26.10.2011

INTRODUCTION BY MR MEVLÜT ÇAVUŞOĞLU,

PRESIDENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY

OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE,

AT THE LUNCHEON HOSTED BY THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE

KYIV, Thursday, 3 November 2011

Mr Chairman [Minister Gryshchenko],

President of the Congress,

Ministers,

Ladies and gentlemen,

First of all, let me thank our hosts and organisers for giving us the opportunity of having this informal exchange of views. As I said this morning, the Ministerial conference provides a platform for inter-institutional dialogue and this “discussion lunch” gives us a possibility to have an informal talk between Ministers, members of the Assembly as well as members of the Congress about issues of common interest, so as to promote complementarity and develop new synergies.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I would suggest that our discussion could focus on four main issues:

Firstly, as I said this morning, the development of local and regional democracy is a complex task which requires co-ordinated action. Thus, it is essential to maintain a constant dialogue at all political levels within our Organisation in order to make best use of our respective competences and strengths, while avoiding duplication of efforts.

In my opinion, the Conference of Ministers provides a good platform for developing this dialogue and we are very much interested in discussing today how the partnership between the Committee of Ministers and the Conference of Ministers could be developed in future.

Secondly, we could continue discussing over lunch the effects of the economic crisis on local and regional authorities. In particular, it is very important to make sure that the policy measures we take in order to support local and regional authorities are compatible with the European Charter of Local Self-Government and the Council of Europe standards, including the principles of good governance.

Therefore, we are very much interested to know from the Ministers what measures they intend to take in order to strike a balance between budgetary austerity measures, on the one hand, and the strengthening of the local and regional authorities’ capacities to cope with the effects of the crisis, on the other.

As you know, Sir Alan Meale, Chairman of the Assembly’s Sub-Committee on local and regional democracy, is preparing a report on this crucial question. I am sure his input to our informal discussion will be most useful and I thank him in advance for his contribution.

Thirdly, the economic and financial crisis has also consequences on human rights at local level and this is an issue we could address today as well.

The number of people exposed to the effects of crisis is growing: immigrants, unemployed, single mothers, homeless persons and families are affected. The crisis also affects public services which are essential for delivering human rights: cuts in the financing of housing programmes, as well as in investments in health, social care and education programmes have concrete consequences for local residents.

Local and regional authorities, with the support of the Congress, are already addressing the issue of the situation of vulnerable groups and the discussions on Living together in dignity during the 21st plenary session of the Congress were very interesting in this respect. In particular, I would like to commend the Congress’s commitment to supporting the integration of Roma – an extremely vulnerable community which faces exclusion and discrimination all over Europe.

Today, I am sure that we could identify many more concrete human-rights-related issues where common actions by central, regional and local authorities are necessary.

The last item I would suggest discussing is our response to democratic transformations in our neighbourhood. As you know, the Assembly was among the first Council of Europe bodies to support our neighbours in the Mediterranean when the “Arab spring” started. This year, we granted the Partnership for Democracy Status to the Parliament of Morocco as well as to the Palestinian National Council. Last week, we observed the elections of the Constitutional Assembly in Tunisia and soon we are going to observe parliamentary elections in Morocco and presidential elections in the Kirghiz Republic.

But our efforts at national level will not be successful if we do not support the strengthening of democratic traditions, practices and institutions at local level, where democracy takes root! Therefore, today, European local and regional authorities have an important role to play in transferring their best practices, know-how and expertise to their counterparts in our neighbourhood, so as to help them build solid foundations for democratic reforms at national level.

Inter-territorial and transfrontier co-operation is a powerful tool in this respect and we look forward to discussing today the concrete measures we could take in order to facilitate this process.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Dear friends,

In short, these are the main items for discussion, I could suggest on behalf of the Parliamentary Assembly.

I thank you for your attention and I look forward for a fruitful exchange of views! Bon appétit!