MCL-16(2009)7

                  Council of Europe Conference

of Ministers responsible

for Local and Regional Government

                “Good local and regional governance in

              turbulent times: the challenge of change”

                16th Session, Utrecht, 16 - 17 November 2009

Present challenges
of local and regional democracy


 

What are the most important challenges governments face
 in local and regional democracy today?

Introduction

This document serves as a introduction to and background paper for the debate ministers are to have at the 16th session, prior to the vote by which they will prioritise the challenges the Utrecht Agenda is to address.

This document first briefly recalls (I) the role of the Ministerial Conference in shaping the Agenda for the inter-governmental co-operation in the Council of Europe in the field of local and regional democracy and (II) the common objective agreed in Budapest (2005), and then (III) invites a discussion on the challenges local and regional democracy faces in Europe and on the Utrecht Agenda as a whole.

I.         The evolving role of the Ministerial Conference: the Budapest/Valencia and       Utrecht Agendas

With its adoption of the Budapest Declaration and Budapest Agenda in February 2005, the Ministerial Conference for the first time took on a more strategic and agenda-setting role. It identified and adopted the common objective of “delivering good local and regional governance” and agreed that it should be pursued by each member State individually and, in support of these individual efforts, through co-operation within the Council of Europe. 

The transformation of the Budapest Agenda as adopted by the Ministerial Conference into the guiding document for Council of Europe’s annual intergovernmental programmes of activities in the field of local and regional democracy was achieved firstly through the decision of the Third Summit of the Council of Europe’s Heads of State and Government to include the Budapest Agenda into the Warsaw Action Plan (May 2005) and finally through the decisions of the Committee of Ministers to implement the Warsaw Action Plan.

The Budapest Agenda was based on the four main themes on which the intergovernmental co-operation in the field of local and regional democracy is established: Legal framework and institutional structure, Democratic participation and public ethics, Local and regional finance and public services, Transfrontier and interterritorial co-operation. For each theme, the Budapest Agenda identified a number of “challenges”. Each challenge was linked to a number of “actions” guiding the activity and the output to be arrived at through the intergovernmental co-operation in the Council of Europe (in the CDLR).

At their 15th session (Valencia, October 2007), the Ministers reviewed progress under the Budapest Agenda, prioritised the challenges and actions and revised some individual actions.


As the Budapest Agenda arrives at its conclusion at the 16th Session of the Conference, ministers will, in order to pursue the objective of delivering good local and regional governance and in line with the recommendations of the Kiviniemi report, need to adopt a new Agenda for the coming years 2010-2013. They will also have to request the Committee of Ministers to ensure the implementation of the Utrecht Agenda, as far as it concerns the activities to be undertaken by the Council of Europe in the field of local and regional democracy, through the Organisation’s annual programmes of activities.

It is envisaged that the new Utrecht Agenda (see document MCL-16(2009)12, Section III) cover not only the activities of the European Committee on Local and Regional Democracy (CDLR), but also the following four strands of action:

-        the Strategy for Innovation and Good Governance at Local Level and the Twelve        principles of good democratic governance at local level;

-        capacity-building at local and regional level through the Centre of Expertise for Local   Government Reform;

-        legislative and policy assistance and co-operation programmes; 

-        the European Local Democracy Week.

II.       “Delivering good local and regional governance”

As recalled above, ministers in Budapest agreed to pursue the common objective of delivering good local and regional governance, both at the level of the individual member States and in their co-operation within the Council of Europe.

Pursuing this objective could be described, in general terms, as working on two interconnected but distinct series of fundamental relations: "vertical" relations between central-government bodies and local and regional authorities, on the one hand, and "horizontal" relations between citizens and local and regional authorities, on the other hand.

Relations between central government and local and regional authorities essentially involve implementation of the principles of subsidiarity and division of powers between tiers of government, together with the allocation of financial resources through taxation, fees for specific public services and specific allowances or general or specific grants. Each member State thus needs a framework for local, and as the case may be, regional self-government. The European Charter of Local Self-Government and the Helsinki principles provide the agreed European standards for this framework.

Within the framework, individual local and regional authorities operate exercising their right of self-government. Here relations between citizens and local and regional authorities, the horizontal relations mentioned above, are at play. Good democratic governance, with its twelve principles on which the Strategy for innovation and good governance at local level is based, is the guiding normative concept for these relations.


The international dimension of local and regional democracy is manifested particularly through transfrontier and interterritorial co-operation between the local and regional authorities of several States. This dimension may affect the two fundamental relations mentioned above.

In summary it may be said that pursuing the Budapest objective means that each member States should have a system of local and, where established, regional government made up of a framework that meets the requirements of the European Charter of Local Self-Government and the Helsinki principles, and of individual local and regional authorities which enjoy the right of local/regional self-government and provide good democratic governance to all citizens.

Pursuing the Budapest objective is furthermore based on the recognition that no existing system of local and regional government can remain completely unchanged for long periods of time and still be successful. All member States have seen and continue to see the need for their systems of local and regional government to evolve in response to continuous new challenges. It follows that in order to be successful, systems of local and regional government must be regularly reviewed and adjusted to the changing needs resulting from these challenges.

III.      Prioritising the challenges to be addressed through the Utrecht Agenda

The Utrecht Conference is the occasion for ministers to identify and exchange views on what they see as the biggest challenges to their respective systems of local and regional government. The vote by ministers on their respective priorities will give both clear picture of the needs of each member State and a (collective) result to focus the programming of the Council of Europe’s intergovernmental activities in support of member States.

Voting will take place to prioritise 13 challenges carefully identified through an in-depth process of preparation carried out by the CDLR and enhanced by the important initiatives taken by the Netherlands, host of the 16th Session.

Thus, through a range of questionnaires, including those of which the results appear in documents MCL-16(2009)4b Addendum I-III, CDLR gathered information from member States about the challenges their systems of local and regional government face and the actions they are taking.

Furthermore, at the most welcome initiative of the Netherlands, two important preparatory events were organised, namely the Enschede conference (2-3 April 2009) on “Innovation for Good Local and Regional Governance – a European challenge” bringing together distinguished members of the academic community and practitioners, and the Maastricht conference (6-7 July 2009) on “Practical Approaches towards Effective European Transfrontier Co-operation”, bringing together practitioners  (see documents MCL-16(2009)7, Addendum I and Addendum II respectively).


The list of challenges drawn up on the strength of this preparatory work reads as follows:

1. Addressing the impact of demographic/migration trends

2. Managing the impact of the current financial/economic crisis

3. Addressing the low level of democratic participation in public life at local and regional level

4. Reducing the complexity and cost of the current system of local and regional government and enhancing its efficiency

5. Addressing the growing divide between rural and urban areas

6. Addressing territorial inequalities between and within local and regional authorities

7. Enhancing the capacity for and quality of governance in local and regional communities or authorities

8. Making it easier for local and regional authorities to co-operate across frontiers

9. Addressing the expansion of big conurbations at the expense of medium/small sized   cities and villages

10. Strengthening social cohesion and acting against the increase of political and religious radicalisation

11. Fighting corruption in local and regional authorities

12. Addressing the growing impact of the digital divide on citizen participation

13. Improving access to public services delivered at local and regional level

                  

This list appear also appears in document MCL-17(2009)8, which sets out the agreed modalities for the vote at the 16th Session.

During the discussion in Utrecht, ministers will have the opportunity to take the floor to explain what they see as their greatest challenges. In so doing they may also seek to convince their colleagues to take a similar view and to vote along similar lines in order that these challenges end up high on the list resulting from the vote.

Furthermore, they will have the opportunity to reflect more widely on the content of the draft Utrecht Agenda prepared by the CDLR (MCL-16(2009)12, pp.14-17).