Second session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE) (30 May-1 June 1995)

Recommendation 1280 (1995)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

See Doc. 7417, report of the Committee on the Environment, Regional Planning and Local Authorities, rapporteur: Mr Grau. Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 9 November 1995.

Thesaurus

1. The Assembly recalls its Recommendation 1256 (1995) on the regions in the Council of Europe and the establishment of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE).

2. It reiterates, in this context, the importance it attaches to the CLRAE and its work, and sincerely regrets that, despite the reform approved by the Committee of Ministers, the Congress does not have sufficient resources available to carry out its task with all the efficiency required.

3. The Assembly also wishes to emphasise its interest in the protection of the environment, the conservation of which also provides a guarantee for health. Defence of the environment must continue, especially at the Council of Europe. The holding of European Nature Conservation Year 1995 notwithstanding, the Assembly is concerned about the negative outlook for the maintenance of this sector of activity in the Organisation's work programme.

4. The Assembly emphasises the importance of the Council of Europe's role in the preparation of texts having the force of conventions, as well as their benefits as instruments for promoting international co-operation. In this respect it regrets that certain conventions are not applied and that some of the draft conventions submitted to the Committee of Ministers have not yet been adopted.

5. The Assembly therefore recommends that the Committee of Ministers:

5.1 give priority in 1996 to increasing the budgetary resources of the CLRAE, and facilitate its management by granting it greater financial independence through the budgetary package system;

5.2 retain the environment as a Council of Europe sector by maintaining the appropriations necessary to the functioning, even at a reduced level, of the Steering Committee for the Conservation and Management of the Environment and Natural Habitats (CDPE);

5.3 periodically inform each member state of the state of signature and ratification of existing conventions, to encourage them to accede and, as far as possible, develop the monitoring of their application;

5.4 adopt without further delay the draft convention on interterritorial co-operation;

5.5 also adopt, as soon as possible, the draft European charter of mountain regions, thus following its Recommendation 1274 (1995).