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Reply to Recommendation | Doc. 12483 | 24 January 2011
Democracy in Europe: crisis and perspectives
1. The Committee of Ministers shares the
Parliamentary Assembly’s concerns about the functioning of democracy
in member states, particularly because of the increasing lack of
interest of part of the population in public and political affairs.
At the same time, it notes certain positive developments, as evidenced
by the growing public interest in issues linked to the environment
or globalisation, highlighted by numerous debates and initiatives
emanating from civil society. It also observes that new communication
tools that have been developed in recent years offer unprecedented
opportunities to inform the public about matters of general interest
and promote their participation in decision making on subjects that
concern them. These aspects are all conducive to encouraging the
“enhanced process of participatory democracy” called for by the
Assembly. The Council of Europe, in partnership with member states’
governments, assemblies of local and regional authorities and civil
society, can certainly help to exploit this potential. It is with
this in mind that the Committee of Ministers has decided to make
issues linked to democracy one of the Council of Europe’s priorities
for action, by making best use of and developing the expertise and
tools at the Organisation’s disposal.
2. Local and regional authorities make a key contribution to
establishing a stable and effective democracy. The Committee of
Ministers refers, in this context, to the opening for signature,
at the 16th session of the Conference of Ministers responsible for
Local and Regional Government (Utrecht, 16-17 November 2009), of the
Additional Protocol to the European Charter of Local Self-Government
on the right to participate in the affairs of a local authority
(CETS no. 207). To date, five member states have ratified the Protocol
and a further nine have signed it.
3. The Committee of Ministers also notes that one of the main
themes of the Utrecht ministerial conference was the impact of the
economic and financial crisis on local and regional government.
Further to this, as decided at Utrecht, a conference was held in
Strasbourg in October 2010 under the Spanish authorities’ auspices
to discuss the implementation of the guidelines for policy responses.
This should culminate in a number of recommendations to the next
ministerial conference (Kiev, November 2011), based, inter alia, on an examination of
the threats posed to the continuing provision of public services
that are essential for maintaining social and territorial cohesion.
4. In connection with the Assembly’s proposal to establish a
Strasbourg Democracy Forum, the Committee of Ministers wishes to
point out, as it has already indicated in its reply to Parliamentary
Assembly Recommendation
1886 (2009) on “The future of the Council of Europe in the light
of its sixty years of experience”, that the Forum for the Future
of Democracy, in which the Assembly plays an active role, is currently
going through a reform process to enable it to contribute actively
to strengthening democracy. To that end, in July 2010 the Ministers’
Deputies adopted a mission statement for the forum and endorsed
its revised guidelines, which will be formally adopted in the light
of the results of the forum’s 2010 session which took place in Yerevan
in October. The Parliamentary Assembly will be closely involved,
via the Steering Board, in finalising these revised guidelines.
In this context, the Strasbourg Summer University for Democracy
could form a central aspect of a much wider international event,
along the lines described in the Assembly recommendation.
5. In connection with the invitation in paragraph 5 of the Assembly’s
recommendation, the Committee of Ministers notes that the Organisation
already has a number of activities, such as those concerned with combating
human trafficking and organised crime or with Internet governance,
that contribute to the elaboration of principles to regulate the
impact of globalisation so as to ensure full respect of human rights
and the rule of law. In particular, the Council of Europe has drawn
up rules and standards on certain subjects of increasing importance
in the context of globalisation. The Organisation must play a watchdog
role that enables it, when appropriate, to recommend to member states
any steps that might be necessary to safeguard the aforementioned
principles in the context of globalisation. The Committee of Ministers
will pay close attention to this matter.