30th SESSION

Strasbourg, 22-24 March 2016

CG30(2016)10
10 March 2016

SUMMARY OF REPORTS

presented at the 30th Congress Session

Table of contents

I. REPORTS SUBMITTED TO THE PLENARY SITTINGS OF THE CONGRESS. 2

Verification of new members’ credentials and official procedures for appointing national
delegations to the Congress. 2

Organising intercultural and interreligious activities: a  toolkit for local authorities. 2

Local and regional democracy in France. 3

Observation of local elections in Ukraine (25 October 2015) 3

Local and regional democracy in the Slovak Republic. 4

II. REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE CHAMBER OF REGIONS. 5

Autonomy and borders in an evolving Europe. 5

Verification of new members’ credentials and official procedures for appointing national delegations to the Congress

Presentation by the rapporteurs:^[1]

Gaye DOĞANOĞLU, Turkey (L, EPP/CCE) and Leen VERBEEK, Netherlands (R, SOC)

CG30(2016)02-prov

Resolution

The rapporteurs will review the credentials of the new members and any new procedures for the appointment of national delegations in the light of the current criteria of the Congress Charter and Rules and Procedures.

Organising intercultural and interreligious activities: a toolkit for local authorities

Presentation by the co-rapporteurs:

Bert BOUWMEESTER, Netherlands (L, ILDG), and Josef NEUMANN, Germany (R, SOC)

Governance Committee

Current Affairs Committee

CG30(2016)04-prov

Resolution

The report focuses on the promotion of intercultural and interreligious dialogue as a means to prevent radicalisation within the current context of rising extremism and the strategy developed by the Congress to combat radicalisation at grassroots’ level. For this purpose the rapporteurs propose a range of tools for use by local authorities and their national and regional associations when organising intercultural and interreligious activities, including a toolkit, which will comprise digital information resources and will be made available in 36 languages through a dedicated website.

The rapporteurs recommend that local governments, as public authorities closest to the citizens, reflect their commitment to bring different communities together in their social, educational, sports and cultural policies.  Awareness-raising, prevention and educational activities such as training programs for local officials, “anti-rumour” campaigns, debates and cultural events on intercultural and interreligious issues are recommended for local authorities. Cities and regions are encouraged to exchange good practices on existing initiatives.

Local and regional democracy in France 

Presentation by the co-rapporteurs:

Jos WIENEN, Netherlands (L, EPP/CCE), and Gudrun MOSLER-TÖRNSTRÖM, Austria (R, SOC)

Monitoring Committee

CG30(2016)06-prov

Recommendation

This is the first report on the state of local and regional democracy in France since that country’s ratification of the Charter in 2007. The rapporteurs note first of all that there has been progress on the whole in the decentralisation process in France. The report also underlines France’s efforts in the field of co-operation between local and regional authorities, especially as regards transfrontier co-operation. It is also observed that these authorities enjoy greater financial autonomy as a result of the increasing proportion of own resources in their budgets. Where the territorial reform is concerned, however, the rapporteurs express concern about the lack of any real consultation of local authorities before the adoption of the Law No. 2015-29 of 16 January 2015 which came into force on 1 January 2016.  The rapporteurs concluded that this constituted a violation of Article 5 of the Charter (*). The financial imbalance between local and regional authorities due to an inappropriate equalisation system and recentralisation of local taxation decisions to national level is also a subject of concern.

It is therefore recommended that the French authorities review the process for consulting local authorities’ direct representatives on all decisions concerning them (Article 4), in particular those concerning their boundaries (Article 5). It is further recommended that France review its equalisation system to render it more equitable, transfer responsibility for deciding local tax rates back to the local level and clarify the sources of local authorities’ financial resources. Lastly, the report calls on the French authorities to clarify the division of responsibilities between the different tiers of local government to avoid all overlaps and continue to increase the proportion of own resources in local authorities’ budgets.

Observation of local elections in Ukraine (25 October 2015) 

                 

Presentation by the rapporteur:

Jos WIENEN, Netherlands (L, EPP/CCE)

Monitoring Committee

CG30(2016)07-prov

Recommendation

Further to the invitation by the Ukrainian authorities, the Congress deployed an enlarged delegation – including 28 members from the Congress itself, 11 from the Parliamentary Assembly and four from the EU Committee of the Regions – to observe the local elections held on 25 October 2015. From 1 to 3 October 2015 a pre-election visit was organised in Kyiv. On Election Day, 24 Congress’ teams, involving in total 56 observers from 25 European countries, monitored the procedures in some 240 polling stations, aimed at electing Heads, Mayors and Councils at different levels of territorial government. The entire Congress mission was closely co-ordinated with other international organisations, notably OSCE/ODIHR and the observers from the European Parliament.^[2]

The vote took place in a challenging social, economic, humanitarian, and security environment, arising, in particular, from the illegal annexation^[3] of the Crimean Peninsula by the Russian Federation and the temporary control of parts of the territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts by illegal armed groups. Moreover, they were held against the background of the current decentralisation reform and the constitutional challenges it poses.

On the whole, the voting and counting processes on E-Day were competitive, well organised and transparent in most of the country and the campaign, in general, showed respect for the democratic process.

Nevertheless, there is a continued need for reform, in particular, due to different factors:

-       the complexity of the legal framework for grassroots’ elections including the procedural provisions;

-       the practice of arbitrary decision making along political lines by parts of the electoral administration;

-       unclear provisions for the funding of political parties;

-       the lack of independent media coverage coupled with the dominance of powerful economic groups;

-       uncertainties related to the current process of decentralisation entailing constituencies of altered size and form as well as changed competences for the local tier of government.

Therefore, at the center of the Congress’ recommendations, is the profound revision of the legal framework of local elections, in line with international standards and good practices, in order to attain a de-politicised and professional electoral administration. It insists on effective fraud prevention. Furthermore, the Congress encourages the Ukrainian authorities to strengthen the role of independent media in electoral campaigns and to limit the influence of powerful economic groups. All in all, the integrity of the electoral process needs to be addressed in order to increase public confidence in elections and to establish – what is considered the essence of a democratic vote – a strong correlation between the voters’ will and the election result.

Local and regional democracy in the Slovak Republic 

Presentation by the co-rapporteurs:

Artur TORRES PEREIRA, Portugal (L, EPP/CCE), and Leen VERBEEK, Netherlands (R, SOC)

Monitoring Committee

CG30(2016)09-prov

Recommendation

This report follows on from the two adopted by the Congress in 2001 and 2006 respectively on local and regional democracy in the Slovak Republic.  An improvement has been noted since the last report in 2006, primarily as a result of the country’s ratification of the articles in the Charter which it had not ratified upon accession.  All the provisions of the Charter therefore now apply throughout Slovakia.  The delegation noted with satisfaction the efforts made in terms of decentralisation.  The rapporteurs also welcome the registration of the association of representatives from the eight regions, which has enhanced the existing dialogue between central government and the regional level, but has not, however, improved communication between the local and regional tiers, which is still deemed to be too limited – with the result that there are frequent cases of overlapping of responsibilities.  Difficulties were also noted concerning the decision-making process in Bratislava, where the status of the capital does not give the mayor’s decisions precedence over those of the districts.  The rapporteurs also noted inadequate funding for investment projects in certain municipalities, and expressed concern about low voter turnout in local elections.

Consequently, it is recommended that the Slovakian authorities clarify the legislation on the distribution of powers (Article 4, paragraph 2) so as to avoid any overlapping and make co-operation between the regional and local levels more effective, and also grant Bratislava a special status as capital city or metropolitan city so as to facilitate decision-making by the mayor.  With regard to the financial aspects, the rapporteurs recommend that the system for allocating funds to local and regional authorities (Article 9) be reviewed, while encouraging the merging of certain authorities with a view to rationalising their budgets.

Autonomy and borders in an evolving Europe

Presentation by the rapporteur:

Karl-Heinz LAMBERTZ, Belgium (R, SOC)

Governance Committee

CPR30(2016)02-prov

Resolution

Recommendation

The balance of opposing principles of State unity and sub-national autonomy needs continuous adaptation. More profound adaptation may provoke changes in the distribution of competencies, or even regarding the legal/constitutional status of sub-national entities. Frequently, controversy and conflict between national government and subnational entity is the inevitable consequence.

Based on the comparative method, this report examines normative guarantees and procedures provided by various European domestic laws for modifying subnational constitutions, competencies and financial resources of subnational entities, boundaries and territorial status as well as principles governing conflict prevention and resolution. The comparative evaluation identifies good practice and links it to the Reference Framework on Regional Democracy.

The aim is to draw out principles, frameworks and procedures for protecting and modifying status, competences and borders of sub-national entities within domestic law.

In its resolution, the Congress invites the local and regional authorities of member States to favour court proceedings to ensure compliance with the principles of regional self-government, if enshrined in domestic law; as well as to develop and improve, in conflict prevention and resolution, procedures that entail effective and transparent dialogue with central government. It calls upon the member States of the Council of Europe to continue to reaffirm and promote peaceful and constitutional solutions to disputes about territory and to refrain from changing the boundaries and territorial status of subnational entities without prior consultation of the population.