International Colloquy

“The Citizen at the Heart of Innovation at Local Level”

Bordeaux (France) 24-25 June 2010

Speech by Andreas KIEFER, Secretary General of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Council of Europe

Mr President,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The theme of this Colloquy is highly relevant to the work of both the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and our governmental partner, the European Committee on Local and Regional Democracy (CDLR), which is an intergovernmental arm of the Council of Europe in the field of local and regional self-government.

The link between these two dimensions – the national government and the local and regional dimension – is both symbolic and crucial for good governance of our society. It is symbolic because the development of local and regional self-government, this landmark of European democracy, began with the decision of member states of the Council of Europe in 1956 to establish the European Conference of Local Authorities.

In fact, it was here, in Bordeaux, where Jacques Chaban-Delmas launched his initiative in 1953 that led to the creation of the European Conference of Local Authorities, predecessor of the Congress of the Council of Europe, the Conference of which he was the first President.

However, the territorial dimension was born not only out of the political decision of national governments, but also out of their conviction that local and regional democracy constitutes the very foundation of any democratic society, and ensures the stability of democracy as a whole. This is why the link between the national and the local and regional is crucial for the good democratic functioning, and this is why local and regional action represents, must represent direct interest for national governments.

In this respect, innovation at local level can and must serve as a boost for national action, and must contribute to national policy-making on good governance. However, innovation should not be confined to a technocratic approach, dealing exclusively with management techniques and the introduction of IT tools and the like.

Any action for innovation at local and regional level needs first and foremost the involvement and commitment of citizens, and must focus on creating tools and processes for such involvement. The citizen must be at the heart of innovation at local level and must be, at the same time, the engine for innovation. Our innovative action must lead to empowering our citizens and enabling them to take this action further. Enabling them to exercise the right to self-government in the most practical and tangible way. This is the reason why this action should be decentralised. The participation of so many mayors and municipal councillors in this conference is proof that this is the right approach.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today, local and regional communities are acquiring new responsibilities, accumulating experience and “know-how” of what works on the ground, and developing social power through their proximity to citizens and their responsibility for public services. Governments increasingly recognise that solutions to even the most difficult problems require involvement of territorial communities and their political leaders. Global challenges facing society today – climate change, migration, social and economic upheavals, demographic change – all call for responses from the local and regional level. New problems in an interdependent political environment require new solutions, and here local and regional authorities have been showing remarkable ingenuity experimenting with what fits best in their communities.

Experimentation is indeed a tool of good governance. There is plenty of experimentation going on in our communities, and there is a much greater potential for more innovation. What is needed is a framework to channel this creativity into action that brings concrete results. We in the Congress are convinced that there are three keys that would make innovation both more effective and lasting.

The first key is having a sound framework for such action, a legal basis to make sure that the governance we have is accountable, accessible, transparent, ethical and therefore efficient and effective.

The second key is citizen participation. Involving the local population in decision-making is a sure way of tapping into their great potential for innovative ideas and approaches. Learning about their needs and expectations is also one way of placing people at the heart of our action. Finally, it also means ensuring transparency, efficiency and high ethical standards in local government action.

Last but not least, the third key is a healthy network of vertical and horizontal power relationships: vertical, with regional and national governments and horizontal, with other local communities, also across borders. Inasmuch as governments need the input of local communities into national policy-making, local authorities need political and financial support for their action from the national and regional level.

Allow me to elaborate on these three points.

We are convinced that the basic element of a legal framework for innovation is the European Charter of Local Self-Government, this first and benchmark international treaty for local democracy. This Charter, which will mark its 25th anniversary this year, recognises the right of local communities to self-government and establishes the principles necessary for the independent, effective and efficient functioning of local authorities. Since January 2007, the principles of the Charter also apply to this country, France, following the Charter’s ratification by the French authorities.

In addition, last November, the Charter was complemented with an additional Protocol, affirming the right of citizens to participate in the affairs of a local community, thus creating a link to the second key element for innovation, which is citizen participation.

Another element of the framework provided by the Council of Europe is the European Strategy for Innovation and Good Governance at Local Level, elaborated by the European Committee on Local and Regional Democracy, CDLR, and endorsed by the European Ministers responsible for Local and Regional Government in 2007. This Strategy, which deals essentially with relations between local authorities and citizens, is aimed at fostering citizens’ involvement in community affairs and unleashing their potential for innovation. The Strategy establishes 12 principles for local innovation and good governance, and served as a launch pad for introducing the European Label of Good Governance.

The European Label of Good Governance is an award to municipalities for innovative approaches and initiatives to improve local governance. Three tools for municipalities have been developed within the European Label initiative: a self-assessment benchmark of the candidate municipality’s governance, as well as two questionnaires for an opinion survey on the candidate municipality’s governance, one for elected members of municipal councils, and the other for citizens.

These tools will help to implement the Label of Good Governance in 2010 in the 7 pilot countries, including France.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The second key to innovation is, as I have already mentioned, citizen participation. The Congress of the Council of Europe has been strongly advocating action to increase citizen participation at local level. Our own innovation in this field is the European Local Democracy Week, held every year in October since 2007. This is an opportunity for local politicians and community residents to meet and learn about each other’s work and needs. Most importantly, it is a way to engage people in decision-making and to affirm their commitment to community affairs and local democracy. I invite your municipalities to join this year’s edition of the Week, which will be dedicated to local action against climate change.

One way of encouraging the involvement of local residents with a foreign background and then benefitting from their different experiences is, for example, setting up consultative councils of foreign residents, which is another initiative of the Congress. A growing number of European cities are setting up such councils, and I encourage you to study and follow this practice.

Other municipalities, such as in my native country of Austria, for example, are introducing the obligation of holding regular citizen assembly meetings – twice a year in Land Salzburg, for instance – which give an opportunity to all community residents to exchange their views and wishes with regard to municipal management and development.

Modern technologies also offer excellent opportunities for citizen participation in the framework of what we call “e-democracy”. This e-participation can include citizen consultations and input into decision-making, e-voting and e-inclusion for vulnerable or disadvantaged groups, and finally, e-services provided electronically. The Council of Europe Forum for the Future of Democracy, held in Madrid in October 2008, provided truly innovative insights into the use of e-tools for national and local authorities. This use of such tools at local level was also the subject of a Congress recommendation.

Finally, the third key is partnerships and co-operation. On the one hand, national and regional governments should effectively involve their local authorities as partners for innovation. This translates, among other things, into changing the traditional framework of governmental finance for local communities, to enable investments into innovative local proposals and projects.

At the same time, exchanges and co-operation between communities, both within the country and across borders, will make local innovative action much more effective – by spreading innovation that attracts investments, or by borrowing new ideas from others to complement your own. Indeed, economic realities often do not follow political and administrative borders, while political structures do not follow economic and social realities. This is why promoting transfrontier co-operation and networking between European municipalities and regions is yet another important axis of Congress activities.

This type of co-operation and joint action offers great opportunities for innovation and for creating partnerships – not only among elected representatives, but also among their administrations, among municipal staff whose experience is of great value for mounting innovative action.

In this context, innovative inter-municipal co-operation has been taking on a growing importance. It was particularly boosted by the current economic crisis and the need to find innovative solutions. For example, an increasing number of municipalities are joining their forces to use the economies of scale, and some countries are looking into creating urban agglomerations, such as communautés urbaines in France. In this country in particular, the trend is towards institutionalising these communautés urbaines through direct elections of their governing bodies.

However, joining forces should not necessarily mean creating bigger agglomerations in which smaller communities will lose their competences and autonomy. Inter-municipal co-operation on the basis of equal partnership represents a sound alternative to amalgamation and mergers, as the example of some European countries shows.

At the regional level, transfrontier co-operation models between regions, in the form of Euroregional co-operation groupings, or Euroregions, are gaining ground. The Council of Europe played the pioneering role in this domain, when its member states recognised the importance of this co-operation already in 1980, by adopting the Madrid Convention on transfrontier co-operation.

Additional Protocols to this Convention provide for the possibility of co-operation agreements also between non-bordering communities, while the most recent, 3rd Protocol makes easier the creation of Euroregional co-operation groupings between EU and non-EU countries. For its part, the Council of Europe Congress was instrumental in setting up the Adriatic Euroregion and the Black Sea Euroregion, both platforms for local and regional co-operation regardless of borders or the EU membership.

I am pleased that France signed the 3rd Protocol last November, and I would like to use this opportunity to call for its early ratification by national authorities of this and other member states of the Council of Europe, to allow for its entry into force. I would also like to invite local and regional authorities to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by it – opportunities for co-operation and innovation.

I should also mention the new concept of multilevel governance, which was developed by the EU Committee of the Regions. Its objective is to instigate a change from a hierarchical approach of subordination, to which some countries are attached, to mutual respect of responsibilities attributed to the different levels of government. Drawing conclusions that are appropriate to the respective realities in the 27 EU and 47 Council of Europe member states is also an important source for innovation in co-operation between the four levels: European, national, regional and local. 

I strongly hope that this Colloquy will give a new boost to our search for innovative models and solutions at local level, serving the needs of our citizens, and I look forward to our discussions. The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, for one, and the Council of Europe as a whole, remains your committed partner in these efforts.

Thank you.