Conference on European Union experiences

Güssing, Austria, 11 February 2011

Local and Regional Democracy in Europe

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

Mr President,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

First of all, I would like to thank the organisers for the initiative to hold this conference to take stock of the evolution of local and regional democracy in Europe, the current state of affairs and future prospects. Strong, democratic self-government at local and regional level is indeed a landmark of European democracy. Its spectacular advance on our continent since World War II is as fascinating as it is crucial for understanding where we stand today, and where we can go from here.

The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and its predecessors have been the driving force of this development for more than 50 years. This is why I am particularly grateful for this opportunity to speak to you today, to present the Council of Europe Congress and to share with you today some of the ideas and observations on the future development of local and regional democracy.

The predecessor of the Congress, the European Conference of Local Authorities, held its first session in January 1957, established by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe at the request of the Parliamentary Assembly. The Conference was born out of the conviction, deeply seated in the post-war European society, that the concentration of power in the national centres must be counterbalanced by stronger development of the power base at the grassroots, at local and regional level. National governments themselves recognised that to create an effective and sustainable state, democracy must necessarily be rooted in the strong democratic mechanisms in local communities, which are the foundation of any democratic system and a prerequisite for democratic stability.

With regional development in Europe taking on a growing importance, the European Conference of Local Authorities also became the official representative of regions, when the regional dimension was added to its Charter in 1975, and its title was changed to the Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe.

The Conference was the instigator of the key international treaty for local democracy – the European Charter of Local Self-Government. Opened for signature on 15 October 1985, this Charter became the first legally binding convention to establish the specific rights of local communities and to lay down the core principles of local democracy. The Charter made it an obligation for national governments to recognise self-government as the right of citizens to manage their own public affairs and participate in political life at local level – in other words, their right to govern themselves.

In addition to giving local governance a legal basis, the European Charter of Local Self-Government set out common standards for protecting and developing the rights of local communities and their authorities. The Charter’s entry into force in 1988, and its ratification by 44 European countries to date, sped up the devolution of power on our continent, releasing the potential of communities and empowering them to take up the many challenges facing our society. It ushered in a new era of democratic development on our continent – the era of what I would like to call “proximity governance”, bringing democracy to the level closest to the citizen and making it more citizen-oriented, more participatory and therefore more effective. This is also evident from the additional protocol to the Charter, opened for signature in November 2009, which reaffirms the right of citizens to participate in the affairs of a local authority.

On 14 January 1994, the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers formally created the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, to replace the Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe, and charged it with monitoring the implementation of the European Charter of Local Self-Government and thus the development of local and regional democracy. The same year, the Committee of the Regions was established within the European Union, which is the main institutional partner of the Congress in the EU.

As an assembly of local and regional elected representatives from 47 European countries, the Congress remains today the only pan-European reference point for local and regional democracy –

both as the voice of more than 200,000 territorial communities from Reykjavik to Vladivostok, acting in the defence of their interests;

and as the main guardian of the rights and principles set out in the Charter of Local Self-Government, and thus the watchdog of territorial democracy.

It is by this virtue that the Congress carries out country-by-country monitoring exercises to assess situations at local and regional level, fact-finding missions to look into cases of potential violations of the Charter, and observation of local and regional elections to see the Charter’s practical application to the electoral process.

It is also by this virtue that the opinion of the Congress on matters of local and regional democracy – which is in fact the opinion of local and regional authorities – is sought by the entire spectrum of political institutions:

from national governments to the European Union, in the framework of the local and regional dimension of its European Neighbourhood Policy,

and international organisations such as, for example, the United Nations which drew inspiration for its guidelines on decentralization and the strengthening of local authorities (adopted by the UN Habitat) from the European Charter of Local Self-Government, and which involved the Congress in its Advisory Group of Experts on Decentralisation (AGRED).

I could also mention the joint involvement of the Congress and OSCE in local and regional election observation, our efforts to foster dialogue between European and Arab cities – together with the Arab Towns Organisation, our partner and observer – and requests for Congress expertise received from outside Europe – for example, from Morocco.

As the voice of cities and regions and the watchdog of local and regional democracy, the Congress has direct access to and maintains regular dialogue with national authorities, who are required to act on its recommendations. Finally, as a pan-European forum for an exchange of ideas, experiences and good practices, the Congress represents a genuine think-tank and a platform for practical cross-border co-operation.

In the Congress, we are also convinced that the magnitude of regional development in Europe calls for a specific legal instrument to address the issues of regional governance. This is why for more than a decade, the Congress has been trying to persuade national governments to elaborate a convention for the regional level, similar to the Local Self-Government Charter. In 2009, our efforts resulted in a compromise interim solution, when Council of Europe Ministers responsible for Local and Regional Government adopted a non-binding Reference Framework for Regional Democracy, based on the draft European Charter of Regional Democracy proposed by the Congress.

With this Framework, regional authoritiesnow have references and principles concerning their democratic structure, their organisation, competences and own resources, their place within the state, their relations with other authorities, and their relations with citizens. The Framework will also serve as a reference point for any government wishing to begin a process of regionalisation or reform of its local and regional structures, as a means of helping them to strike the best possible balance in the apportionment of powers and responsibilities among different tiers of government. This text stresses in particular the principle of subsidiarity, the principle of social and territorial cohesion and the need for solidarity among the components of a sovereign state. However, we do hope that the time will come for a Regional Democracy Charter to be adopted as a binding instrument.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let us now look at the current situation of local and regional democracy in Europe. Having been monitoring this situation since 1995, the Congress has accumulated substantial experience which allows us, on the one hand, to take into account the diversity of methods and practices in implementing the Charter and, on the other hand, to recommend optimal solutions and good practices suitable to the specific national settings – in terms of, for instance, necessary legislation and improvements to the legal framework, local financing schemes or ways to increase citizen participation.

To give you some examples, some national laws establish the mandatory minimum for local finance transfers as a percentage from the central budget, whereas others give more freedom to municipal authorities in raising local taxes; some local councils have an obligation to hold regular meetings with the residents of their communities (“town meetings”), whereas others prefer setting up representative consultative councils of local residents, or “neighbourhood councils”, or using new technologies for direct consultations in the electronic format.

However, there are also drawbacks to this diversity.  The reservations made by member states while ratifying the European Charter of Local Self-Government represent an obstacle to the harmonious application of the Charter’s principles, and thus to creating a common legal space, common legal standards at the national level. For this reason, the Congress will now be analysing the grounds for such reservations in the first place, and to work on changing the circumstances that were used as justification. This is one of the priority issues that the Congress will be addressing in the next years.

Partly as a result of this situation, our monitoring experience shows that local self-government in many member states is still fragile, characterised by a rather weak legislative framework and rather arbitrary administrative practices. If we are to draw lessons from this experience, I would emphasise four major points.

First, there must be a clear delimitation of competences for each level of government set in law, for local and regional authorities to have fixed responsibilities and tasks. Second, adequate local and regional financing must be ensured to match these responsibilities, as the insufficiency of funds for territorial authorities is a major shortcoming across Europe. Third, we need practical measures to guarantee genuine independence of local and regional authorities and non-interference in their decision-making from higher levels. This point is underpinned by the first two, and goes to the heart of the problem: you cannot create a community of equal partners in a framework of multilevel governance when some depend on others for competences, money and decision-making authority.

Finally, we must provide a framework for greater citizen participation and innovation at local and regional level, which is also one of the main future prospects for local democracy. In this regard, I should point out an initiative of the Congress, the European Local Democracy Week, which is proving to be an excellent tool for involving citizens and having them enter into dialogue with their local authorities.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The reason why increased citizen participation is crucial for the future of democracy is because today, we are witnessing two simultaneous crises, both undermining grassroots democracy. The first is the economic and financial crisis, causing a reflex reaction from national governments to recentralise, reduce allocations to local and regional budgets and increase the number of “unfunded mandates”.  The second is a more global crisis of democracy, characterised by a growing gap between the institutions and the citizens, a lack of public trust in democratic mechanisms and people’s disillusionment with democratic processes as a whole. As a result, the traditional system of representative democracy is being increasingly challenged by elements of direct democracy.

However, these elements must be seen not as an alternative undermining democratic representation, but as an innovative supplement boosting its vitality. It is not “representative OR direct democracy” but “representative AND direct democracy” that we need today, and which constitutes the essence of participatory, citizen-oriented democracy. 

This is why we are convinced that the way forward, the way to overcome these crises is through innovation and through greater participation of our citizens in democratic processes and the decision-making at grassroots. Innovative approaches to local economy will kick-start the investments, also from the national level, and will eventually lead to the economic revival of the community. Increased public participation and direct involvement in local governance will give our citizens a sense of empowerment, and will help to restore confidence and bridge the gap of the democratic deficit. At the same time, increased participation of citizens will make it possible to tap into their potential for innovation. In this regard, modern technologies and e-tools offer opportunities for creating a new environment for consultation and participation, the “citizen environment”, in the framework of e-democracy – which could include, for example, e-voting and provision of e-services.

This process must be taking pace against the background of further decentralisation of power. It makes sense economically: local and regional authorities know best the needs of their communities and businesses, and show a better economic performance in optimising the use of their resources. This is why, in most aspects, a higher level of decentralisation is linked to stronger economic growth. Decentralisation also removes excessive bureaucratic hurdles, by enabling and stimulating co-operation without regulating every possible detail.

It certainly also makes sense politically: “proximity governance” provides better opportunities for political participation of citizens and serves their interests in the most tangible way. It also provides greater transparency and accountability of elected representatives, thus filling in many of institutional deficits of democracy.

Another future prospect for the development of grassroots democracy is involving local and regional authorities in the implementation of human rights in their communities. For the greater part of history of human rights, their delivery has been seen as a matter for national authorities. And yet, the realisation of human rights takes place in the concrete environment of our communities and is a prerequisite of democracy and good governance as much at local and regional level as it is at the national. By delivering social services and services of general interest, local and regional authorities are already implementing on a daily basis much of human rights principles and standards set out in international treaties.

Finally, a prospect of new, participatory democracy opens the door for a new system of multilevel governance – a concept which takes the recognition of local and regional authorities to a next level – the level of equal partners with national governments. This initiative is aimed at replacing the current system of hierarchical subordination of different LEVELS of government, in which competences are delegated from the top down, with a system of equal partnership between different KINDS of government, whose scope and competences will be clearly delimited.

The new concept outlines the relationship between the principle of subsidiarity and multilevel governance: the first indicates the responsibilities of the different tiers of government, while the other provides a framework for their interaction. It gives us a possibility to build upon the achievements of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, which must be the basis for this new system and the implementation of which already ensured a legal basis for multilevel governance within a member State.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

There will always be the continuous work of improvement of the situation at hand, because democracy-building is never finished. Much has been achieved over the past decades, making unstoppable the immense movement of decentralisation, which is underway in Europe today. However, the good health of local democracy and the quality of local governance still varies in Europe, and we all must pursue our efforts to bring about further improvement.

We have all the elements for further progress: a basic legal framework for democratic self-government developed over the years; a network of partnerships at local and regional level for joint action; mechanisms for co-operation and dialogue with national governments; action plans and tools developed through monitoring; and new technologies in the framework of e-democracy.

All we need is the political will and courage to move forward.

Thank you.