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Regions within the Council of Europe and the establishment of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe

Resolution 1053 (1995)

Author(s):
Parliamentary Assembly
Origin
Assembly debate on 31 January 1995 (3rd Sitting) (see Doc. 7220, report of the Committee on on the Environment, Regional Planning and Local Authorities, rapporteur: Mr Pinto). Text adopted by the Assembly on 31 January 1995 (3rd Sitting).
Thesaurus
1. The Assembly has followed with interest the establishment of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE) and the holding of its first session (31 May-3 June 1994); it notes however that, despite the creation of a Chamber of Regions, further progress is required in respect of participation by regions.
2. With a view to better ensuring the functioning of the Congress by virtue of its new statutory role and its increased legitimacy and representativity, the Assembly draws attention to some of its earlier proposals concerning, inter alia, the composition of the CLRAE's national delegations and its funding.
3. The Assembly therefore invites the CLRAE:
3.1 to envisage reforming the composition of its Chamber of Regions so as to ensure that only regions may be represented therein. For that purpose, the period stipulated in the first transitory provision of the Charter should be reduced to three years; furthermore a standing working group for regions possessing legislative powers should be set up at the Congress's next session;
3.2 to provide for the holding of an additional annual session for the two chambers, outside the plenary sessions, while resorting to funding by the Congress's representatives if appropriate;
3.3 to verify strictly:
a the credentials of representatives and substitutes, as regards both the requirements relating to the mandates or composition of delegations and those relating to the time-limits fixed by the Charter, by the Rules of Procedure or by the Congress itself;
b the official procedures for the appointment of national delegations, approved provisionally by the Committee of Ministers;
3.4 to amend Article 2 of the Charter as soon as possible so that only representatives holding an elective mandate may become members of the Congress;
3.5 to bring forward to the next session the re-examination of the fourth transitory provision of the Charter with a view to making representatives bear their own participation expenses, which are at present borne by the Council of Europe's budget;
3.6 to plan the creation of a standing committee for each of the two chambers, limit the number of working groups and, if necessary, envisage recourse to specialised committees.
4. With regard to the texts adopted at the first session of the CLRAE, the Assembly refers to Recommendation 6 (1994) and Resolution 8 (1994) on the Conference on "Regionalisation in Europe: Evaluation and Perspectives"; it supports the proposals to draw up a "European charter of regional autonomy" and promote regionalisation in greater Europe, and looks forward to carrying them out in partnership with the CLRAE.
5. As regards Recommendation 7 (1994) and Resolution 9 (1994) on regional/spatial planning prospects in the new Europe, the Assembly shares the CLRAE's position; considering that the Council of Europe has an important role to play in this field, it will itself draw up a report on this subject in which it will set out its own proposals.