Texts adopted at the 11th Session of the Conference of Local and Regional Authorities in Europe (Strasbourg, 26-28 April 1976)
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 25 January 1977 (22nd Sitting) (see Doc. 3884, report of the Committee on Regional Planning and Local Authorities). Text adopted by the Assembly on 25 January 1977 (22nd Sitting).
- Thesaurus
The Assembly,
1. Considering that the Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe is required by its Charter to ensure the participation of local and regional authorities in the achievement of the Council of Europe's aims as stated in Article 1 of its Statute, and that the conference represents the local and regional authorities of member states within the organisation, and informs the Committee of Ministers and the Assembly of its opinion on measures likely to affect local and regional authorities in Europe ;
2. Appreciating the fact that the conference keeps local and regional authorities informed of the progress of European integration, and endeavours to interest them in the ideal of European unity ;
3. Welcoming the formal recognition by the Committee of Ministers of the conference's representativeness of the local and regional authorities of Council of Europe member states ;
4. Hoping that the strengthening of the conference's function will have as a corollary more effective action on its part to achieve the aims of the Council of Europe as defined in general terms in its Statute and in detail by the Committee of Ministers and the Assembly ;
5. Expressing the wish that, in this connection, the conference and its organs will have greater regard to the resolutions of the Committee of Ministers, the texts adopted by the Assembly and the work of all the intergovernmental committees that may affect local and regional authorities in Council of Europe member states ;
6. Being of the opinion that, for this purpose, it should receive more detailed draft agendas, so that it may give the Committee of Ministers fuller opinions on questions to be dealt with at conference sessions ;
7. Noting with satisfaction the follow-up given by the Committee of Ministers to several proposals made in Assembly
Recommendation 755, on the texts adopted by the conference at its 10th Session, especially with regard to the four working languages and the implementation of conference texts, but regretting that the Committee of Ministers has not agreed to change the name of the conference's Committee on Regional Planning and Regional Problems, which is a constant source of confusion with one of the Assembly's own committees ;
8. Being aware of the need to speed up communication procedures between the conference on the one hand and the Assembly and the Committee of Ministers on the other, and determined to find a solution where it is itself concerned,
9. Formulates the following opinion on the texts adopted by the conference's 11th Session :
a with regard to
Resolution 81, on the amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the conference, the Assembly :
observes that the conference's amended Rules of Procedure constitute a practical application of the Charter as recast by the Committee of Ministers, and follow very closely the Assembly's own Rules of Procedure and the amendments made thereto in recent years ;
notes that the conference's character as an assembly of elected members of local and regional councils, to which the Assembly attaches the greatest importance, is not yet fully secured either by the Charter or by the Rules of Procedure as amended by Resolution 81 ;
b with regard to
Resolution 82, on participation by the conference in the preparation of its budget within the framework of the Council of Europe budget, the Assembly :
considers that the conference's request could well be examined by the Committee of Ministers, even though the conference is not on a par with the Assembly as a statutory organ of the Council of Europe ;
c with regard to
Resolution 83, on relations between the conference and the European Communities, the Assembly :
endorses the principle that relations between the conference and the European Communities should be concerned with questions of common interest to the Communities and the nineteen Council of Europe member states ;
considers, however, that the conference could meet on an ad hoc footing, adopting the "partial agreement" approach, to discuss in greater detail questions relating to territorial authorities within the "Nine" raised by the Action Programme of the European Communities ;
considers further that this should be done in close consultation with the Council of Europe's organs, in particular the Assembly, which has already expressed such a desire in its Recommendation 755 (paragraph 9.c.iv) ;
d with regard to
Resolution 85, on the measures to be taken to assist migrant workers concerning housing, schooling of their children, and civil and political rights, the Assembly :
refers to its own Recommendation 786 (1976) and Resolution 631 (1976), and notes that, before these problems can be solved equitably, much remains to be done to educate Europe's citizens towards European awareness and solidarity and that this work, which falls primarily to the conference, should be directed in part towards giving migrant workers a share in local political life, while the Committee of Ministers should give special attention to the problem of civic and political rights for migrant workers in their host countries ;
e with regard to
Resolution 86, on the confrontation of local democracy with problems and techniques of modern management, the Assembly :
points out that, as early as 1969, it drew the attention of governments, in Recommendation 557, to the need to facilitate the introduction of modern management methods in local government, and that, in its Order No. 290 (1969), it instructed its Committee on Regional Planning and Local Authorities to "request the European Conference of Local Authorities to consider the problems of data processing from the angle of the co-operation among local authorities" ; welcomes the work done subsequently by the Committee for Co-operation in Municipal and Regional Matters, which led to adoption by the Committee of Ministers in 1973 of a resolution on the use of computers in local government (Resolution (73) 2) ; but recognises that the problems of modern management are intimately bound up with that of local democracy, which itself depends on a bold decentralisation policy, as pointed out by the conference in its resolution ;
f with regard to
Resolution 87, on the establishment of a European local and regional government information unit, the Assembly :
is of the opinion that the establishment of such a unit should remain a target, but that this could be reached in successive stages, and that, in particular, the information and documentation service should be developed in sectors in which some experience has already been gained (an information bulletin on municipal and regional matters, information systems for frontier cooperation and nature protection) ; by consolidating these existing systems, and possibly harmonising them, the Council of Europe could increasingly offer national, regional and local administrations the information they need ;
g with regard to
Opinion No. 20, on the pursuance and implementation of a European Community Policy and Action Programme on the Environment, the Assembly :
recommends that the Committee of Ministers transmit this opinion to the competent Community organs, and hopes that symposia and conferences on subjects of common interest can indeed be held jointly by the Council of Europe and the European Communities.
