Second session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE) (30 May-1 June 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 the texts which it adopted on 31 January 1995 on regions within the Council of Europe and the establishment of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE), namely
Recommendation 1256 (1995),
Resolution 1053 (1995) and Order No. 502 (1995), and reiterates its opinion and the requests made in these texts.
2. The Assembly welcomes the new role and status of the CLRAE and the increased importance of its work, derived from a greater legitimacy, and recognises all the interest and attention this work deserves in the context of its own activities.
3. In particular the Assembly attaches the greatest importance to the CLRAE reports on the state of local and regional democracy in the various member states and in the states applying for membership; these reports are among the main documents made available to the Assembly rapporteurs responsible for the procedures relating to the accession of new countries and to the monitoring of member states' commitments.
4. In order to allow the Assembly, as the statutory organ responsible for giving its opinion about the accession of new states and the monitoring of member states' commitments, to make optimum use of the information provided by the CLRAE in the area of local democracy, whilst preserving the independence of its own internal procedures, it confirms the decision taken by the Bureau to ask the rapporteurs of the Assembly to arrange, where necessary, exchanges of views with the CLRAE rapporteurs.
5. The Assembly calls on the CLRAE:
5.1 to take account of its proposals, mentioned in
Resolution 1053 (1995), particularly in respect of the composition of the Chamber of Regions, the importance of the elected status of members of the CLRAE and its means of funding;
5.2 to consider increasing the amount of time devoted to plenary sessions, whether by providing for an additional annual session or by increasing the current length of sessions;
5.3 to pursue the examination of the credentials of its members with the same rigour and to monitor strictly the official procedures for the appointment of national delegations with a view to their forthcoming renewal.
6. Where the texts adopted at the second session of the CLRAE (30 May-1 June 1995) are concerned, the Assembly refers to
Recommendation 9 (1995) on the 6th European Conference of Border Regions; it concurs with the CLRAE's proposals and attaches particular importance to regional planning in border regions and to the development of transfrontier co-operation in the countries of central and eastern Europe, as the Assembly pointed out in its Recommenda-tion 1268 (1995).
7. Where
Recommendation 12 (1995) on local democracy in Romania is concerned, the Assembly voices its concern in respect of the dismissal of a large number of mayors and recalls that the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights has been instructed to make the necessary checks within the framework of the procedure for monitoring compliance with the honouring of commitments accepted by member states.
8. Where
Recommendation 14 (1995) on the European Charter of Mountain Regions is concerned, the Assembly shares the CLRAE's position, emphasising the necessary compatibility of action to preserve the environment with economic development measures, through application also in this context of a comprehensive regional planning policy and of transfrontier co-operation as pointed out in its
Recommendation 1274 (1995).
9. Where
Resolution 20 (1995) on European Nature Conservation Year (ENCY 1995) is concerned, the Assembly intends to contribute by organising a hearing with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and will afterwards present an evaluation report to the Assembly. It believes that the Council of Europe will continue to give the environment the importance due to it in today's world and hitherto acknowledged at the Council of Europe; it recognises the important role of local and regional authorities in nature protection and supports the CLRAE's plans to encourage their initiatives in this field.
