28/03/2018 Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
“Our States should give regions as many responsibilities as they are prepared to take, and support them in fulfilling these responsibilities,” Luís Leite Ramos (Portugal, EPP/CD) said, addressing the Congress today, during a debate on “Regional identity and the integrity of the Nation-State”.
Mr Leite Ramos, PACE General Rapporteur on Local and Regional Authorities, stressed that mechanisms for decentralisation needed to be further developed and translated into relevant legislation, by promoting a culture of dialogue between central authorities and local authorities.
He also recalled that member States had a shared responsibility to prevent and resolve “frozen” conflicts within countries, conflicts that “undermine economic development, drain financial and human resources and have a lasting negative effect on people's lives”.
Mr Leite Ramos is preparing a report on “The role of national authorities in successful decentralisation processes” which is due to be debated during the PACE’s Autumn plenary session (8-12 October 2018), in the presence of Gudrun Mosler-Törnström, the President of the Congress.