772^nd meeting – 14 November 2001

Item 7.3

Follow-up action to be taken on the Conference “Cities and regions: cultural diversity – a precondition for a united Europe” (Innsbruck, 11-12 December 2000)
Recommendation 92 (2001) of the Congress of local and regional authorities of Europe (CLRAE Rec_92 (2001), GR-C(2001)34 revised, GR-C(2001)CB13)

Decisions

The Deputies

1. adopted the following reply to CLRAE Recommendation 92 (2001) on follow-up action to be taken on the Conference “Cities and regions: cultural diversity – a precondition for a united Europe” (Innsbruck, 11-12 December 2000):

“The Committee of Ministers has considered Recommendation 92 (2001) on Follow-up action to be taken on the Conference “Cities and regions: cultural diversity – a precondition for a united Europe”.

The Committee of Ministers welcomes the fact that the Recommendation pays particular attention to cultural policy as a tool for ensuring cultural diversity and counteracting the “trend towards standardisation resulting from globalisation”. This has always been the approach of the Committee of Ministers and, in this context, the Congress rightly refers to the Council of Europe Declaration on Cultural Diversity adopted recently by the Committee of Ministers. The Declaration provides the Council of Europe with a framework for elaboration of a number of measures for the member states to confront the challenge faced by cultural diversity at local, regional, national and international level. In this respect, promotion of the “Cultural Diversity and Cultural Enterprise” project at local and regional government level is to be welcomed.

As regards general public access to culture, the Committee of Ministers wishes to inform the Congress about a “Conference on New Technologies and Cultural Industries” organised in co-operation with UNESCO, which will take place on 19-20 November 2001 and encourage it to participate.

In this text, the Congress addresses recommendations, through the Committee of Ministers, to the Council for Cultural Co-operation (CDCC) (paragraph 6.a of the Recommendation), the European Commission (paragraph 6.b of the Recommendation) and the member states of the Council of Europe (paragraph 6.c of the Recommendation).

As far as paragraph 6.a is concerned, the Committee of Ministers forwarded the recommendation to the Council for Cultural Co-operation (CDCC) and to its specialised committees, CC-ED, CC-CULT, CC-HER and CC-PAT, the Committee of experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, and the Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) of CEMAT, to encourage them to take account of the local and regional dimension of intergovernmental co-operation in their specific fields. The Committee of Ministers stresses that the CLRAE is involved in the intergovernmental work programme via its participation in the CDCC and through its specialised committees. In particular, the local and regional dimension can be enhanced when implementing the MOSAIC and STAGE projects, mentioned by the Congress.

The CLRAE is invited to participate in the activities of these projects foreseen for 2001-2002, notably, the activity “Cultural Management Training for Administrators on the Issue of Decentralisation” and the workshops on “Culture and Civil Society”.

The Committee of Ministers fully agrees with the CLRAE’s opinion that culture has an important role to play in the prevention of conflicts (paragraph 6.a.iii). By encouraging dialogue and mutual understanding, knowledge of what makes other people different, increases tolerance and helps in this way to prevent conflicts. Two activities are foreseen in this respect for 2002: “Cultural Diversity and Cultural Citizenship” and “Culture and the Prevention of Conflicts”. The Congress is invited to participate in the development of both projects, following their adoption by the Committee of Ministers. The Council of Europe’s programme of confidence-building measures is also aimed at preventing conflicts and sets great store by the local and regional dimension.

Regarding paragraph 6.b of the recommendation, the Committee of Ministers informs the Congress that it transmitted Recommendation 92 to the European Commission for it to be taken account of.

Finally, the Committee of Ministers, in accordance with paragraph 6.c, brought the recommendation to the attention of governments encouraging them, in particular, to actively participate in the European Year of Languages in 2001. 26 September 2001 was the high point of this campaign, organised in 45 states by the Council of Europe and the European Union to celebrate the wealth of linguistic diversity in Europe and encourage European citizens to see the learning of other languages as a worthwhile and attainable goal. All languages were put in the spotlight – both mainstream national languages and those less-widely spoken, including languages of migrants and sign languages, regional and minority languages. In this context, it is noteworthy that, since the adoption of Recommendation Rec(2001) 92, two states have ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ETS 148), bringing the number of ratifications to 15.

As part of this campaign, the Council of Europe has begun the introduction of the European Language Portfolio, a personal document to help learners of all ages to show, in an internationally transparent manner, their competence in different languages and contacts with other cultures. This tool, which can be adapted for use by different age groups and for specific national contexts, is designed to identify and promote all language skills, whether acquired in an institutional context or informally in the home. The Portfolio will be widely disseminated in the follow-up to the European Year of Languages and offers a valuable instrument for the recognition of the language skills both of speakers of minority or regional languages, and of migrants in multilingual cities. The Congress is invited to support the dissemination of the European Language Portfolio scheme.

Concerning paragraph 6.c.ii, the Committee of Ministers refers to recent contacts between the Council of Europe and UNESCO which might give further impetus to the ongoing co-operation between the two organisations.

With regard to paragraph 6.c.iii, the Committee of Ministers would like to recall that the Cultural Route Programme of the Council of Europe could play a prominent role in enabling cities and regions to take part in specific programmes concerning cultural diversity.

Concerning paragraph 6.c.v and vi, the Committee of Ministers recalls the European Landscape Convention.”

2. agreed to forward CLRAE Recommendation 92 (2001) on follow-up action to be taken on the Conference “Cities and regions: cultural diversity – a precondition for a united Europe” to the Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) of CEMAT for them to take account of the local and regional dimension of intergovernmental co-operation in their specific fields.