Transfrontier co-operation in Europe
Recommendation 1013
(1985)
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- See Doc. 5414, report of the Committee on Regional Planning and Local Authorities, and Doc. 5430, opinion of the Legal Affairs Committee. Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 4 July 1985.
- Thesaurus
The Assembly,
1. Having taken note of the Final Declaration of the 3rd European Conference of Frontier Regions held at Borken, Westphalia (Federal Republic of Germany), from 4 to 6 September 1984 ;
2. Welcoming the fact that the European Outline Convention on Transfrontier Co-operation between Territorial Communities or Authorities has already been ratified by twelve Council of Europe member states ;
3. Noting with satisfaction the progress made in recent years in the field of transfrontier co-operation within the European institutions ;
4. Having taken note of the report calling for an intensification of transfrontier co-operation in Community states, presented to the European Parliament in February 1984 by Mrs Boot on behalf of the Committee on Regional Policy and Regional Planning, in which the European Parliament invites, inter alia, the Commission of the European Communities to co-operate with the research and information unit for transfrontier co-operation instituted by the Council of Europe ;
5. Stressing the need to develop transfrontier co-operation in certain peripheral Council of Europe member countries, and drawing attention to the special problems concerning transfrontier co-operation with bordering Eastern European states ;
6. Considering that closer co-operation between peoples implies stepping up and enhancing the co-ordination of contacts between regions and local authoritites on both sides of frontiers ;
7. Observing that the obstacles that cause people to doubt the reality of Europe are largely due to the continuing existence of national regulations or administrative practices that hamper them, sometimes incomprehensibly, in their activities ;
8. Considering that Europeans' everyday lives could be made much easier by setting up an agency for dealing with problems of this kind, making use, as appropriate, of the legal instruments provided for in the European Outline Convention on Transfrontier Co-operation between Territorial Communities or Authorities,
9. Instructs its Committee on Regional Planning and Local Authorities :
9.1 to engage, pending the setting up of a European Committee of Frontier Regions and Municipalities, in regular dialogue on transfrontier co-operation by means of meetings with representatives of frontier regions and local authorities, of the Standing Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe, and of the European Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning ;
9.2 to prepare in due course, in co-operation with the Standing Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe, the 4th European Conference of Frontier Regions, to follow up the invitation extended by the region of Aragon to hold this conference in Saragossa in 1987 ;
10. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers :
10.1 reinforce the Study and Documentation Office on transfrontier co-operation with staff and financial resources to enable it properly to fulfil its function as a ''clearing centre", particularly in respect of information facilities and publication of basic documents in non-official languages of the Council of Europe ;
10.2 include in the Council of Europe Work Programme an activity aimed at identifying the rights and obligations of frontier workers ;
10.3 undertake the preparation of new model agreements, particularly in the cultural and environmental fields ;
10.4 foster transfrontier cultural co-operation intended in particular to promote teaching of the languages of neighbouring regions ;
10.5 remove all obstacles to transfrontier cultural exchanges catering for national minorities and their identity ;
10.6 urge the governments of member states to facilitate the crossing of frontiers by simplifying customs procedures, and to eliminate those factors which delay the completion of formalities ;
10.7 invite the governments of member states to draw up joint land development plans and, where appropriate, urban development schemes for frontier regions on the basis of co-ordinated sectoral policy guidelines on infrastructures, amenities and public transport ;
10.8 invite the governments of member states to ensure that their constitutional situation does not impede systematic and efficient transfrontier co-operation.
