Strengthening local authorities and their associations, implementing the European Charter of Local Self-Government, political dialogue, exchanges between local and regional elected officials and awareness raising of young people: the Congress has been involved since 2011 in bilateral and multilateral co-operation programmes with 6 Council of Europe member States and 2 neighbouring states, as well as with Kosovo*. During a debate on 27 October 2022, Congress members held a dialogue with representatives of associations of local authorities or governments from Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, and, for neighbouring states, Morocco and Tunisia. They were all able to express their expectations for the future and testify to the contributions of these programmes, whether bilateral, in the framework of the Council of Europe's action plans for certain member States or the Council of Europe's neighbourhood policy, or multilateral in the framework of specific partnerships.
Exchanges in the field to promote democracy and human rights
Vesna Travljanin, Executive Director of the Association of Municipalities and Cities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, speaking on behalf of the two associations of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Sprska, presented the achievements of her association, in the frawework of its co-operation with the Congress, and which has become "an indispensable partner in decentralisation" in the country. It contributes to the promotion of European standards, including innovation and democratic participation and the defence of human rights.
Mzia Giorgobiani, Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia, recalled the importance of the decentralisation strategy conducted since 2020, which increases the competences of local authorities, including fiscal competences, as well as citizen participation. Levan Zhorzholiani, member of the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia, and current vice-Chair of the Georgian delegation to the Congress, spoke about some recent activities with the Congress, including workshops on human rights at local level, gender equality and non-discrimination. He calls for further strengthening of the links between the associations and the Congress, "essential for local democracy but also for global development", as a "facilitator of the enlargement towards the European Union".
"The Congress has saved local democracy in Moldova"
Dumitru Udrea, Secretary General of the Government of the Republic of Moldova, paid tribute to Moldova's local authorities for their mobilisation to help refugees affected by the war in Ukraine. Despite these difficult times, we continue our reform of public administration, both central and local, by strengthening the powers of the latter, he said. Viorel Furdui, Executive Director of the Congress of Local Authorities of Moldova (CALM) and a member of the Congress, believes that the co-operation projects have yielded many results, especially in the field of governance and dialogue. Moreover, "the Council of Europe has supported Moldovan local authorities when the country seemed to be drifting towards authoritarianism", and the Congress "has saved local democracy there on several occasions". He nevertheless calls on the Council of Europe to be even more active in the field of local democracy in the country.
Speaking from Kyiv, the Ukrainian Deputy Minister for Communities and Territorial Development on European Integration, Ihor Korkhovyi, said that despite the war, no issue in the country was being dealt with without reference to the local level. "Today, our local governments are fighting on the front line, or are already participating in the reconstruction of the liberated areas, but tomorrow we will build an even stronger local self-government, and we are counting on the Congress for that," he continued. Oleksandr Senkevych, Mayor of Mykolaiv and member of the Governing Board of the Association of Ukrainian Cities, considered that the support of the Congress had enabled "municipal voices to be heard in Ukraine", and he too called for local democracy to be strengthened. In the immediate future, however, it must be ensured that the Martial Law complies with the principles of the European Charter of Local Self-Government. Mr Senkevych also welcomed the launch of partnerships between Ukrainian cities and those of other European countries, "Cities4Cities", and expressed his gratitude to Congress Secretary General Andreas Kiefer for his commitment to the country since the beginning of the war.
"In Tunisia, all decentralisation is at a standstill"
Morocco and Tunisia were the first states to join the "Partnership for Local Democracy" drawn up by the Congress. Abdelaziz Derouiche, Prefect of Rabat and President of the Moroccan Association of Presidents of Prefectural and Provincial Councils, recalled his country's long-standing commitment to decentralisation and the development of local self-government, before stressing that this partnership further strengthens the links between Morocco and the Council of Europe.
Adnen Bouassida, Mayor of Raoued and President of the National Federation of Tunisian Municipalities, recalled the decisive role of the Congress in promoting local democracy in his country, which is now being undermined by the current government. "All decentralisation processes have come to a halt, local elected representatives are being unjustly condemned, and we are asking for strong support from the Congress in the face of this situation, because the country will have no future without territorial development," he warned.
Lastly, Georgia's former youth delegate for 2017, Diana Endeladze, recalled the importance of the Congress’ "rejuvenating politics" initiative, of which she herself is an example - her year with the organisation having inspired her to later manage a programme for displaced youth. This initiative allows young delegates from the 46 member States to sit alongside Congress members and take part in debates.
Increasing partnerships and activities to support local authorities
Following these speeches, some 15 Congress members and youth delegates went into more detail on certain points, while agreeing on the importance of developing co-operation actions on the ground beyond the mere exchange of ideas, as Bernd Vöhringer (Germany, EPP/CCE) summarised. José Blanco Moreno (Spain, SOC/V/DP) hoped for greater involvement of national associations of local authorities in co-operation programmes, while Oksana Derkach (Ukraine, EPP/CCE) wanted to see more partnerships with Ukrainian citizens, following the example of the Cities4Cities platform, a networking platform launched by the Congress to support Ukrainian local and regional authorities.
Xavier Cadoret (France, SOC/V/ DP) was pleased to see that Morocco was also promoting multi-level governance. "We have common challenges on both sides of the Mediterranean, and our partners can, moreover, transmit the values of local democracy to the rest of Africa, in the framework of South-South exchanges", he explained. Martine Dieschburg-Nickels (Luxembourg, ILDG) praised the quality of the exchange of experiences that North-South co-operation offers. Eirini Dourou (Greece, SOC/V/DP) welcomed the fact that gender issues and the fight against sexism could also be addressed in the framework of co-operation programmes.
Finally, while several youth delegates welcomed the usefulness of co-operation programmes, some, like Sharon Amadi, would like their programmes to be more inclusive, especially with regard to the perspectives and priorities of young people.
Video of the debate: Original - English - French
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43rd Session
Agenda – Web file – Multimedia (Live webcasts, interviews, videos and photo)
