The Congress, on a proposal from its Institutional Committee,

1. In reply to the Committee of Ministers which requested it:

– to continue its work on the preparation of country-by-country reports on the situation of local and regional democracy in all member states and to step up its efforts to ensure that the principles of the European Charter of Local Self-Government were observed effectively by all member states²;

– to provide it, by November 2000, with information indicating progress made in these activities³;

2. Bearing in mind Statutory Resolution (2000) 1 of the Committee of Minister on the CLRAE which, in Article 2, paragraph 3, formally recognised the aforementioned activities, considering them to be statutory activities of the Congress;

3. Recalling that from 1999 to 2000 it drafted specific reports on the situation of local and regional democracy in the following member states: Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and San Marino (1999), the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Moldova and “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” (2000)⁴ and that on the basis of those reports it adopted a number of recommendations⁵, details of whose implementation at national level were provided by representatives of the states concerned at the mini-sessions of the Congress⁶;

4. Recalling, moreover, that during the same period it drafted a fourth general report on political monitoring of the implementation of the European Charter of Local Self-Government concerning the financial resources of local authorities in relation to their attributions and that that report also examined the application of the principle of subsidiarity⁷ (on which the Committee of Ministers had also adopted Recommendation No. R (95) 19 and that a specific recommendation and resolution⁸ were adopted on the basis of that report;

5. Bearing in mind the above-mentioned reports, recommendations and resolutions:

– welcomes the Committee of Ministers’ interest in the subject of local democracy in its own procedure for monitoring the honouring of commitments entered into by member states (the “monitoring procedure”) in the field of democracy;

– notes the considerable number of legislative reforms introduced in the countries which have been examined and appreciates the lively debate at institutional level on territorial autonomy in Europe and the growing importance attached to local and regional authorities by central government;

– notes that there continues to be considerable interest in the European Charter of Local Self-Government and that seven Council of Europe member states have ratified it during the period covered by the present resolution, namely Romania, Russia and the United Kingdom in 1998, the Czech Republic and Lithuania in 1999 and Albania and Slovakia in 2000;

6. Wishes, nevertheless, to point out that with regard to:

– the size of municipalities, in a number of countries the question of groupings and possible mergers continues to be raised repeatedly and central government does not take sufficient account of the impact that their reforms may have on the democratic structures of local authorities;

– the definition of local authorities’ attributions, in many member states the sectoral legislation does not adequately clarify the various responsibilities of central government and each tier of the authorities concerned and that this can have an adverse effect on efficient administration;

– the funding of local authorities, Article 9 of the European Charter of Local Self-Government is not always complied with in the sense that:

a. in the majority of countries which have been examined, their own resources, which are derived from genuine local taxes, the rates of which can be set by local authorities, are very limited;

b. the proportion of transfers in relation to their own resources is too high, and this is occasionally exacerbated by the high proportion of specific grants in relation to general purpose grants;

c. whether the financial resources of local authorities correspond to their attributions is left to the good will of the legislature and the lottery of the annual finance laws, or, indeed, the discretion of governments. Accordingly, the majority of European local authorities do not have sufficient financial resources in relation to the tasks performed;

7. With regard to promoting the European Charter of Local Self-Government and its effective application by member states, wishes to step up its political monitoring activities and reaffirms its intention to organise:

– an international conference bringing together representatives of national judicial bodies in order to examine the legal conditions for the application of the provisions of the charter in the countries which have ratified it;

– an international conference, if possible in conjunction with the Steering Committee on Local and Regional Democracy (CDLR), on matching financial resources to the attributions of local authorities in order to promote a constructive dialogue on local self-government between

representatives of the relevant authorities in the Council of Europe member states;

8. With regard to regional self-government, remains convinced that the guarantees ensuring compliance with the principle of subsidiarity at all levels of government will remain incomplete until the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopts the draft European charter of regional self-government ;

9. With regard to countries where the local and regional democracy situation has already been the subject of a specific report, confirms its readiness:

– to assist these countries, where necessary, by providing expertise in legislative reforms, organising seminars or conferences, or, at the request of the authorities concerned, by observing local and/or regional elections;

– to support associations representing the local and regional authorities concerned, particularly with regard to promoting cross-border and inter-territorial co-operation;

10. In view of the above:

– resolves to continue monitoring the local and regional democracy situation in member states and the application of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, by drafting specific reports and adopting recommendations and resolutions addressed to the central and local or regional authorities concerned;

– instructs its Institutional Committee to put this monitoring into effect;

– believes that the Committee of Ministers could suspend the systematic examination of the honouring of commitments entered into by member states in the field of local and regional democracy in so far as in Statutory Resolution (2000)1 it recognised the genuine monitoring attributions of the Congress in this field and in so far as the Congress would refer appropriate cases to the Committee of Ministers;

– nevertheless considers that those countries which have been the subject of Congress monitoring should provide a written response to the Congress recommendations within two years and that such responses should also be examined by the Committee of Ministers.

² Decision taken at the 650th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies – 24-25 November 1998.

³ Decision taken at the 699th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies – 16 and 24 February 2000.

⁴ The following reports were examined by the Congress at its 6th session: regional democracy in Finland (doc. CPR (6) 2 Part II); local finances in Germany (doc. CPL (6) 3 Part II); local and regional democracy in the Netherlands (doc. CG (6) 4 Part II revised); local democracy in San Marino (doc. CPL (6) 4 Part II). The following reports were examined by the Congress at its 7th session: local and regional democracy in the Czech Republic (doc. CG (7) 4 Part II); local democracy in Estonia (doc. CPL (7) 7 Part II); local and regional democracy in France (doc. CG (7) 7 Part II); regional democracy in Moldova (doc. CPR (7) 4 Part II); local democracy in “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” (doc. CPL (7) 8 Part II).

⁵ Czech Republic: Recommendation 77 (2000), Resolution 93 (2000); Estonia: Recommendation 81 (2000); Finland: Recommendation 66 (1999); France: Recommendation 78 (2000), Resolution 94 (2000);Germany: Recommendation 64 (1999); Moldova: Recommendation 84 (2000), Resolution 103 (2000); Netherlands: Recommendation 55 (1996), Resolution 77 (1999); San Marino: Recommendation 63 (1999), Resolution 82 (1999); “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”: Recommendation 82 (2000), Resolution 100 (2000).

⁶ The declarations by representatives of these countries are reproduced in the minutes of the relevant meetings of the mini-session: documents (CG/CP (6) PV 2) and (CG/CP (6) PV 3 prov. Part II).

⁷ This report (doc. CPL (7) 3 Part II) was approved by the Congress at its 7th plenary session in May 2000.

⁸ Recommendation 79 (2000) and Resolution 97 (2000).