13th Plenary Session of the Congress : 29 May to 1st June 2006

Strasbourg 1 June 2006

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen,

Owing to unforeseen circumstances, the Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Federal Assembly, Sergey Mironov, has unfortunately been unable to come to Strasbourg and has asked me to speak to you on his behalf.

First of all, I would like to congratulate you, Mr President, on your election to this high office, and also the newly elected presidents and vice-presidents of the Congress chambers and committees.

I would like to express special thanks and recognition to Mr Di Stasi for the great effort and energy he has put into promoting the main tasks and aims of the Congress. A great deal of success has been achieved in strengthening democracy, respect for human rights, sustainable development of regions and preserving natural landscapes and water basins.

On 19 May, the Russian Federation took over the chairmanship of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers and actively set about exercising the duties of that venerable office.

Our chairmanship's slogan "Towards united Europe without dividing lines" is testimony to Russia's openness to all constructive input geared to a creative effort in the interests of all Europeans.

We have a full programme aimed at contributing to the implementation of the Warsaw Summit's decisions and reinforcing the multifaceted nature of the Council of Europe's work.

In recent years the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe has substantially stepped up its efforts to develop local and regional democracy on the European continent. The recommendations and resolutions of the Congress are permeated with a concern to improve all aspects of Europeans' lives, with heavy emphasis on powers and responsibilities.

All this has enabled the Congress to consolidate its position as one of the Council of Europe's most authoritative, balanced and useful organs.

We hope that, during our chairmanship, a new statute will be adopted for the Congress, heightening its growing weight and authority.

The mutual understanding we have achieved with the Congress on many domestic and international issues deserves a special mention. This is to no small extent due to the fact that the members of the Congress get their information about Russia not only from the media, but also from actually visiting Russian towns and regions. There have been conferences and Congress committee meetings held outside Strasbourg in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Uglich, Saratov and Kemerovo.

We are grateful to the members of the Congress for taking part in these events.
Russia is continuing to progress along the road to democracy, which it is developing at local and regional level too.

In his annual address to the Federal Assembly on 10 May, the Russian Federation President, Vladimir Putin, pointed out that none of the tasks currently facing our country could be resolved unless we ensure the rights and freedoms of citizens and develop democracy and civil society.

And our parliamentarians' efforts today are focused on precisely those spheres which directly dictate Russian citizens' quality of life.

It is the people itself that fundamentally determine the well-being of the State. And it is local authorities which are closest of all to the people and required to satisfy its vital needs.

Substantial progress has been made in improving the links between the federal centre, the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and local authorities.

Our constructive, plain-speaking dialogue with the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and other Council of Europe bodies is enabling us to perfect our base of legislation, bring it into line with European norms and standards and draw on recommendations and European experience when tackling complex reforms in Russia.
The legislative and regulatory arsenal forged by the Council of Europe over the years not only harmonises the common European area but also provides a basis for law-making in the Council of Europe's member states.

When preparing the draft law on transfrontier co-operation of the Russian Federation, for example, our legislators took the provisions of the Madrid Convention and its protocols fully into account.

We look favourably on the initiative to create a Council of Europe centre for inter-regional and transfrontier co-operation. We share the view of our European partners that setting up a common European structure like this would be a highly significant step forward, both for Russia and the whole of Europe.

Given the importance and scale of the undertaking, the experts of Russia and the Council of Europe will have to thoroughly and unhurriedly work through all the aspects of its implementation. It will be important to ensure that the Centre's functions do not duplicate those of other regional and transfrontier co-operation bodies. This would also help avoid its funding becoming dispersed.

In our view, one area of the Centre's work could entail its integration into training programmes for municipal authority officials.

I believe that only then would the Centre be able to fulfill its functions, by constituting a much called-for European structure and an effective instrument for interaction and co-operation between regions.

One of the key trends in modern-day Europe is the heightened role and importance of local and regional administrative structures in all walks and spheres of life in society.

The granting of substantial powers to regions and their growing involvement in international affairs are in line with the requirements of democratic and effective territorial administration and shift decision-making directly to the level of the local population.

These processes must not be left to happen spontaneously, creating centrifugal movements capable of breaking up a country's unity. That is why we believe it is important to place the regionalisation process in certain legal frameworks, particularly through the adoption of a European charter of regional self-government, which has the active support of the majority of members of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the European Charter of Local Self-Government for the development of local democracy in Europe and the consolidation of its foundations within local authority reform in Russia.

The Congress has a special role in the monitoring of compliance with the Charter and in developing local democracy in the countries of Europe in general.

Today, virtually all Europeans enjoy a universally recognised array of rights, and the right to participate in local authority elections is very much one of them.

At the same time, in part of the area covered by the Council of Europe – in Latvia and Estonia – there subsists a category of permanent residents who are stateless, which is unprecedented in European democratic tradition. They are deprived not only of the aforementioned right to take part in local elections but also of many other universally recognised rights and freedoms. Our Congress could also do its bit in the lengthy process of resolving this problem.

The events of the last few months have dramatically illustrated that sustainable democratic development and social cohesion in European states can be achieved only if there is respect for the cultural and religious traditions of all ethnic communities living in the greater European home.

We believe that the Congress will make a valuable contribution to fostering intercultural and interreligious dialogue, above all at local and regional level, and to resolving the problems of migration.

We back the growing involvement of the Congress in observing local and regional authority elections in European countries.

As you know, in order to eliminate the practice of "double standards" in the monitoring and assessment of elections, Russia has proposed filling the existing legal void with a European convention on standards for democratic elections to be devised along Council of Europe lines, in close collaboration with the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the OSCE.

An international institute for monitoring the development of democracy, strengthening parliamentarianism and observance of electoral rights has been set up in the context of the Interparliamentary Assembly of member nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Stable and sustainable socio-economic development, the strengthening of civil society institutions and heightened consciousness of citizens form the basis on which Greater Europe will flourish.

In conclusion, let me say that Russia can see good prospects for co-operation and increased dialogue with all Council of Europe member states.

I myself hope that our constructive exchange will continue at the autumn session of the Congress in Moscow.

Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you in Russia's capital city.