Communication of Gudrun Mosler-Törnström, President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities

34th Session of the Congress – Strasbourg, France, 27 – 28 March 2018

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Co-operation with the European Committee of the Regions

Strasbourg, France, 27 March 2018

Dear President of the Committee of the Regions, dear Karl-Heinz,

Dear members of the Congress,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure to welcome you, Karl-Heinz, in your capacity as President of the European Committee of the Regions, amongst our ranks today.

Next year, both our institutions will celebrate their 25^th anniversary. This will mark 25 years of working together to advance territorial democracy on our continent, to drive forward decentralisation and to guarantee the respect of local and regional competences across Europe.

Most importantly, it will be 25 years of our joint efforts to build citizens’ confidence in territorial governance, their trust in local and regional politicians, and their commitment to democratic values and institutions at local, regional, national and European levels.

The revised Co-operation Agreement which we will be signing today is a testimony to these common goals and aspirations of our two institutions, and a symbol of our teamwork to make them a reality. It is also a testimony to what has been achieved over these past decades: today, the importance of decentralised governance enjoys strong recognition across our member States, and local and regional democracy is firmly embedded in Europe as a landmark feature of this continent’s democratic development.

Decentralisation reforms have been carried out, or are under way, in many countries today, and the Congress contributes to implementing them in the field through our co-operation programmes in Ukraine, in Armenia, across the Eastern Partnership in general, and further afield in the neighbouring regions such as the South Mediterranean. For the work of the Committee of the Regions with the local authorities of these countries – in Joint Consultative committees and Working Groups - the Congress provides the findings of its monitoring activities and election observation missions. This is a good example for the complementarity of the work of the two institutions.

Our two institutions have built close co-operation and practical synergies within the Conference of Regional and Local Authorities of the Eastern Partnership and within the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly, known as CORLEAP and ARLEM.

At the latest meeting of our High-Level Group, in January, we identified thematic priority areas for co-operation, to address the pressing needs facing our local and regional authorities: integration of migrants, fight against radicalisation, strengthening good local governance and combating corruption, and improving human rights delivery in our communities.

However, our debate today is taking place in the context of growing challenges to local and regional self-government, against the background of increasing pressures that sometimes reach a breaking point, at a time when the future of the European project itself is subject to much discussion in a search for possible ways forward.

In Europe and beyond we identify two trends: more decentralisation in some countries and strengthening local and regional authorities in others like the establishment of new elected structures at regional level like recently in Finland. Both the Congress and the Committee of the Regions support a system of multi-polar distribution of powers, a system that we in Europe have known for quite some time as “multi-level governance”. The Committee of the Regions has been actively promoting this over the years.

This aspect of respect for responsibilities not only at European and at national level, but also those of local and regional authorities, however, is regrettably missing from the current debate on the future of the European Union.

We hope that the Committee of the Regions will use its role and position to put it on the agenda of the EU institutions as they discuss convergence and cohesion in Europe with a view of taking the citizens along on the way to develop a common Europe.

The Congress, for its part, stands ready to contribute through its on-going dialogue with the member States here in the Council of Europe.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Over the years since our initial Co-operation Agreement was concluded, the Congress and the Committee of the Regions have established a genuine and solid partnership in pursuing common objectives.

However, today’s situation compels us to seek even better synergies, greater complementarity and more effective convergence of efforts for a more tangible impact – and not only between our two institutions. The situation also calls for consolidating our partnership network with the European associations representing local and regional authorities. Many Congress members and members of the CoR hold offices in these associations – an excellent basis for co-operation, shared priorities and complementarity of work.

I am very pleased that Presidents of two European associations are participating in the work of this Congress session: Ana Luisa PEREIRA LUIS, President of the Conference of Regional Legislative Assemblies of Europe (CALRE), and Stefano BONACCINI [bona-CHEE-ni], President of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR). Last year, during our October session, we welcomed Magnus BERNTSSON, President of the Assembly of European Regions (AER).

But I should also mention of course EUROCITIES, and the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR), and the Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Regions (CPMR) – which all contribute to our common cause of building a Europe based on values, resilient to populist movements, responsive to the needs of the people and respectful of the competences of regions, cities and municipalities – and who have their specific identities and thematic profile.

The leadership of the Congress and of the CoR are ready to look for new approaches and mechanisms to ensure greater political engagement in addition to the excellent working relations among the respective secretariat and bring more synergies to our co-operation, focusing on the core challenges Europe – both the Europe of the 47 and the Europe of 28 – is facing.

I therefore welcome the initiative of Karl-Heinz Lambertz to organise an exchange between the Presidents of the Committee of the Regions and the Congress with the Presidents of the major European Associations to join forces, to identify common priorities and to see which institution or association and network is the most adequate to achieve our political goal and to implement concrete operational activities.

I am confident we all share the conviction that local and regional governance remains the most viable dimension of European democracy today. Keeping this vitality, and making this dimension ever stronger remains our core mission, our common mission.

Together, we shall rise to this challenge.

Thank you.