Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in Europe
Agenda item 4 concerns the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in Europe, of which I am the full-time member and Helen Eadie is the alternate member. Both of us have been back and forth on congress business over the past year. I will give you an update on the recent meeting I attended on 12 June.
I sit on the governance committee of the congress and I have a brief synopsis of our meeting in Strasbourg. There were some good debates. A very good report was given on the developments that have taken place with the regions and territories with special status in Europe. There was a good exchange of views, and draft recommendations will come forward for the next meeting in October. A draft explanatory memorandum was adopted, which I will share with the committee. That is especially relevant for the Highlands and Islands, as we hope that they can maintain their special status.
The towns and regions group had a very good report on a pact to stop sexual violence against children—which includes all sorts of sexual violence—and trafficking. We had a good debate on the subject. The group has a campaign called “One in Five”, because statistics suggest that one in five children will be subject to some form of violence or abuse, which is scary. Some of the local authorities in the devolved regions and countries across Europe have adopted the one in five campaign and attached it to their Government websites. I have written to the Scottish Government to suggest that it does the same. We have the link to the website, which is detailed and has lots of area-specific information.
One in five is a campaign across Europe that we can share information with and support. That would allow us to tackle some of the cross-border issues—particularly those to do with trafficking—as well as an issue that is very topical just now, which is the use of the internet for images of child abuse. If we can get a good joined-up European strategy on those issues, we could reduce the incidence of such abuse and, it is hoped, reduce the figure of one in five.
A report was given on effective transfrontier co-operation in Europe. It was interesting that there seem to be no real barriers across Europe, apart from cultural barriers. The report looked at how we can reduce those and improve the situation; it covered a spectrum of subjects such as trade, culture, geography and transport links.
Another draft resolution will come to the full congress meeting in October, as well as an explanatory memorandum, which I will share with the committee as soon as I have them. Follow-up resolutions were considered on some thematic issues, including on the rights of local authorities to be consulted by other levels of government and on citizen participation at local and regional level in Europe. An exchange of views was held on those issues, which will be brought up for further discussion at the October meeting. A discussion was also held on possible future topics.
In a discussion on strengthening democracy across regions in Europe, the full UK delegation—led by our friends in Ireland and backed up by our friends in Cambridge and Liverpool as well as myself—was involved. The report suggested that conflict in various parts of Europe, including the Catalan and Basque regions, was a danger to democracy, and it lumped the UK’s devolution settlements into the same category. Following a robust exchange of views, our Irish colleagues, backed up by our English colleagues and myself, managed to make changes to the report to clarify that our devolution settlements are respectful, peaceful and negotiated.
I commended our First Minister and the Prime Minister on the Edinburgh agreement process and argued that quests for further devolution or full independence cannot be lumped into the same category as some of the less democratic means that have been used elsewhere in Europe. The whole UK delegation was united on, and proud of, the fact that our devolution settlement and referendum process is a peaceful, respectful and agreed process. That was a good catch, because the report could have gone through without our realising it if my Irish colleague had not picked up the issue.
That is a fairly comprehensive update on what was a very comprehensive meeting, which I attended. Helen Eadie will give a wee update on the meeting before that one, which she attended.
I am pleased to be able to attend the CLRAE meetings as an alternate member. For the sake of members who might not know, I should explain that the CLRAE is a pan-European assembly of politicians that meets regularly. The congress has 636 members—they may be councillors, mayors or presidents of regional authorities—who represent more than 200,000 authorities in the 47 member states. The congress is separate from the European Union, which obviously has just 27 member states.
Since being appointed by the Scottish Parliament as an alternate member of the CLRAE in February 2012, I have attended two of the three congress meetings and two of the three governance committee meetings. I have also attended three special project meetings in Albania. The congress has two chambers—the chamber of regions and the chamber of local authorities—and all congress meetings are held in Strasbourg. I attended the meeting of the congress in Strasbourg together with Councillor Harry McGuigan, who is the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities representative. Councillor McGuigan was accompanied by a COSLA official, who kindly assisted me in the course of the congress. It is interesting to note that, to date, the Scottish Parliament has not volunteered officer assistance at the congress meetings, but COSLA’s official was very helpful.
There are national delegation meetings and political grouping meetings of the congress. The UK national delegation is led by Councillor John Warmisham from Manchester. Since my attendance at the governance committee meetings, I have been requested by the executive of the congress to represent it at project Albania meetings, which are held in Tirana. Over the past year, I have attended three of the special project meetings. The key purpose of the project is to help to strengthen local democracy in that country. Many people would like Albania to become a candidate country for European Union membership. In the general election in Albania last weekend, the socialist party won a landslide victory and defeated the conservative party, which had been seeking a third term in office. The socialists stood on a manifesto of striving to achieve EU membership, and I wish them well in that aspiration.
At the congress meetings that I have attended, I have been impressed by the work of the committees and their rapporteur system. In particular, I single out the work concerning the Roma—an important issue on which some key reports have been produced. It would be worth creating links to those reports from the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament websites, because they are excellent and worthy reports. I also highlight the work concerning sex trafficking, which I know is a subject close to your heart, convener. It would also be worth getting that report linked up.
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The congress struck me as being very much like a party conference. The difference, of course, is that there is not just one party at the congress. All the parties are represented and they have stalls and side meetings taking place in the lunch and evening breaks. Member states are eligible to send delegations to those events, and all the delegations comprise a mixture of political parties.
Considerable effort is placed on promoting the monitoring of elections and the specialist training of observers. One of the core functions is ensuring that the peace and democracy agenda is strong in the Council of Europe. Delegations of observers go to many elections across the 47 member state areas. There are three main committee areas, on governance, monitoring and current affairs. The principal thrust of the work is about promoting peaceful and democratic progress in all 47 member states by sharing knowledge and experience. Many senior politicians attend the congress and its committees and there are numerous opportunities to socialise and make connections with diverse individuals.
My special project work in Albania has brought me into contact with a number of the special experts who have been appointed by the congress and with elected members from numerous regions—in particular, Russia, Estonia, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Bulgaria and Romania, as well as UK elected members who are involved in those special areas. I am expected to return to Albania again in September, once the atmosphere surrounding the general election has settled down.
Thank you very much. Are there any questions or comments?
That was a comprehensive update from both of you, so congratulations and thank you. On the strengthening democracy agenda, I wonder whether there was any discussion around a theme that I have mentioned previously at the committee, which is that of strengthening public accountability in the systems and processes of established Governments such as Albania or of emerging new states such as neighbouring Kosovo. My interest in that has arisen because of visits to the Scottish Parliament from a number of those new states. Has there been any discussion on that wider agenda about how to set up proper scrutiny and accountability systems for the new emerging Governments to further aid the democratic accountability that I am sure they strive to achieve?
There are a number of projects. When countries such as Albania express an interest in joining the EU, whose main thrust is about enlargement, that is when projects such as project Albania are set up. Bits of work are going on in Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia, and delegates from all those areas were at the most recent congress meeting to talk about what they need. The Westminster Foundation for Democracy is also doing some work on governance, standards, procurement, financial transparency and financial standards and scrutiny. That work is going on, but if you are so minded we can certainly raise the issue at the next congress meeting. Either Helen Eadie or I, depending on who is there, would be happy to do that.
That would be helpful.
You have shared your interest in Serbia and Kosovo with us and you are always in my mind’s eye when we talk about those things in Serbia. We often meet people at the lunch breaks or in some of the committee meetings who talk about those things. For example, in relation to Albania, you will know that, about 12 years ago, there was a great influx of nearly quarter of a million refugees from Kosovo, which was a massive problem. The Council of Europe and the CLRAE are alert to those issues.
Your point about setting up systems and scrutiny is core to the democratic accountability issues that are raised in the work of the congress. The rapporteurs who report to the congress go into great detail about the type of work that is done. If you wanted more detailed documentation, there is a range of reports on the website. We could perhaps check the website for you to see what information it has that is specific to Serbia and Kosovo and which might help you to further that interest.
I have previously raised concerns about the failure of democracy in Greece, Italy and other European Union states, which has resulted in the setting up of Governments that have not been democratically elected but which are being accepted as democratically elected Governments. That is outrageous and unacceptable in this day and age. We need to deal with the issue because, if we do not, it will expand into other parts of Europe.
We have always held dear the high standards of democracy that we have in Europe and how we engage with democratic Governments around the world. We have certain standards and are quick to point out the shortcomings of other countries. However, now, in Europe, we see Governments that have been set up and accepted without an election. That cannot be healthy. We need to ensure that, before we consider expansion, we consolidate our current position to ensure that we do not allow this cancer to grow. That is what it is: a cancer. These are people who do not represent anyone, but we have accepted them as the legal representatives of those countries, which is not on. We need to make that point. I will be making that point to the UK minister today.
I think that we have all made that point in the past. In some countries, the main victim of the economic crisis and recession has been democracy. That is something of which we should all be mindful.
We will have a briefing on Kosovo in the autumn. We should perhaps ensure that it includes a briefing on the mechanisms that the congress and other European institutions have in place to support and nurture the processes in Kosovo. Do we agree to do that?
Members indicated agreement.