AER Conference on “Regions of the Black Sea: Creating success together”
Paris, 15 February 2010
Speech by Ludmila Sfirloaga, President of the Chamber of Regions - Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe
Madam President,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure for me to speak to you today, representing the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, and I would like to thank Mrs Michèle Sabban, President of the Assembly of the European Regions, for inviting the Congress to take part in this event.
The Congress has been a long-standing partner of the AER, and it is in the spirit of this partnership that I wish to present the Congress' contribution to your initiative, which is to bring together the regions of the Black Sea basin.
As a representative body of local and regional authorities standing for more than 200,000 communities from the 47 member states of the Council of Europe, the Congress attaches a tremendous importance to fostering co-operation between cities and regions across our continent. This co-operation transcends national borders and brings communities into direct contact with each other, allowing dialogue and interaction to take place between them.
The Congress' Chamber of Regions, of which I am President, acts in particular to promote transfrontier dialogue and co-operation between regional authorities, the sharing of experience, and any initiatives to encourage interregional co-operation.
In the Congress, we are convinced that the times when governments could regulate territorial development alone are over. Today, this work has shifted in a large proportion to local and regional communities.
We believe that it is transfrontier and inter-territorial co-operation between communities themselves that provides an excellent opportunity for boosting territorial development, achieving greater territorial cohesion, and helping to reduce regional disparities.
The Madrid Convention on transfrontier co-operation, adopted by the Council of Europe in 1980 and complemented since then by three additional protocols, establishes a sound legal basis for initiatives of interregional collaboration. I am pleased to say that the third Additional Protocol was opened for signature by Council of Europe member states in November last year. The aim of this Protocol, to which the Congress gave its full support, is exactly to facilitate the setting up of Euro-regional co-operation groupings in Greater Europe.
However, any legal framework will remain a dead letter without concrete initiatives for action bringing specific and tangible results. I see this Conference as a new step to create a momentum and dynamic for such initiatives in a particular geographic area of Europe: the Black Sea basin. I also see it as an event which should take into account the Black Sea Euroregion, created in September 2008, at the initiative of the Congress.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The theme of this Conference is “Regions of the Black Sea: Creating success together”. This is an excellent title, reflecting the need for joint action, the creation of synergies and a common platform in order to make sustainable development of the Black Sea region a resounding success. From this viewpoint, the Black Sea Euroregion, set up with the strong support of the Congress a year and a half ago, can be counted as our own “success story”.
In fact, the Black Sea Euroregion is the continuation of the Congress' initiative which led in 2006 to the establishment of the Adriatic Euroregion. That same year, the Congress decided to launch the Black Sea Euroregion initiative. Our idea was to contribute to improving the quality of life and the standard of living of the population living in the area by establishing a common and structured association.
The Adriatic and Black Sea Euroregions are specific and innovative platforms of co‑operation for several reasons:
- they bring together and promote cross-border co-operation between communities from both European Union and non-EU member countries;
- they involve representatives of national level and, of course, regional and local authorities which do not necessarily share common borders, not only territorial, but also maritime borders.
The objective of the Congress was to reinforce local and regional co-operation in specific areas of common interest and concern, in particular problems of coastal management, environmental protection, migration, promotion of tourism, transport development and use of energy sources.
The two Euroregions seek to improve an exchange of experiences, including good governance practices, between local and regional authorities; to develop their competences and management skills and to engage them in specific co-operation and management of specific projects, using European and international financial instruments and mechanisms for their implementation.
On the basis of the successful experience of the Adriatic Euroregion, the Congress took up the challenge of the local and regional authorities of the Black Sea maritime basin which wanted to develop direct inter-municipal and inter-regional co-operation projects.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Black Sea basin has long been a geographic area of priority for Congress activities. It has become one of the most sensitive regions in Europe from a political, socio-economic and environmental point of view. It is a crossroads of cultural, commercial and energy routes along the East-West and North-South axes; an area shared by many different cultures, religions and ethnicities; a meeting point of Europe and Asia and a juncture where Europe's political East meets the West; finally, an area of both great potential for co‑operation and of festering “frozen” conflicts. In addition, through the Danube and the Mediterranean basins, this area is closely linked to central and eastern Europe in economic, social and environmental terms.
In other words, the high economic, social, environmental, and geo-strategic stakes represented by the Black Sea basin mean it is imperative to build much closer co‑operation between cities and regions; to counterbalance tensions by dialogue and joint projects between local and regional authorities and to improve the prosperity, stability and security of their populations.
With this in mind, the Congress organised three international conferences: in Constanta (Romania) in March 2006, in Samsun (Turkey) in November 2006 and in Odessa (Ukraine) in June 2007. The Black Sea Euroregion was then formally created in Varna in September 2008 where the draft Constituent Act and the draft Statutes were signed. Representatives of local and regional authorities from 5 countries (Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, and Romania) agreed to create the Euroregion in the form of a non-profit association. The partners agreed to establish the Euroregion's legal seat in Constanta and to the possibility of creating a network of local "contact points" established in Samsun, Odessa, Varna, Batumi, Cahul, and Idjevan. Of course, besides "founding members", other members will be welcome and other contact points of the network can be established in the future, upon the request of new partners.
The Euroregion was conceived for launching co-operation projects to be funded by European, national and voluntary contributions. So far, the Euroregion has launched a series of projects (on environmental protection, port networks, sustainable tourism and exchanges of cultures and traditions). I will give you more information about these projects tomorrow in my statement on behalf of the President of the Euroregion.
The Euroregion now provides a co-operation framework at local and regional level that will supplement those provided by the Organisation of the Black Sea Economic Co-operation (BSEC) at governmental level, and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation of the Black Sea Economic Co‑operation (PABSEC), at parliamentary level.
The Congress is now promoting action to strengthen the Black Sea Euroregion, by supporting its enlargement to include other municipalities and regions of this area, in particular from Turkey, Ukraine and Russia. I would like to use this occasion to call on the participants of this Conference to support these projects and, if they wish, to be involved in future co-operation projects.
We also hope that the efforts of organisations and institutions representing regional authorities like the Assembly of European Regions will take due account of the efforts of the Black Sea Euroregion. I am sure that I express the wish of Mr Constantinescu, President of the Black Sea Euroregion, if I draw the attention of the Assembly of European Regions to the existence of the status of observer to the Euroregion. Should this status be agreed by both sides, it would allow synergies to be developed between your own initiatives and the existing inter-regional platform of co-operation, the Black Sea Euroregion.
Dear Madam President,
As you know, the Congress and its Chamber of Regions are ready to strengthen and expand their co-operation with the Assembly of European Regions. I see today's event as an important step towards our increased co-operation and look forward to our continued dialogue and many more initiatives for the benefit of European regions and regional communities.
Let us join our forces, and let us begin with the area of such overbearing importance for the future of interregional co-operation – the Black Sea.
Thank you.