Texts adopted at the 24th Session of the Standing Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE) (Strasbourg, 7-9 March 1989)

Opinion 148 (1989)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

See Doc. 6028Doc. 6028, texts adopted at the 24th Session of the Standing Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe, Doc. 6062, report of the Committee on the Environment, Regional Planning and Local Authorities, Rapporteur : Mr Robles Canibe, and Doc. 6067, opinion of the Committee on Culture and Education, Rapporteur : Mr Tummers. Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 6 July 1989.

Thesaurus

The Assembly,

1. Having taken note of the texts adopted by the Standing Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe at its 24th Session ;

2. Bearing in mind that the conference was established, pursuant to Article 17 of the Statute of the Council of Europe, to ensure the participation of local and regional authorities in achieving the aims of the Organisation as defined in Article 1 of the Statute ;

3. Recalling that the resolutions and opinions adopted by the conference shall be submitted to the Assembly for opinion and to the Committee of Ministers for action ;

4. Welcoming the concrete proposals made by the conference on reorganisation and new lines of activity to enable it to contribute more effectively to the achievement of the Council of Europe's aims ;

5. Hoping that this reorganisation will be backed by appropriate financial resources ;

6. . Welcoming the efforts already made by the conference to emphasise the role of regional authorities, but considering this role to be still inadequate and not commensurate with the importance which regional authorities are acquiring in most Council of Europe member countries ;

7. Welcoming the co-operation which exists between its committees and the conference in the implementation of joint projects,

8. Expresses the following opinion on the texts adopted by the conference at its 24th Session :

a Resolution 197 on the reorganisation of and new lines of activity for the CLRAE

8.1.1 Welcomes the proposed reorganisation ;

8.1.2 Regrets that the creation of a committee responsible solely for regional problems has not been proposed ;

8.1.3 Welcomes the identification of the media as a field of co-operation at local and regional level and in the context of culture and education ;

8.1.4 Regrets, however, the separation of the architectural heritage, on the one hand, from culture and education, on the other ;

b Resolution 198 on local finances in Europe and 1993

8.2.1 Shares the conference's disappointment that the European Charter of Local Self-Government has not been ratified by every country ;

8.2.2 Believes that it is important to draw the attention of ministers responsible for local government to the importance of strengthening local financial autonomy, so that governments may fully endorse the principles enshrined in Article 9 of the European Charter of Local Self-Government ;

8.2.3 Supports the conference's request that the Committee of Ministers involve the Steering Committee on Local and Regional Authorities (CDLR) in the preparation of the colloquy it has decided to hold on the promotion of local authority financial autonomy, and the harmonisation and transparency of statistics ;

c Resolution 199 on free local government : deregulation, efficiency, democracy

8.3.1 Fully supports Resolution 199 and shares the conference's concern that increased attention should be paid to the important role of local and regional authorities ;

8.3.2 However, in the field of local and regional authorities, the Council of Europe ought to give much stronger encouragement to governments to establish structures and create appropriate conditions as advocated in CLRAE Resolution 67 (1970), which declares regional autonomy to be much more than the mere decentralisation of state administration ;

8.3.3 In the spirit of this same resolution, believes that regions, like municipalities, should be regarded as political partners of governments and the European institutions, and accordingly be involved, through an appropriate form of representation, in the decision-making process ;

d Resolution 200 on the 2nd Conference of Mediterranean Regions

8.4.1 Welcomes the holding of this conference, the outcome of fruitful co-operation between the Assembly and the CLRAE

8.4.2 Welcomes the fact that more Mediterranean countries took part than in the first conference, seven of them not members of the Council of Europe ;

8.4.3 Endorses the proposal that the 3rd Conference of Mediterranean Regions be held in Slovenia (Yugoslavia) in 1991, because it is convinced that this will help to develop relations with Eastern countries ;

8.4.4 Further endorses the proposal for the establishment of a partial agreement to promote interregional co-operation in the Mediterranean basin ;

e Resolution 201 on the ‘‘Culture and Region Con ference — Cultural action in the regional context''

8.5.1 Shares the conference's concern that the role of local and regional authorities in cultural co-operation in the framework of the Council for Cultural Co-operation should be enhanced ;

8.5.2 Is, like the conference, convinced that regional and local authorities must take interregional co-operation initiatives at national, European and transfrontier levels, even transcending the Council of Europe's external frontiers ;

8.5.3 While reserving judgment on the specific proposals contained in Resolution 201 and recalling its own Recommendations 1018 and 1059, urges the Committee of Ministers to continue to give priority to consideration of means to facilitate plural funding of cultural activity at local, regional, national and European levels, including the process of European cultural co-operation itself, but without replacing the ultimate responsibility of the public authorities;

f Resolution 202 on the 1st European Conference of Mountain Regions

8.6.1 Endorses the spirit of the recommendations to the Committee of Ministers based on the final declaration of the Trento Conference ;

8.6.2 Further endorses the proposal that a European charter of mountain regions be drawn up, perhaps initially by the Standing Conference for subsequent submission to the Parliamentary Assembly for opinion ;

g Resolution 203 on the follow-up to the European Campaign for the Countryside

8.7.1 Shares the conference's disappointment that the Committee of Ministers has not accepted the proposals of the International Committee for the European Campaign for the Countryside ;

8.7.2 Being mindful of the considerable results of the European Campaign for the Countryside, expresses the wish that further work be done on this theme as part of the Council of Europe's work programme ;

h Resolution 204 on the destruction of Romanian villages and on the European Campaign for the Countryside

8.8.1 Shares the conference's anxiety and indignation which are in the spirit of Assembly Resolution 910 (1988) on rural policy in Romania ;

8.8.2 Endorses the conference's proposals for Council of Europe member states to show support for rural communities in Romania ;

8.8.3 Welcomes the strong appeal made by the Standing Conference in support of the Assembly's Resolution 910 for the Committee of Ministers to denounce firmly the policy of destruction of Romanian villages ; and concerned that this policy forms part of a longstanding planning process affecting also the provincial towns of Romania and the capital Bucharest itself ;

8.8.4 Recalling the Council of Europe's concern for the integrated conservation of the architectural heritage, notes that its Committee on Culture and Education is proposing to organise a hearing on the situation of the architectural heritage in Romania later in 1989 ;

i Resolution 206 on health in towns Fully supports Resolution 206 and shares the conference's concern that there should be an action programme in respect of health in towns, and that the subject of health should always be considered in relation to all other policies ;

j Resolution 207 on air pollution in towns

8.10.1 Shares the conference's concern regarding the scale of air pollution in towns ;

8.10.2 Endorses the conference's recommendations to local and regional authorities, in particular the proposal that they insist that their national authorities strengthen their emission and air quality standards ;

k Resolution 209 on achieving better living con ditions in towns : co-operation between local authorities, the architect and the community Welcomes the active involvement of the architect in the local community, as underlined in its own Resolution 813 (1983) on contemporary architecture, and draws attention to its Resolution 848 (1985) on the privacy of sound and the need to include soundscaping in architectural planning.