INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUY

How to improve public ethic standards at local and regional levels

Kyiv, 15 September 2011

Statement by Mr Herwig VAN STAA, President of the Chamber of Regions

It is a great pleasure for me to be here today to represent the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

I would like to thank the Department of Local and Regional Democracy and Good Governance of the Council of Europe for this initiative. This colloquy is a concrete implementation of the common efforts - between the intergovernmental sector of the Council of Europe and the Congress - which I believe will help us to explore our joint aims.

As you may know, the Congress brings together the European elected representatives of local and regional authorities and it is on their behalf, but also on their behaviour, that I will intervene. 

Public ethics are clearly a preoccupation of local and regional authorities. Today municipalities and regions in Europe have considerably increased their role. But if public affairs are managed at local and regional level, this does not necessarily lead to higher risks of unethical or illegal attitudes. By contrast, the higher the level of the citizens’ participation, the less unethical behaviour generally is. Proximity allows citizens to see if and how public interest is guaranteed. 

But still the transfer of powers to local and regional authorities does not come without risk. Local authorities manage more and more important parts of public expenditure. Regions are more and more involved in the co-financing and management of European funds.

And new incumbencies and new powers involve new responsibilities and duties for local and regional politicians. Local and regional authorities should be aware of the new responsibilities they take after acquiring new financial competencies.

Local and regional representatives are then required to be faultless managers of regional or local public affairs. They have to adopt an unimpeachable behaviour with regards to the citizens, whose values and needs they represent. In this respect, local politicians are required not to betray people’s confidence.

The implementation of good methods of governance is of paramount importance for local and regional authorities. Mayors and governors enjoy a high level of public confidence; this trust should represent an engagement of commitment for municipal and regional representatives. Respecting shared ethical principles is not only a duty but also a way of improving good governance.

Those who betray ethical principles or are engaged in illegal affairs must be threatened with a real risk of sanctions and more transparency is needed within local and regional public administrations.

Actually, as far as punishment is concerned, local and regional authorities do not have at their disposal criminal law powers for punishing illegal or unethical behaviour. Their action has to therefore be concentrated on prevention. In this respect I believe that the key instruments for local and regional politicians are the respect of ethical principles, good governance and citizens’ participation.

Consequently, it is essential to promote ethical standards shared by all local and regional elected representatives. Local and regional councillors should be informed and aware of the conduct to adopt in the performance of their public duties.

Citizens, for their part, need to be aware of the standard of behaviour they should expect from their political representatives.

I believe it is important to increase publicity with regard to all decisions concerning the performances of municipalities and regions. If a guiding principle in exercising public duties is transparency, this means that all decisions concerning the fulfilment of public duties should be made public.

As I said, the action of local and regional authorities should mainly be focused on preventive measures – designed to prevent any private interest in public duties. Public authorities have recently made significant improvements to avoid unethical behaviour degenerating into financial crime and corruption. Practical instruments, which have proved to be successful, should be used and extended to all areas exposed to a risk of corruption.

At local and regional level some concrete preventive actions have already been implemented. Protocols for the private sector and lobbyists have been established. Codes of ethics have been developed and disseminated in schools. Specific instruments to check administrative actions have been used. The involvement of the general public, civil society, families, schools and businesses in the battle has been promoted.

The Congress believes particularly in the initiatives designed to reduce to a minimum the temptations and risks that local and regional politicians may face. In particular, the introduction of codes of ethics, new systems for monitoring the decision making processes, the introduction of “integrity pacts” (applicable to local communities) and the revision of the requirements in public procurement.

In addition, other preventive measures, such as the possibility of submitting information anonymously about illegal acts, an increased mobility of the administration staff under the authority of local and regional politicians and risk analysis studies, should be introduced at local and regional level.

Since the adoption of its “Code of conduct for the political integrity of local and regional elected representatives” in 1999, the Congress was aware of the need for ethical guidelines for setting out standards of conduct for local and regional politicians. The Congress wishes to promote the adoption of this code within local and regional authorities of the Council of Europe member states. It is now important to reinforce the existing guidelines and promote the acceptance of ethical standards common to all local and regional elected representatives. These guidelines are also beneficial to citizens - who should be aware of the conduct they can expect from their elected representatives.

It is important not only to recover the large amount of public money lost because of illegal practices, but also to reduce the "gap of mistrust " that exists between citizens and politicians.

But as you know, societies evolve. Unfortunately methods and mechanisms, for bypassing the law and neglecting ethical values, evolve too. Consequently, the Congress wishes to promote a culture based on ethical values and new paths for guaranteeing the integrity of local and regional administrators.

For the future, the Congress will try to analyse these new trends and give an answer to what the citizens expect from their representatives.

Last October I presented to the plenary of the Congress a report on the rights and duties of local and regional elected representatives and I was then honoured to be appointed thematic rapporteur of the Congress for its future initiatives on this subject. In the near future, through a cooperation activity with the Committee of the Regions of the European Union, we shall deepen the reflexion on these aspects and we shall come out with new initiatives, to be directly analysed and validated by the political representatives themselves.

I am also pleased to be here with you to-day, as we shall take into consideration the results of today’s colloquy in the perspective of our future work.

I thank you for your attention and I wish you a very fruitful collaboration.