Andreas Kiefer: “Congress reform will allow more members to participate in local and regional democracy monitoring”

Elected Secretary General of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in March 2010, Andreas Kiefer, sees the reform of the Congress, currently in the consultation stage, as a means of giving greater prominence to its special expertise and strengths, in the interests of the whole of Europe.  “The Congress has a number of unique assets to offer in the European landscape, first and foremost its European Charter of Local Self-Government, whose application it evaluates through its monitoring and local and regional election observation missions”, he explains in an interview.

Interview – 03.08.2010

Question: The reform is geared to refocusing the work of the Congress on monitoring and election observation. What impact will this have on the Congress’ activities and organisation?

Andreas Kiefer: Today, the countries of Europe expect international issues to be dealt with by one or two specific bodies and not by every single one.  For example, global warming is a matter for the United Nations and the European Union (E.U.), but not primarily for the Council of Europe.  What the Congress has to offer in the European landscape is a host of unique assets, first and foremost its European Charter of Local Self-Government, whose application it evaluates through its monitoring and local and regional election observation missions.  This is what we will be underlining and developing, but of course it will mean a reduction in other activities as additional resources are not available.

Question: How, in practice, will the Congress operate following the adoption of the reform, scheduled for this autumn?

Andreas Kiefer: We shall be strengthening our Institutional Committee and stepping up our monitoring missions, which will in future take place every five years in all the countries that have ratified the Charter and be followed up with targeted actions.  This means that from next year we will be undertaking around 15 missions a year.  Naturally, a greater number of Congress members will have to take an active part in these missions, given the increase in their frequency and number. The strengthening of the Institutional Committee will mean the disappearance of one or perhaps two of the four current committees and a reorganisation of work posts in the Congress, but this will not entail any staff reductions.  In addition, we shall be keeping, perhaps with a few adjustments, the current system of two chambers and we shall continue to hold two plenary sessions a year. We will also have to review our financial support for certain organisations and rethink the functioning of certain structures. The Congress will however intensify its political and topical co-operation with the major European associations of regional and local authorities.

Question: In a time of austere economic measures, and a degree of citizen mistrust toward the European integration process, how do you see the future of regional policies in Europe and the role of the Congress?

Andreas Kiefer: I believe that the regionalisation processes taking place in Europe are irreversible, even though they are now levelling off.  The Congress has a key role to play in the development of regions and regional democracy, amongst other things by providing states and other institutions, such as the Committee of the Regions (CoR), with it its expertise in the field of promoting democracy and human rights at regional level.  This is something we are uniquely equipped to do and we need to learn how to “sell” this more effectively to our partners.  A concrete example: Congress and CoRs’ rapporteurs will meet in September to discuss local and regional democracy and human rights issues to be fed into the upcoming CoR opinions on the countries of the E.U.’s Eastern neighbourhood policy.  Furthermore, I believe that all regions, and not only disadvantaged ones, should benefit from European policies, but they must be tailored to their needs.  This is also one way of combating Euroscepticism.