Self-financing of the European Intermunicipal Exchanges Development Plan

Recommendation 471 (1966)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly Debate on 29th September 1966 (15th Sitting) (see Doc. 2108, report of the Committee on Local Authorities). Text adopted by the Assembly on 29th September 1966 (15th Sitting).

The Assembly,

1. Text adopted by the Assembly on 29th September 1966 (15th Sitting).

2. Welcoming Resolution 57 (1966) of the European Conference of Local Authorities, which stresses the value of maintaining in operation the European Intermunicipal Exchanges Development Plan and, if possible, increasing the funds allocated for its implementation ;

3. Considering that intermunicipal exchanges constitute an important contribution by the municipalities to the building of Europe and an excellent means of implanting the ideal of European union in our local communities and in the minds of young people, and that it is therefore worth while for the Council to continue to operate the Plan as a method of encouragement ;

4. Having regard to the results of the enquiry which was made at the request of the Committee of Ministers on the question of the self-financing of the European Inter-municipal Exchanges Development Plan ;

5. Considering that the idea of self-financing by means of a joint fund made up of contributions from local authorities and administered by the Council of Europe meets with powerful objections from those authorities, on legal, psychological, administrative and financial grounds ;

6. Considering that, in view of the results of the enquiry, it would appear wise to abandon the idea for the self-financing of the Exchanges Plan by means of such a joint fund ;

7. Considering that, in order to bring about self-financing in practice, the method could be adopted of granting Council of Europe assistance to each municipality in proportion to its own efforts in such a way that the municipality bears 90 to 95 per cent of the expenditure incurred while the Council of Europe allocation does not exceed 5 to 10 per cent, according to the resources of the municipality ;

8. Considering that this method presupposes that funds continue to be allocated, if possible on an increased scale, for the operation of the European intermunicipal Exchanges Development Plan ;

9. Considering that the enquiry made at the request of the Committee of Ministers reveals that the value of the grants made by the Council of Europe is very widely recognised and that these grants, which constitute a tangible means of encouragement, have enabled municipalities to release additional funds for the development of exchanges ;

10. Recommends the Committee of Ministers :

a to maintain in operation the European Intermunicipal Exchanges Development Plan, which was launched in 1962 and which since that time has given excellent results, as a means of promoting youth exchanges ;

b to adopt the system of self-financing proposed in paragraph 7 of this Recommendation ;

c to allocate for the Exchanges Plan, as in previous years, the funds necessary for its operation, if possible on an increased scale, and open a permanent subhead for this Plan in the Council of Europe Budget in order to ensure its continuation and thus contribute to the propagation of the idea of European unity.