Texts adopted at the 22nd Session of the Standing Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE) (Strasbourg, 20-22 October 1987) and at the 23rd Session (Strasbourg, 15-17 March 1988)

Opinion 138 (1988)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

See Doc. 5909, report of the Committee on the Environment, Regional Planning and Local Authorities, Rapporteur : Mr Cuatrecasas. Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 30 June 1988.

Thesaurus

The Assembly,

1. Having taken note of the texts adopted by the Standing Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE) at its 22nd and 23rd Sessions ;

2. Recalling that the conference was instituted, within the framework of Article 17 of the Statute of the Council of Europe, to ensure the participation of local and regional authorities in the achievement of the aims of the Organisation as defined in Article 1 of the Statute ;

3. Reaffirming its point of view that all members of the conference should hold a local or regional authority electoral mandate ;

4. Repeating its attachment to the principle that delegates should be appointed in accordance with the requirements of Article 2 of the charter of the conference ;

5. Noting the fact that, as the Assembly requested in Recommendation 1021, the delegations of the fifteen countries with a regional tier of government now contain a higher proportion of regional representatives, and expressing the hope that further progress can be made to ensure even more effective representation of regional authorities ;

6. Regretting, however, that - in spite of the change made by the Committee of Ministers to the criteria for the appointment of representatives to the conference with a view to ensuring a fair representation of women in national delegations - the proportion of elected women representatives has remained, with a few exceptions, very low ;

7. Welcoming the efforts made by the conference to improve the organisation of its activities, but considering that this could be improved by the participation of all members of the conference in the work of at least one of its technical committees ;

8. Recalling the observation already expressed in its previous opinions that Article 1 of the charter of the conference states that resolutions and opinions are to be submitted to the Assembly for opinion and tothe Committee of Ministers for action, and emphasising that ambiguous formulas should therefore be avoided,

9. Expresses the following opinion on the resolutions adopted by the conference at its 22nd and 23rd Sessions :

A. Resolution 181 (1987) on the verification of credentials of new delegates to the conference

Shares the satisfaction of the conference with regard to the improvement in the number of regional representatives ;

Regrets - like the conference - the low proportion of women in national delegations ;

B. Resolution 182 (1987) on soil protection

Shares the concern of the conference to see the adoption of national policies to prevent soil pollution and welcomes its support for the establishment of soil conservation programmes by local and regional authorities ;

Expresses the hope that this question can be dealt with in greater detail at the next session of the European Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning ;

C. Resolution 183 (1987) on foreigners in regional and local communities

Welcomes the interest shown by the CLRAE in migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers ;

Supports the proposals aimed at improving mutual understanding between foreigners and the host society ;

Expresses its concern at some statements concerning reception, participation in local public life, respect for cultural identity and housing, which are at variance with the principles that have always guided the Council of Europe's work in the field of community relations ;

D. Resolution 184 (1988) on amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the CLRAE

Has no comment to make on a point of interest only to the CLRAE itself ; however, it encourages any changes to the Rules of Procedure aimed at improving the way the conference is run ;

E. Resolution 185 (1988) on topical issues concern ing local and regional authorities

Remaining convinced, as it has often stated, that the conference should concentrate on questions for which local and regional authorities are responsible, can only welcome a resolution reaffirming the need for the conference to concentrate its activities on topical issues concerning all local and regional authorities in the member states of the Council of Europe ;

Endorses, furthermore, the proposals for the launch of a biannual publication on overall trends in local and regional development in co-operation with local and regional study centres ;

F. Resolution 186 (1988) on social housing policy

Shares the concern of the conference about the housing crisis and its possible repercussions on the situation of low-income groups and its effects on the incidence of urban violence and insecurity ;

Endorses the proposals made by the CLRAE, which are also inspired by Assembly Recommendation 963 (1983) on cultural and educational means of reducing violence ;

G. Resolution 187 (1988) on the European Charter of Local Self-Government and the European Communities

Shares the concern of the CLRAE to see the member states of the Council of Europe sign or ratify the charter as soon as possible and apply it in practice ;

To that end, invites its Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations to make appropriate approaches in the parliaments of member states ;

Also welcomes the invitation to the European Communities to accede to the charter, convinced that this could help to remove certain obstacles ;

Declares its firm conviction that it is necessary to give high priority, in the intergovernmental work programme, to activities aimed at strengthening local autonomy ;

H. Resolution 188 (1988) on regional policy and regional planning policies in Europe

Shares the concern of the conference about the weight and increasing complexity of the new responsibilities which are to devolve to regional authorities ;

Invites the Committee of Ministers to take action on the recommendations specifically addressed to it and supports the requests addressed to the European Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning, particularly that which calls for a joint meeting of the Committee of Senior Officials and the competent committees of the CLRAE and the Parliamentary Assembly ;

I. Resolution 189 (1988) on European towns and regions with port facilities

Endorses the proposals for the development of co-operation at European level between towns with port facilities on the basis of the proposals made in the Vigo Declaration, concerning the creation of associations of trading ports and fishing ports, in order to promote the interests of maritime and inland ports more satisfactorily within European institutions ;

J. Resolution 190 (1988) on transfrontier co operation

Welcomes the support given by the conference to the proposals previously made by the Parliamentary Assembly concerning, for example, expansion of the activities of the Study and Documentation Office on Transfrontier Co-operation (Recommendation 1013 (1985)), and hopes that the Committee of Ministers will be able to take effective action on these recommendations ;

K. Resolution 191 (1988) on urban transport

Shares the concern of the conference with regard to the operation of urban transport authorities, particularly their deficits, and shares the conviction that it is essential to make serious efforts to reduce imbalances and improve the financial and social efficiency of public transport systems ;

L. Resolution 193 (1988)Dn forest fires

Takes note of the findings of the conference, which agree entirely with those expressed in Assembly Recommendation 1045 (1986) ;

Endorses the spirit of the recommendations addressed to the Committee of Ministers and national governments, and stresses the importance of preventive campaigns and consideration of how to promote reafforestation ;

M. Resolution 194 (1988) on the structures, manage ment and finance of rural authorities

Shares the concern of the CLRAE about the weight and growing complexity of the new responsibilities entrusted to local and regional authorities ;

Shares the concern to see particular attention given to reducing imbalances between local and regional authorities in the countryside and large towns ;

Consequently endorses the proposals addressed to the Committee of Ministers, particularly that which calls for the activities undertaken as part of the European Campaign for the Countryside to be continued beyond 1988 as part of the intergovernmental programme of activities of the Council of Europe.