Karl-Heinz LAMBERTZ: “Power sharing is the best guarantee of democracy”
5 May 2017, Eupen (Belgium) - Recent examples of sub-national reform projects in Council of Europe member states were presented at a conference organised by the Congress on 5 May 2017 in Eupen, the capital city of the German-speaking Community in Belgium.
Photo: Karl-Heinz LAMBERTZ, Congress Vice-President and Senator of the German-speaking Community
of Belgium
Against the backdrop of four important generators of territorial reform (the economic crisis, the aim for better governance, the existence of strong regional identities in some countries and the desire to consolidate power), academic experts, practitioners and local and regional politicians discussed success stories and current challenges to territorial reform, notably with regard to amalgamations of municipalities. According to researchers, in general, a decrease of regional autonomy has been observed in recent years while, at the same time, there has been a trend towards more autonomy with regard to the local tier of government. “Overall, we can say that there is an increasing asymmetry of powers in regional governance”, stated Mr Francesco PALERMO, the Head of the Institute for Studies on Federalism and Regionalism in Bolzano (Italy) in his keynote speech.
Senior researcher at the Institute for Studies on Federalism and Regionalism in Bolzano, Mr Jens WOELK underlined the importance of achieving a balance between guarantees of autonomy and dynamic change in territorial organisation. He also stressed the increasing role of citizen participation, for example through referenda, in reform processes. “The overall challenge remains to ensure the adequacy of powers and financial resources”, he said.
Among the case studies presented at the Eupen Conference – including reports on Armenia, Austria, Finland, Ireland and the United Kingdom - was a report by Ms Eva Maria BELSER from the Institute of Federalism, University of Fribourg, outlining the territorial reform carried out in Switzerland. She referred, in particular, to new studies on amalgamations of municipalities which questioned the economic savings of these and their consequences on the quality of services for citizens.
In his statement, Congress Vice-President Mr Karl-Heinz LAMBERTZ, Senator of the German-speaking Community of Belgium, quoting recent Congress reports on “Regionalisation trends in European countries” and “Autonomy and borders in an evolving Europe” - which were the source of inspiration for the Eupen Conference - underlined the importance of balancing the interests of different tiers of government. “There is no standard solution for all possible challenges. What is crucial is the common will to achieve consensus”, he added. Finally, Mr LAMBERTZ referred to the importance of not losing sight of the fact that each territory has its own history. “While it is clear that the centralisation of power did not lead to efficient democracy and that the sharing of power was a better guarantee of democracy, many mistakes could be made in the reform process. The sharing of experiences of territorial reform is therefore of enormous value and crucial for ensuring the quality of future reforms” he concluded.
· Presentation by Francesco PALERMO
· Presentation by Eva Maria BELSER
Contact: Tim Lisney, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Secretary of the Governance Committee, Phone: +33 3 88 41 35 73, email: [email protected]