|
|
For debate in the Standing Committee see Rule 15 of the Rules of Procedure
Pour débat à la Commission permanente – Voir article 15 du Règlement
Doc. 8733
19 April 2000
Council of Europe’s role in regional planning
Report
Committee on the Environment, Regional Planning and Local Authorities
Rapporteur : Mr Daniel Hoeffel, France, Group of the European People’s Party
Summary
At their 12th session to be held in Hanover in September 2000, the Ministers responsible for Regional Planning in the 41 member states of the Council of Europe, will approve the Guiding Principles for Sustainable Spatial Development of the European Continent. This document, which complements the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) of the European Union, will provide the framework for the policies to be implemented at national level, and for the action to be carried out by the Council of Europe in that field.
The Council of Europe is the first international organisation to have made proposals and drawn up principles for a European regional planning policy, and it has an important role to play in the sustainable spatial development of the Great Europe, in particular for central and east European countries.
1. Draft recommendation
1. The Council of Europe was the first international organisation to consider regional planning at European level and to organise ministerial conferences on the matter, and thus the first European Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning (CEMAT) was held in Bonn in 1970 and the next, the twelfth, will take place in Hanover on 7 and 8 September 2000).
2. This work has yielded instruments – the European Charter on Regional Planning (Torremolinos, 1983) and the European Regional Strategy (Lausanne, 1988), for example – which remain authoritative.
3. In the early 1990s the Assembly felt it essential that regional planning deliberation take proper account of geopolitical change in Europe since 1989 and of the growing importance of regional planning in the development of an overall policy approach aimed at consistency in economic, environmental and local-government matters and social cohesion.
4. At the 10th CEMAT (Oslo, 1994) the Assembly accordingly put forward proposals for updating the European Regional Planning Strategy adopted at Lausanne and defining the Council of Europe’s new role in that field.
5. The proposals were based on three main lines of action: creating the conditions necessary for sustainable development by building environmental concerns into sectoral policies; wide involvement of local authorities and, consequently, extensive application of the subsidiarity principle; and lastly a coherent economic approach and social cohesion;
6. Given, also, the growing significance of globalisation and its consequences, it is essential that European planning policy anticipate their impact regionally in order to deal appropriately with the effects on social cohesion.
7. For its part the European Union decided in the early 1990s to draw up a European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) providing a set of guidelines and a framework for Community regional development policy. Like the proposals put forward by the Assembly, the ESDP aims at consistency of economic policy, social cohesion, sustainable development, and regional competitiveness tempered, for reasons of balance, by solidarity.
8. Finally, at its 11th session (Limassol, Cyprus, October 1997), the CEMAT likewise decided to draw up a set of Guiding Principles for Sustainable Spatial Development of the European Continent, which would be submitted for adoption at its next conference, in Hanover in September 2000.
9. The Assembly welcomed that decision as, in part, meeting its own concerns and as an opportunity to stress the contribution which the Council of Europe can make to spatial development policy for Greater Europe, an area in which the organisation has the capacity to develop action commensurate with its responsibilities and expertise and the requirements of its member countries.
10. While welcoming the fact that European Union member states were taking an active part in drawing up the Guiding Principles, the Assembly insisted that proper regard be given to the Council of Europe’s role and resources in the matter, so that action by the two organisations developed within a single coherent framework.
11. In particular it is important that the Guiding Principles submitted to the CEMAT should refer explicitly to Council of Europe activities and instruments, which can make a tangible contribution to spatial development in Greater Europe and meet the specific needs of some of its member countries, particularly in central and eastern Europe.
12. In this connection, moreover, it stressed that the Guiding Principles should pay closer attention to the special problems of some regions, such as mountain regions, border regions and river basins.
13. With regard to mountain regions the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, with considerable support from the Assembly, has submitted to the Committee of Ministers a draft European Convention on mountain regions aimed at helping devise policy for the sustainable development of such regions.
14. To facilitate adoption of the convention, the Congress and the Assembly have agreed that it should take the form of a framework convention which, although less binding, would allow for a more flexible response - in the form of special protocols – to the needs of some regions;
15. Deploring that the Guiding Principles make no explicit reference to the draft convention while extensively drawing on its content, the Assembly invites the CEMAT to request that the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe respond to the stated needs of mountain regions and consider adopting the draft convention as soon as possible in the form of a framework convention.
16. It is equally regrettable that the Guiding Principles make no mention of the draft European Charter on the Danube basin, which it is important that the Committee of Ministers reconsider for adoption.
17. In addition, the Guiding Principles do not give sufficient prominence to transborder co-operation, in which the Council of Europe has extensive experience and to which the Second Summit of Heads of State and Government attached clear importance;
18. In view of the foregoing, and anxious to assert the Council of Europe’s role in regional planning, the Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers:
i. step up co-operation with the European Union with a view to coherence and complementarity of action;
ii. develop relations with other sub-regional intergovernmental organisations working in that field, such as the Black Sea Economic Co-operation (BSEC) and the Central European Initiative;
iii. develop sectors of activity such as transborder and inter-regional co-operation which are among the organisation's priorities and which contribute to the development of pan-European regional-planning policy;
iv. adopt the framework-convention version of the draft Convention on mountain regions in order to cater for the requirements of mountain regions, in particular those in central and eastern Europe;
v. reconsider the draft European Charter on the Danube basin with a view to adopting it.
II. Explanatory memorandum by the Rapporteur
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Background
3. The changes of the 1980s
4. European spatial development since the opening to central and eastern Europe : a new challenge for the Council of Europe ?
5. Guiding Principles for sustainable spatial development of the European continent to be submitted to the 12th CEMAT Conference (Hanover, 7 and 8 September 2000)
6. Conclusions
1. Introduction
Now that the European Union has adopted the ESDP (European Spatial Development Perspective), the Ministers of Spatial Planning of the 41 member states of the Council of Europe will be called upon to adopt the "Guiding principles for sustainable spatial development of the European continent" ("Guiding Principles") at the 12th CEMAT in Hanover on 7 and 8 September 2000.
It is important that the Conference in Hanover should serve as an opportunity to reaffirm the Council of Europe's role in spatial planning, and that the Guiding Principles, more than just a complement to the European Union's ESDP, should be acknowledged as the most suitable instrument for a comprehensive approach to spatial development on the European continent, in which the Council of Europe has a leading role to play.
2. Background
As early as 1961 the Parliamentary Assembly took an interest in the consequences that the unprecedented economic growth at the time might have in terms of geographical development, especially in certain regions of Europe, and put forward the idea of a European regional planning policy that might help to foster a balanced distribution of economic activities and constitute a priority for the European institutions.
The Assembly has given the matter further consideration in connection with various reports presented by the Committee on Local Authorities, but the "landmark" report was one presented by Mr Flämig in May 1968 on "Regional Planning - A European Problem". One highlight of the discussion was the statement by the Federal German Minister of the Interior at that time, Mr Benda, announcing his Government's support for a European spatial planning policy that would foster harmonious development not only in Europe but in the world.
The consensus in the Assembly, the economic situation at the time and the support of the German Government together meant that the proposals put forward by the Committee were followed up with particular energy, the first tangible sign of which was the organisation in Bonn, in 1970, of the 1st European Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning (CEMAT).
The Assembly itself marked this new direction by changing the name of its Committee on Local Authorities to the Committee on Regional Planning and Local Authorities (Resolution 373 (1968)).
The committee continued to take an interest in various problems related to regional planning, such as the specific problems of mountain regions, border regions, policy on new towns and so on. The Assembly's contribution to the work of the intergovernmental sector and to European co-operation in this field over the years has been considerable.
As Karl Ahrens1 said in the report on "Twenty years of regional planning in Europe"2 which he presented to the Assembly that the merit and the originality of the Council of Europe's work in the field of spatial planning was to have brought out its regional and European dimensions.
Indeed, the Assembly as well as the Standing Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (now the Congress) pioneered an approach to European regional planning that was subsequently enshrined in the European Regional/Spatial Planning Charter adopted at the 6th European Ministerial Conference, held in Torremolinos, Spain.
The work done by the Assembly and the Conference have helped to highlight the principles enshrined in the Charter - in particular the need for democratic, comprehensive, functional and forward-looking planning - and to set some basic aims for regional planning, such as:
- balanced development of the regions
- improving the quality of life
- responsible resource management and environmental protection
- rational use of land.
The 1st European Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning (CEMAT), held in Bonn in 1970, marked the beginning of an era of bustling activity. The CEMAT met at fairly frequent intervals and its work often produced tangible results.
Hence the importance of remembering some of the important initiatives which the Council of Europe has taken in preparation for or subsequent to certain ministerial conferences. For example, the European Campaign for Urban Renewal (1980-82), the European Campaign for the rural world (1987-88), the activities on transfrontier co-operation, particularly the Outline Convention on Transfrontier co-operation between territorial communities or authorities (Madrid Convention).
Two particularly important aspects of this work deserve to be highlighted: decentralisation in spatial planning and the European Regional Planning Strategy.
It is interesting to note, in respect of decentralisation, that the 7th CEMAT (the Hague, 1985) underscored the fact that local authorities were being given an increasing hand in the design, development and implementation of spatial planning and that it was important to take this trend into account.
Indeed, following that conference co-operation between the CEMAT and the Standing Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE) was initiated, with various activities focusing specifically on certain problems relating to this trend towards decentralisation. For example, the first Conference of Mountain Regions was held in Trento (Italy) in 1988, and a Conference of regional planning officials was held in Valence (Spain) in 1987..
One of the main and tangible results of these conferences was without a doubt the European Regional Planning Strategy, the first draft of which was presented in Lausanne at the 8th CEMAT in October 1988. The content of this document and the proposals it contains are of undeniable interest and show the innovative role played by the Council of Europe in recommending since then, a comprehensive, integrated approach to spatial planning in the new, larger Europe. The Lausanne strategy lies at the origin of all the subsequent documents, be it the European Union's ESDP or the Guiding Principles to be submitted to the 12th CEMAT in Hanover in September 2000.
Unfortunately, as K. Ahrens pointed out in his report, it has not always been plain sailing for spatial planning in the Council of Europe, cutbacks in its activities having occasionally undermined all its work in this field. Furthermore, the very organisation of this sector of activity within the Council of Europe's general organisation scheme has, regrettably, not always been such as to guarantee the best results.
Even today, for example, at a time when the Committee of Senior Officials responsible for organising the Ministerial Conferences and the work programme between conferences remains on the sidelines of the Council of Europe's organs and activities, there are those, including the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe, who consider the status of the CEMAT unsatisfactory and would like to see this committee's work fully integrated into the Organisation's intergovernmental programme of activities.
More will be said about this in connection with the prospects for spatial planning in the Council of Europe, but if the Organisation is to strengthen its role in this field, the importance of organising the various players and bodies involved in such a way as to derive the maximum benefit from their combined efforts is plain for all to see.
3. The changes of the 1980s
The recession caused by the petroleum crisis in the 1970s, and the ensuing stagnation, unemployment and social conflicts obliged industries and businesses to effect major structural changes and make cutbacks in production and manpower.
In spatial development terms these changes contributed to regional disparities and the move away from medium- and long-term regional planning was an another consequence..
In the face of a deep-rooted structural recession, the very idea of national planning was compromised, and perhaps even the notion of planning itself. At the same time the ideas of self-management and decentralisation gained ground at every level, be it political, economic or planning-related.
The 1980s were marked by the emergence of this new, largely decentralised approach to the decision-making process, while ensuring that there was effective co-ordination between the different levels of authority. Henceforth, all spatial development policy entailed socio-economic and territorial development prepared, set in place and carried out at the intermediate levels.
Thoughts at the time turned to a new need: the need to take into account factors that had previously been neglected, such as the idea of land as a non-renewable resource and a sign of the close interaction between spatial planning policy and environmental policy.
It is safe to say, therefore, that by the end of the 1980s, on the eve of the geopolitical upheaval that opened the doors of central and eastern Europe, it was generally accepted that certain new fundamental principles were henceforth an irrevocable feature of regional planning.
One was the acknowledgement of the close interdependence between spatial planning policy and environmental policy, based on the theory that any well thought-out planning policy was the best guarantee for the environment. This had the effect of placing considerable responsibility for the protection of the environment and the natural and built heritage squarely on the shoulders of spatial planning policy. It was henceforth for spatial planning policy to protect and manage the land and, through its urban and industrial policies, to preserve and protect the natural environment.
There are other areas, of course, which fall squarely within the scope of environmental policy alone, such as pollution control, waste management and the like.
Another important principle that emerged was that spatial planning was no longer a matter for centrally planned policies dictated at the highest level of government. Instead, it required decentralised policies that catered for the situations, demands and expectations of the populations concerned. The conclusion is that spatial planning policy should be set in a framework determined at the highest level, be it European or pan-European, but implemented according to the principle of subsidiarity and therefore applied at every level.
4. European spatial development since the opening to central and eastern Europe: a new challenge for the Council of Europe?
No sooner did the doors of central and eastern Europe open up than the Parliamentary Assembly realised the potential impact this could have on spatial planning.
The Sub-Committee on Regional Planning wished to examine the question in depth, considering that it was important to seize the opportunity provided by the geopolitical changes under way to adjust the Council of Europe's texts to the new situation.
This was a golden opportunity, it felt, to update the master plan presented to the 8th CEMAT in Lausanne, the basic content of which, it was agreed, was perfectly sound.
This determination to move forward gave rise to the colloquy organised by the Committee of Senior Officials of the CEMAT in Roubaix in October 1992, on the theme "The outlook for sustainable development and its implications for regional/spatial development". The committee decided to support and work with a group of European experts whose task was to evaluate the consequences of the recent geopolitical changes on European spatial planning policy, in order to integrate the new geographical dimension, the notion of sustainable development and the principle of subsidiarity.
This joint effort gave rise to many meetings, leading to practical proposals with a view to: a) adapting the Strategy to the new imperatives mentioned above and initiating co-operation between the Council of Europe and the European Union, which was beginning to work on its ESDP (European Spatial Development Perspective); b) making use of increased co-operation with institutes and experts in the member states; c) defining a clearer role for the various Council of Europe bodies concerned, in particular the Chamber of Regions of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE) and the intergovernmental committees concerned by this area of activity.
The Assembly's proposals, supported by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe were presented to the 10th CEMAT (Oslo, September 1994) and met with a reserved, not to say hostile reaction, marking. That Conference marked the beginning of a period of tense relations between the Assembly and the CLRAE on the one hand and the senior officials of the CEMAT on the other.
Some weeks after the Oslo conference and the Ministers' negative reaction to the Assembly's proposals, the informal conference held by the same Ministers, meeting at European Union member states level (Leipzig, 21-22 September 1994), adopted a final declaration containing virtually all of the points raised by the Assembly.
These two facts clearly showed the difference of approach and philosophy between the Council of Europe and the European Union.
In fact, the Parliamentary Assembly would have preferred to take advantage of this convergence of opinions on spatial development in the greater Europe, while the European Union seemed interested only in staking an exclusive claim to the approach, and therefore in having the Assembly's proposals rejected by the Ministers.
Following the Oslo conference and this initiative of the committee, our colleague Victor Ruffy presented a report on the subject to the Assembly which gave rise to the adoption of Recommendation 1272 (1995) (Appendix 1).
The Conference in Limassol
The 11th CEMAT, held in Limassol in 1997, was marked by the poor relations between the senior officials and the representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly and the CLRAE, which were largely responsible for the strained atmosphere that prevailed throughout the conference. The main grievance expressed by the representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly on this occasion was the fact that the CEMAT had taken no notice at all of the proposals the Assembly had presented in Oslo, especially as the Ministers had asked the Committee of Senior Officials to examine them and give an opinion as regards their feasibility.
Even more surprising was the fact that, while ostensibly ignoring these proposals, the senior officials seemed in fact to be following many of them, probably because of the similarity between the approach proposed by the Assembly - several years ago now - and the policy adopted by the European Union in its work on the ESDP.
In this unfortunate climate, therefore, the conference in Limassol concluded on a decision of the Ministers to have the senior officials prepare a document on the objectives and guidelines for a comprehensive, sustainable spatial development policy at the greater European level.
5. Guiding Principles for sustainable spatial development of the European continent to be submitted to the 12th CEMAT Conference (Hanover, 7 and 8 September 2000)
As the 12th European Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning (CEMAT) is meeting in Hanover in September 2000, it was under German chairmanship that the Committee of Senior Officials set about preparing the Guiding Principles. Like the Assembly's initial proposals and the basic principles of the European Union's ESDP, it was decided - and very wisely so - that the Guiding Principles should aim at: sustainable development of the European continent through the integration of environmental considerations into sectoral policies, the application of the principle of subsidiarity at every level, and economic and social cohesion.
With this in view, the initial document took a detailed look at the different sectors concerned by spatial planning policy. For each sector it considered the main problems encountered, laid down principles for the action to be taken at the different levels and defined the broad lines of a European spatial planning policy.
With respect to the activities of the Council of Europe and other international organisations in the sectors concerned, the Senior Officials had selected certain activities and minimised or dropped others based on criteria which were not very clear. Years of work on mountain regions, for example, were dispensed with in a few lines, the Danube Charter was not even mentioned in the section on river basins and island regions were virtually omitted altogether.
Even if it had been made clear from the outset, as with the ESDP, that the Guiding Principles were not meant to be a binding instrument but rather a series of principles more detailed and more specific than the Torremolinos Charter, the first draft was considered unsatisfactory because of its length and the fact that it did not provide a basis for a clearly defined policy.
The committee commented on the document, highlighting the need, inter alia, for more attention to environmental problems. On the other hand, it underlined the utility of a reference to main Council of Europe instruments which could be useful for a regional planning policy.
The CEMAT's Senior Officials decided to use the first draft of the principles as a reference document, an explanatory memorandum, so to speak, and to draft a more concise document for the Ministers to adopt.
This document was submitted to the representatives of the Committee of Senior officials of the CEMAT and to the committee itself at the Forum it organised in co-operation with the CLRAE, which addressed the same theme (Strasbourg, 25-26 November).
As agreed, the committee produced some comments (AS/LOC(2000)05), which were transmitted to the Committee of Senior Officials of the CEMAT, to be taken into account in the revised version of the guiding principles that will be submitted at the next meeting of the Committee of Senior Officials (Moscow, 10 May 2000) where your Ra^pporteur and the colleague J. Briane and L. Kieries, will represent the Committee.
In the Rapporteur's opinion, the committee should welcome the fact that many of its comments have been taken into account, in particular concerning the position of the guiding principles in the European context. However, references of a more explicit nature to the conventional instruments that could be placed at the service of spatial development should be made in the body of the document, or at least in an appendix.
More precisely, the committee expressed the wish that the Ministers would take a stance on two points in particular: mountain regions and the Danube Charter.
On the question of mountain regions, a draft Convention has at present been referred to the Committee of Ministers, which has decided to reserve its opinion pending the conclusions of the Hanover Conference.
The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe and the committee decided that it was important to give this question priority and, in order to facilitate its adoption, share the opinion of the Directorate of Legal Affairs of the Council of Europe in favour of adopting an outline convention accessible from the outset to a larger number of states because it is less binding.
Concerning the Danube, however, the Committee of Ministers did not consider it necessary to follow up the proposed European Charter of the Danube Basin. Yet recent events in the region have shown how useful the Parliamentary Assembly's initiative could be.
In view of the above, the representatives of the Assembly at the Hanover Conference, including your rapporteur, will present amendments to the resolution the Ministers will be adopting, asking the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to pay particular attention to these two questions.
It will also be important to make certain that transfrontier co-operation, in particular the Organisation's sector of activity, is allowed to play its rightful role in the implementation of a spatial planning policy.
6. Conclusions
It is important that the Guiding Principles to be approved by the Ministers responsible for regional planning in the Council of Europe's 41 member states should carry distinct political weight, on a level with the European Union's ESDP, of which it must be acknowledged as the indispensable prolongation if a pan-European spatial planning policy is to be set in place that would guarantee sustainable development and economic and social cohesion in an enlarged Europe.
Therefore, it it important that the CEMAT's document should not be an echo of the ESDP but have its own specific identity and very clear purpose.
It is important for the Council of Europe that - in a manner yet to be defined - references to the Organisation's instruments and work should feature explicitly.
When one considers the aims which spatial development policy has been set, it is evident that the Council of Europe has a role to play, but the way in which the text is worded does not always make this very clear.
If we accept that, for various reasons, the Guiding Principles document must remain in its present form, it will be important that the Resolution adopted by the Ministers in Hanover should acknowledge the role the Council of Europe can play in the sustainable development of the European continent, and that the Organisation's Committee of Ministers should be invited to take decisions accordingly.
Appendix
RECOMMENDATION 1272 (1995)1 on a comprehensive European regional planning strategy (10th session of the CEMAT)2
1. Since 1961 the Parliamentary Assembly has carried out numerous studies on regional planning, and it was at the Assembly's instigation that the first ministerial conference in this field (European Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning - CEMAT) took place in Bonn in 1970.
2. The conference was the first tangible result of the interest and commitment in this respect shown by the Parliamentary Assembly and the Standing Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE), which thus pioneered the theory of regional planning according to democratic, comprehensive, functional and forward-based concepts.
3. Mindful of local government's growing preponderance in the regional planning field, the 7th CEMAT, convened at The Hague in 1985, stressed the importance of the increasing role of local and regional authorities in the preparation and implementation of regional planning policies.
4. The work outlined above led, for instance, to the European Regional/Spatial Planning Charter approved in Torremolinos in 1983 and the European regional planning strategy, a first draft of which was presented at the 8th CEMAT session in Lausanne in October 1988 and which was later published after the 9th CEMAT session held in Ankara in 1991.
5. The Assembly, having regard to the geo-political upheavals affecting central and eastern Europe since 1989, has begun looking into the question of updating the European strategy presented in Lausanne so as to reflect Europe's new geographical range and provide for the necessary linkage of environmental protection with the introduction of a regional planning policy framed in a spirit of sustainable development.
6. At a time when the countries of western Europe are emerging from a period of serious economic difficulties, while the countries undergoing transition aspire to rapid and satisfactory development, it is crucial to provide a comprehensive and coherent framework, together with clear objectives, for the management of the new European space.
7. Such a framework should naturally make provision for strengthening the role of the regional and local authorities whose duty is to foster the development of their region's specific potentialities with due regard to the principles of participation and subsidiarity and the coherence of the comprehensive approach.
8. The Assembly is therefore convinced that the knowledge and experience accruing from almost thirty years of activities in this sector warrant assigning the Council of Europe a new Europe-wide regional planning policy.
9. The Assembly presented a contribution in this sense to the last session of the European Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning (Oslo, 6-7 September 1994) and regrets that the ministers, despite their call for more intensive co-operation between the Council of Europe and the European Union, gave this contribution a low-key reception, whereas it was fully in line with the conclusions of the Union's Council of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning meeting in Leipzig (21-22 September 1994), which it welcomes.
10. The Assembly notes with satisfaction that the Commission of the European Communities, with the report "Europe 2000+ - co-operation for European regional and local planning", has made a constructive contribution to the finalisation of a European regional planning strategy devised on the same principles as the strategy proposed by the CEMAT in Lausanne and the European Regional/Spatial Planning Charter adopted in 1983 at the 6th CEMAT session.
11. However, while appreciating the importance of the European Union's role in this area at the level of its member countries and of the countries bordering the Union, the Assembly remains convinced that the Council of Europe forms the proper framework for a comprehensive Europe-wide approach and more specifically as regards the central and east European countries not belonging to, nor adjacent to, the Union.
12. It is therefore important that the Council of Europe should be able to play its due part in this sector of activity, one which is vital to the future and the sustainable development of a wider, changing Europe.
13. The Assembly therefore recommends that the Committee of Ministers:
i. give priority to the formulation of a comprehensive Europe-wide regional planning strategy based on Council of Europe achievements and taking into account the proposals made by the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE);
ii. issue instructions for that purpose to the Committee of Senior Officials responsible for preparing the European Conferences of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning, asking them:
a.to develop a genuine partnership with the Commission of the European Communities taking into account the specialities of the two organisations;
b.to make co-operation arrangements with the European Union in which the Parliamentary Assembly, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe and the European Parliament would be associated;
c.to extend their work to the relevant Council of Europe intergovernmental committees, such as the Steering Committee on Local and Regional Authorities (CDLR) and the Steering Committee for the Conservation and Management of the Environment and Natural Habitats (CDPE);
d.to examine the possibility of acting upon the proposal put forward not only by the Parliamentary Assembly but also by the Ministers of the European Union, and to organise existing European planning research institutes into a network ensuring their co-operation with governmental institutions.
__________
1. Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 22 May 1995.See Doc. 7291, report of the Committee on the Environment, Regional Planning and Local Authorities, rapporteur: Mr Ruffy.
2. European Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning.
Reporting committee : Committee on the Environment, Regional Planning and Local Authorities
Budgetary implications for the Assembly : none.
Reference to committee : Doc. 8010 and Reference No. 2255 of 18 March 1998.
Draft recommendation adopted by the committee on 6 April 2000.
Members of the committee: MM. Akçali (Chairman), Besostri, Haraldsson, Hoeffel (Vice-Chairmen), Andreoli, Angourakis, Bianchi (alternate: Pinggera), Bockel, Briane, Browne, Budisa, Mrs Burataeva, Sir Sydney Chapman, MM Ciupaila, Cox, Diana (alternate: Risari), Mrs Dromberg, MM Duivesteijn, Frunda, Graas, Mrs Granlund, Mr Guardans, Mrs Herzog, Mrs Hornikova, MM Hren-Vencelj, Kalkan, Mrs Kestelijn-Sierens, MM Kieres, Kittis, Kurykin, Kurucsai, Lachat, Linzer, Luczak, Martinez-Casan, Melo, Mezeckis, Mrs Mikaelsson, MM Minkov (alternate: Ivanov), Monteiro, Mota Amaral, Müller, Mrs Nagy, MM Pollozhani, Prokes (alternate: Duka-Zolyomi), Prosser (alternate: O'Hara), Rakhansky (alternate: Strizhko), Reimann, Rise, Salaridze, Mrs Schicker, Mr Schutz, Mrs Sehnalova, Mrs Severinsen, MM Skoularikis, Sobyanin, Steolea, Stepaniuc, Mrs Terpstra, MM Toshev, Truu, Vella, Zierer, N... (Russia) (alternate: Grachev).
N.B. The names of those members present at the meeting are printed in italics.
Secretaries of the committee : Mrs Cagnolati, Mr Chevtchenko, Mrs Karanjac.
1 Karl Ahrens was Chairman of the Committee and President of the Parliamentary Assembly.