well as the tasks, organisation and financing of the inter-municipal co-operation. He focused on the Finnish case of municipal partnerships and presented the Government’s plans to reform the system of municipal co-operation. Other delegations (Belgium, Iceland, Luxembourg) also shared experiences in their own countries on inter-municipal co-operation and amalgamation.

The Committee agreed that this topic is of high importance to member States and fits in well with the challenges identified in the Utrecht Agenda. Whilst different systems are in place in each member State and each should find the solutions most appropriate to the challenges with which local authorities are confronted, the exchange of information and experience between member States is very valuable.

The Committee therefore agreed to pursue activity in this area with presentations/workshops at the meetings. This could lead to the drawing up of a document that would bring together in a clearly structured fashion the full range of issues, questions and options that can be identified on the basis of the material and discussion at the workshops. This document could then be the basis for a manual for policy makers and/or could be used to supplement or update Recommendation Rec(2004)12 on the processes of reform of boundaries and/or structure of local and regional authorities.

6. Follow-up to the Kiviniemi report: steps and measures agreed in the Utrecht Declaration

The Committee took note of the steps and measures agreed in the Utrecht Declaration in order to follow-up on the report by Minister Kiviniemi. Particular emphasis was put on the importance of ensuring awareness and co-ordination through appropriate communication inside the ministries responsible for local and regional government, as well as with other ministries, notably the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Committee was informed of the concrete suggestions for action already made by the other two sub-committees LR-GG and LR-IC, and agreed that members and the Committee would bear these measures in mind in the conduct of future work. The Committee encouraged members to have contacts with the Permanent representations of their countries during their stay in Strasbourg.

7. Central funding of new competences for local authorities

The Committee examined in depth the revised version of the text proposals and discussion points for guidelines for the central funding of new competences for local authorities as prepared by the consultant expert Mr Jørgen Lotz and contained in document LR-FS(2010)4. All proposals and suggestions from the members were integrated into the text, and the Committee agreed on the next steps. The document will be submitted to the CDLR for adoption and for further decision on whether the guidelines should be turned into a draft Recommendation by the Committee of Ministers.

8. Conference on impact of the economic downturn on local government across Europe and the Responses to it (11-12 October 2010)

Further to the decision by Ministers at Utrecht that a review conference was to be held in 2010, the CDLR decided at its meeting in March 2010, to organise the Conference on the impact of the economic crisis on local government and the responses to it. The conference will be held in Strasbourg on 11 and 12 October (morning), preceding the 46^th meeting of the CDLR, and will be organised in co-operation with LGI (Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative of the Open Society Institute).

Professor Ken Davey from LGI informed the Committee on the objectives, themes, target participants and expected outcome of the Conference. He also suggested that the title of the Conference be changed to put more emphasis on the notion of “responses to recession”, the main objective of the Conference being the comparison of experiences and practical examples of what the member States are doing to respond to the crisis. Four workshops are planned during the conference on the following topics: (1) Inter-governmental finance; (2) Efficiency and costs reduction; (3) Promoting economic recovery; and (4) Coping with the social impacts of the recession. Each of the workshop will run twice so participants will have opportunity to attend two thematic sessions.

In addition to CDLR members, Conference participants will include representatives of Ministries of Finance, local government associations, other international organisations and technical specialists contributing to workshops, as well as the Congress and the Parliamentary Assembly.

The conclusions of the conference will be presented to the CDLR for consideration in the planning of the next Ministerial Conference in 2011.

The draft programme will be finalised by the CDLR Bureau at its meeting on 5 July 2010.

Professor Davey also shared with the Committee the first results from the survey on the impact of the economic downturn on local government across Europe.

9. Other business

The Secretariat informed the Committee about the Peer Review that was carried out in Reykjavik (Iceland), 23-25 June 2010. The Peer Team consisted of peers from Netherlands, Denmark and Norway as well as consultant experts form Denmark and Germany. The Team worked for three days with the Icelandic Joint Commission on local finance reform. Mr Halldarson (Iceland) told the Committee that this first test of the CDLR Peer Review tool was a success from the viewpoint of the main beneficiary. The CDLR will be informed and will examine the results of this first Peer Review at its meeting in October 2010.

Other members were encouraged to consider using the Peer Review as a new instrument for mutual learning between member States.

10. Date of the next meeting

The next meeting will be held in Strasbourg on 6-7 December 2010.

APPENDIX I

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

MEMBERS / MEMBRES

CHAIRMAN / PRESIDENT

Mr Markku MÖLLÄRI, Senior Officer, Department for Municipal Affairs, Ministry of Finance, PO Box 28, FIN – 00023 GOVERNMENT

Tel: (358) 9 160 32210; Fax: (358) 9 160 32230; E-mail: [email protected]

BELGIUM / BELGIQUE

Mme Annie BIEFNOT-VANBOTERDAL, Directeur général, Chargée de mission auprès du Gouvernement Wallon, 18/19 Rue de la Seuwe, 7000 MONS

Tél: (32) (0) 65 22 06 84; Fax: (32) (0) 65 22 06 99;

E-mail: [email protected]

M. Xavier KALBUSCH, Ministerium der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft, Gospert 1, 4700 EUPEN

Tél : (32) (0)87 59 63 00 ; Fax : (32) (0)87 55 28 91 ; E-mail : [email protected]; [email protected]

CYPRUS / CHYPRE

Mr Georgios ANTONIADES, Famagusta District Officer

Tel: (357) 22 867 673; Fax: (357) 22 867 654; E-mail: [email protected]

CZECH REPUBLIC / REPUBLIQUE TCHEQUE

Mr Petr FEJTEK, Department for Effective Public Administration, Unit for Regulatory Reform and Public Administration Quality, Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic, nám. Hrdinů 3, 140 21 Praha 4
Tel.: + 420 974 816 267; Fax: + 420 974 816 807; E-mail: [email protected]

FINLAND / FINLANDE

Mr Antti MOISIO

E-mail : [email protected]

ICELAND / ISLANDE

Mr Johannes Finnur HALLDORSSON, Office for Local Government, Ministry of Transport, Communication and Local Government, Hafnarhúsinu v/Tryggvagötu, 150 REYKJAVIK

Tel: (354) 545 8232; E-mail: [email protected]

ITALY / ITALIE

Apologised for absence/ Excusé

LUXEMBOURG

M. Claude NILLES, Conseiller de direction, Ministère de l’Intérieur et à la Grande Région, 19 rue Beaumont, L – 1219 LUXEMBOURG

Tél : (352) 2478 4681; E-mail : [email protected]

MOLDOVA

Mme Liuba IVANCIUCOVA, Chef adjoint de la Direction générale de la synthèse budgétaire, Ministère des Finances de la République de Moldova, 7 rue Cosmonauţilor, MD – 2005 CHISINAU

Tél :+ 373 22 243793 ; E-mail : [email protected]

NETHERLANDS / PAYS-BAS

Apologised for absence/ Excusé

NORWAY / NORVEGE

Apologised for absence/ Excusé

PORTUGAL

Mrs Maria Alexandra SANTOS CARAPETO, Direction Générale des Collectivités Locales, Rua José Estevão, 137-7°, P – 1169-058 LISBOA

Tel : (351) 213 133 000/057; E-mail: [email protected]

RUSSIAN FEDERATION / FEDERATION DE RUSSIE

Mr Mikhail VINOGRADOV, Deputy Director, Department of International Relations and Cross-Border Cooperation, Ministry of Regional Development of the Russian Federation, ul. Stroiteley 8, building 2, 119311 MOSCOW

Tel: (7) 495 980 2547, ext. 35003; Fax: (7) 495 930 6413;

E-mail: [email protected]

SLOVENIA / SLOVENIE

Mr Franci ZOHAR, Office for Local Self-Government and Regional Policy, Slovenska cesta 54, 1000 LJUBLJANA, Slovenia

Tel: + 386 1 43 41 12; E-mail: [email protected]

SWEDEN / SUEDE

Apologised for absence/ Excusé

UNITED KINGDOM/ ROYAUME-UNI

Ms Victoria JONES, Team Leader, European and International Democracy and Local Governance, Department for Communities and Local Government, 3/J1, Eland House, Bressenden Place, LONDON SW1E 5DU, GB

Tel: (44) 303 44 42585; E-mail: [email protected]

PARTICIPANTS / PARTICIPANTS

CONFERENCE OF INGOS OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE / CONFERENCE DES OING DU CONSEIL DE L’EUROPE

M. Rémy BERTHIER, 2 rue des Marronniers, 67310 Wasselonne, France

Tél : 06 30 52 34 53 ; E-mail: [email protected]

OBSERVERS / OBSERVATEURS

ASSEMBLY OF EUROPEAN REGIONS (AER) / ASSEMBLEE DES REGIONS D'EUROPE (ARE)

Mrs Agnès CICCARONE, Senior Policy Coordinator, Standing Committee on Institutional Affairs, Assembly of Europe Regions, 6 rue Oberlin, 67000 STRASBOURG

Tél: 33 3 88 22 74 32; E-mail: [email protected]

OTHER PARTICIPANT / AUTRE PARTICIPANT

HOLY-SEE / SAINT-SIEGE

Apologised for absence/ Excusé

EXPERT-CONSULTANTS / CONSULTANT-EXPERTS

Professor Jørgen LOTZ, Sonderengen 66, 2870 DYSSEGAARD, Denmark

Tel : (45) 39 42 21 92 ; E-mail: [email protected]

OTHER / AUTRE

Prof. Ken DAVEY, Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative (LGI), Haymesbrook - Haymes Drive, Cleeve Hill – Cheltenham GL52 3QQ, UK

Tel : +44 (0) 124 25 26 232; E-Mail: [email protected]

SECRETARIAT

Mr Alfonso ZARDI, Head of the Department of Local and Regional Democracy and Good Governance / Chef du Service de la démocratie locale et régionale et de la bonne gouvernance - Directorate of Democratic Institutions/ Direction des institutions démocratiques, Directorate General of Democracy and Political Affairs / Direction générale de la démocratie et des affaires politiques

Tel : +33 (0)3 88 41 39 06; Fax : +33 (0)3 88 41 27 84; E-mail : [email protected]

Mr Frank STEKETEE, Administrator / Administrateur – Directorate of Democratic Institutions/ Direction des institutions démocratiques, Directorate General of Democracy and Political Affairs / Direction générale de la démocratie et des affaires politiques

Tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 39 61; Fax: +33 (0)3 88 41 27 84; E-mail: [email protected]

Mrs Vesna ATANASOVA, Administrator / Administratrice – Directorate of Democratic Institutions/ Direction des institutions démocratiques, Directorate General of Democracy and Political Affairs / Direction générale de la démocratie et des affaires politiques

Tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 31 68; Fax: +33 (0)3 88 41 27 84;

E-mail: [email protected]

Mrs Gabriela MATEI, Administrator / Administratrice - Division of Programmes for Democratic Stability / Division des Programmes pour la Stabilité démocratique – Directorate of Democratic Institutions/ Direction des institutions démocratiques, Directorate General of Democracy and Political Affairs / Direction générale de la démocratie et des affaires politiques

Tel: (33) 3 88 41 54 73; Fax: (33) 3 88 41 27 84; E-mail: [email protected]

APPENDIX II

AGENDA

1.	Opening of the meeting by the Secretariat
2.	Election of the Chair and the Vice-Chair
3.	Adoption of the agenda	[LR-FS(2010)OJ1 rev.]
4.	Programme of activities of the LR-FS for 2010-2013: - Draft list of activities - Target groups and check list for development of communication actions plans	[LR-FS(2010)1] [LR-FS(2010)2]
5.	Economies of scale / The policy choice between promoting co-operation between or amalgamation (merger) of local authorities - Presentation on the Nordic experience with intermunicipal partnerships.
6.	Follow-up to the Kiviniemi report: steps and measures agreed in the Utrecht Declaration	[LR-FS(2010)3]
7.	Central funding of new competences for local authorities	[LR-FS(2010)4]
8.	Conference on the impact of the economic downturn on local government across Europe and the Responses to it (11-12 October 2010)	[LR-FS(2010)5]
9.	Other business
10.	Date of the next meeting (6-7 December 2010)