31st Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities – 19-21 October 2016

Speech by Jean-Louis Testud, Chair of the Governance Committee of the Congress, representing the rapporteur, Antonio EROI (Italy), who is no longer a Congress member

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Debate on “Good Governance in Metropolitan areas”  

Strasbourg, 21 October 2016

Dear chairman, dear colleagues,

It is my pleasure to present this report on the good governance of metropolitan areas to the Congress. We are most grateful to Mr EROI for all the work that he has put into this report as rapporteur. Since he is no longer member of the Congress, it is my task, as new chairman of the Governance Committee, to present the report to the Congress.

The growth of metropolitan areas has been a striking feature of urbanisation in recent decades. Across Europe, these areas are increasingly becoming the centre of political, economic and cultural activity.

They are hubs for globalisation, attracting international flow of labour, capitals, goods, services and knowledge. They are also serving as engines of economic development. They are getting richer, more productive and more innovative.

The governance of these areas is also undergoing rapid change, with an increasing role being played by non-governmental and non-elected actors, such as NGOs. Complex partnerships are emerging, involving actors from several tiers of government as well as the business sector.

These changes are bringing new challenges to traditional forms of representative democracy. Indeed, the complex and multi-layered nature of the governance of metropolitan raises important issues with regard to the ability of metropolitan areas to remain responsive to the needs of their citizens.

Metropolitan governance has emerged in an ad hoc fashion across Europe. The rapid development of metropoles is resulting in an increasing divergence of models of governance.

Some of these differences are due to the differences in the composition and structure of metropolitan areas. Whereas in Vienna and Budapest more than 70% of the population lives in the core city, in Copenhagen, Athens and Paris, it is only 20%. The rest of the population lives in the metropolitan conurbation. This causes very different governance needs.

Different models have emerged to address the challenges of coordination of services, some of them very innovative. In some cases elected metropolitan authorities have been entrusted with specific competences with their own executive organisations and significant budgets; in other cases functional bodies are created, such as for metropolitan transport.

However sometimes the political development and governance of metropolitan areas are not proceeding in optimal conditions. Sometimes the political structures are not appropriate, or the budget allocated for them to perform their tasks is inadequate.

Furthermore, while some of these areas are seeing dynamic new forms of participation and political accountability develops, others are suffering an increasing democratic deficit. This is a major issue of concern.

For the metropolitan areas to function effectively, they need appropriate governance structures and a large degree of autonomy.

They need to be empowered to enable them to coordinate infrastructure, transport and public services.

Their development need to be decided and agreed by local partners and not imposed by central governments.

Because of the size and the strategic importance of these urban centres, governance of metropolitan areas will usually require careful coordination between several tiers of government, including national, regional and city authorities.

Therefore maximum transparency in the decision-making process and robust consultation procedures are essential. While some metropolitan areas are seeing dynamic new forms of participation and political accountability develop, others are suffering an increasing democratic deficit. 

Indeed, metropolitan governance affects the ability of citizens to participate and engage in the decision-making since the possibilities to provide access for citizens – whether through public hearings, elections or direct contract with public officials is easier when the local government is smaller.

Citizen’s participation in metropolitan areas is key to improving the democratic accountability and legitimacy of decision-making. It should be emphasised and guaranteed.

Besides, all new governance structures should be democratically accountable and not involve any erosion of local democracy. The responsibilities of metropolitan areas should be assigned according to the principle of subsidiarity.

The tasks should be the responsibility of the sphere of government which is most appropriate to do them and closest to the citizens.

This clear definition and distribution of tasks, responsibilities and powers between the different levels of government is more necessary than ever.

Dear colleagues,

In the light of this, I propose a resolution in which we call on local authorities in metropolitan areas to work together with the metropole to ensure a clear division of labour, tasks and responsibilities.

And as metropolitan areas are raising important issues with regard to the territorial dimension of democracy, we encourage associations of local and regional authorities to foster the use of local and regional media to promote transparency, and a sense of collective identity in metropolitan areas.

The resolution invites metropolitan authorities to develop metropolitan-wide planning, involving all relevant stakeholders and to guarantee democratic accountability and legitimacy through direct elections of the metropolitan bodies or by appointment of the elected representatives from the component local governments.

They are also invited to work together to develop new forms of accountability and citizen participation.

I also propose a recommendation in which we ask the Committee of Minister to consider drafting guidelines for the creation and the management of governance structures of metropolitan areas. I believe that such guidelines would be most useful for many of our metropoles.

The recommendation also asks the Ministers to encourage our national governments to facilitate the development of appropriate multilevel governance structures for these areas.

Too often we are hearing that the governance of metropoles is developing without proper citizen participation and without adequate accountability.

We cannot afford to see democracy being eroded in our metropoles.

We need to take action now.

Thank you for your attention.