25.8.2009   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 200/31

—

emphasises the role of local and regional authorities in the framework of the ENP with regard to the EaP. It will focus in particular on their contribution to territorial development, improvement of economic relations, development of respects for human rights and fundamental freedoms, facilitation of mobility and their support for establishing mutual contacts;

—

intends to develop forms of closer cooperation with countries involved in the Eastern Partnership. The creation of an Eastern Europe and South Caucasus Local and Regional Assembly (EaP LRA) as the institutional platform for a regular dialogue and cooperation could be a short-term objective for a formal cooperation after having succeeded to develop concrete and tangible forms of cooperation;

—

strongly urges that local and regional authorities, alongside central governments, take part if possible from an early stage in preparing association agreements, strategic documents and action plans that are conceived on a bilateral basis between the European Union and the EaP partner countries, and in particular within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy, regarding the preparation, implementation and evaluation of the NIPs;

—

encourages the promotion of closer relations between the EU regional and local authorities and their counterparts in the EaP countries through the existing European institutional platforms for regular political dialogue and through concrete shared projects with the aim of setting up a common pathway to the future possible establishment of an Eastern Europe and south Caucasus Local and regional Assembly (EaP LRA).

Rapporteur-general

:

Mr István Sértő-Radics (HU/ALDE) Mayor of Uszka

1.

underlines the importance of the new development of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) under the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). The differences between the ENP countries and their latest political developments, the expectation gap and the debate on the Enlargement process, the EU strategic relationship with Russia and the request to establish an Eastern Dimension alongside the Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean, led to the EaP after a Swedish-Polish proposal. The ENP countries to be considered in the development of the Eastern Partnership are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Except for Belarus, these countries are members of the Council of Europe. The European Commission (EC) has drafted its proposal, which will be decided upon at the Eastern Partnership Summit in spring 2009. It will be central for the EaP to enhance cross-border or interregional cooperation and institution building, where local and regional authorities can play their part in building relations and promoting European integration, in order to address the deficiencies of the current ENP;

2.

emphasises the role of local and regional authorities in the framework of the ENP with regard to the EaP. It will focus in particular on their contribution to territorial development, improvement of economic relations, development of respects for human rights and fundamental freedoms, facilitation of mobility and their support for establishing mutual contacts;

3.

welcomes the success of certain measures and initiatives and the fact that the ENP builds on existing Partnership and Cooperation Agreements (PCAs), which remain the legal basis for relations. Thus guided, bilateral ENP Action Plans between the EU and the partner country are adopted, setting the agenda for political and economic reforms. Incentives offered for progress in reforms are: greater integration into European programmes and networks, further assistance and enhanced market access. While differentiation, ownership and regional integration are key principles of the ENP, it covers a wide range of countries with various problems and there is a need for a more targeted approach;

4.

agrees with the proposal’s call for a deepening of the existing bilateral cooperation through visa freedom, a free trade area, enhanced support for sector reforms, intensified people-to-people contacts, new Action Plans with clear benchmarks and linkage to the alignment to European standards, and stronger successor agreements to the PCAs. The European Commission proposal furthermore called for a strengthening of multilateral cooperation, complementary to the Northern Dimension and the Black Sea Synergy and for it to be project oriented. As priority areas for cooperation the proposal identified the political and security, border and trans-border movement, economic and financial, environmental and social domains;

5.

also agrees with the European Commission’s proposal, which foresees a deepening of economic integration through deep and comprehensive free trade areas, depending on the WTO membership of the partner countries, increased mobility through visa facilitation and border management; energy security through recognition of energy interdependence; support for economic and social development through regional and trans-national programmes. To promote multilateral cooperation, the Eastern Partnership will provide a forum to share information, create joint activities and accompany the modernisation process. Multilateral cooperation is planned at head of government and ministerial level as well as through thematic platforms to set objectives and review progress. Platforms are planned for democracy, governance and stability; economic integration; energy security; contacts between people;

6.

without prejudice to the rule defined when the financial perspective was adopted whereby two thirds of the ENP budget should be earmarked for the south and one third for the east, supports the European Commission proposal to increase the allocations from €450 million in 2008 to €785 million in 2013. This would mean an additional envelope of €350 million and a redeployment of €250 million from the allocations to ENP regional programmes 2007-13. The Eastern Partnership Initiative is planned to be launched in spring 2009 at a special Eastern Partnership Summit. Until then the old ENP and its Instrument are in force;

7.

notes that the European Neighbourhood Policy Instrument (ENPI), which also covers Russia, is designed to be more flexible and policy-driven and to target sustainable development and approximation to EU policies and standards. For the budgetary period of 2007-13 approximately €12 billion have been allocated. This represents an increase in funding of 32 %, however 62 % of this funding is earmarked for the neighbours to the South and only 38 % for the neighbours in the East. The difference is less pronounced in per capita terms, but it does not represent the efforts to strengthen the Eastern Dimension;

8.

also notes that the national programmes under the ENPI are developed in Country Strategy Papers (CSPs) and funds are allocated according to the National Indicative Programmes (NIPs). Country Strategy Papers list three to four priorities for each partner country; however, all include reference to the strengthening of administrative capacities and good governance. For all partner countries local and regional government should be listed as a sub-category to the rule of law priority in the National Indicative Programmes. Another aspect minimising the effects of the ENP on local and regional authorities is that the CSPs and NIPs list people-to-people contacts but are almost exclusively on the education and research level. Local and regional government can play a role in this field as demonstrated under the Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) programmes and should be recognised for that;

9.

similarly notes that in the ENPI Cross-Border Cooperation Strategy Paper 2007-2013, the EC identifies four fields for cooperation: economic and social development; common challenges in the areas of the environment, public health and the fight against organised crime; border management; and people-to-people contacts. A strong involvement of local and regional authorities should be required, which also calls for more small-scale cooperation, improved support for capacity building measures for local and regional authorities and for a priority on actions to improve the living standards in border areas;

10.

points out that several challenges faced by the countries of the region, such as developing trans-national corridors, the management of cross-border environmental issues, border and migration management, the fight against terrorism and trans-national organised crime and people-to-people activities have an inherent cross-border character and can sometimes only be efficiently tackled through a sub-national cooperation effort. Therefore, regarding the EC ENPI Eastern Regional Strategy Paper 2007-13, the cooperation between partner countries as well as between the EC and the partners countries should provide assistance towards the common ENP space objectives where there is a clear advantage in sub-national level assistance.

11.

is convinced that initiatives from either side of the EU and EaP partners that focus exclusively on a diplomatic approach will not achieve sustainable solution for as long as local democracy is not put at the heart of the debate, in terms of both strengthening it and of direct cooperation between regions and towns on both sides of the EU and EaP countries;

12.

in this spirit, welcomes the fact that the role of the interregional programme is to support the effective implementation of the ENP and aims to gradually strengthen dialogue and cooperation between the EU and its neighbours as well as between the neighbours themselves according to the ENPI Interregional Programme Strategy Paper 2007-2013. Promoting cooperation between local actors will include an exchange of experience on ENP programmes and aims at strengthening democratic governance and sustainable regional and local development. Emphasis is given to a bottom-up approach in identifying and developing partnerships, to multi-stakeholder projects and to the dissemination of results to other local government authorities in the partner countries;

13.

emphasises that the EaP should enable what was a purely intergovernmental cooperation system to become a project for dialogue between the citizens and in particular for cooperation between the EU and EaP countries, bringing together their local and regional authorities in a framework of practical and agreed projects as part of an overall strategy based on citizens’ needs and on solidarity;

14.

considers that one of the conditions for successful cooperation between EU and EaP countries and for a stronger partnership through the ENP is that new catalysing issues be identified in order to make the practical benefits comprehensible to citizens by turning declarations of principle into tangible measures, which entails the strong involvement of local and regional elected leaders and clear, active communication;

15.

notes that stronger action on the part of local and regional authorities and civil society in public policy is often limited by the weakness of local democracy and the lack of any real process of decentralisation in EaP countries;

16.

similarly, notes that decentralisation and participatory local governance do not always go hand-in-hand. In some states, both within the EU and beyond its borders, local and regional authorities share the challenge of increasing participation in elections and of promoting public participation, and involving the associative sector in drawing up strategies and in developing major urban or regional projects;

17.

expresses the willingness and commitment of local and regional authorities to enrich the EaP. It should not be managed solely by national governments and the EC. Broader civil society and various actors should become stakeholders of EaP. Local and regional authorities, businesses, and NGOs (both from the EU and partner countries) must become an integral component of the whole EaP process;

18.

in keeping with earlier opinions on this subject, stresses the importance of involving local and regional authorities in terms of being an integral part of the process of planning, implementation and monitoring/evaluation of the Eastern Partnership and the ENP. This applies in particular to fields where local and regional authorities have broad and direct powers;

19.

consequently repeats its call for local and regional authorities to be recognised as key partners in the ENP, with regard to the EaP;

20.

recognises the role and experience of the various networks and associations of local, regional, national, European and international authorities engaged in decentralised cooperation in EaP, as well as their know-how and on-the-spot knowledge. For this reason, efforts must be more shared and the objectives of decentralised cooperation projects must be brought closer into line with those of the EaP in order to maximise the results;

21.

considers that the aim of the ENP to support the transformation process in neighbouring countries to be in line with EU standards. The main ambition of the ENP has been to go beyond the horizon of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and beyond merely the external relations of the EU with third countries. The ENP partner countries were given the prospect of participation in the EU’s integrated area of four freedoms if they implement the respective EU acquis, albeit without a perspective of becoming members of the EU;

22.

supports the political, economic and sectoral modernisation of the EaP countries by the new institutions such as the New Partnership Instrument and sectoral tools;

23.

welcomes the fact that the European Commission has invited the CoR to participate in the EaP, particularly in the work under thematic platforms on Democracy, good governance and stability and on Contacts between people;

24.

intends to develop forms of closer cooperation with countries involved in the Eastern Partnership. The creation of an Eastern Europe and South Caucasus Local and Regional Assembly (EaP LRA) as the institutional platform for a regular dialogue and cooperation could be a short-term objective for a formal cooperation after having succeeded to develop concrete and tangible forms of cooperation;

25.

calls upon the European Commission to revise the process of preparation of the NIP, which should be negotiated between the EU and an EaP country based on the country’s needs and capacities, as well as its and the EU’s interests. The planning on the national level has to be done jointly by the government of a partner country and the European Commission, and the EC should work together with the partner countries on preparing their national NIP implementation programmes;

26.

therefore calls upon the partners to ensure progressive implementation of the priorities and goals of the NIP, and the mechanism of communication between the EU and a partner country needs to be revised. Thus, if the EaP aims to be a more efficient policy, regular reporting and feedback meetings should be mandatory and a control body should be entrusted to oversee this process;

27.

welcomes the EaP's focus on mobility but considers that the Commission proposal is not sufficiently explicit on the content of the envisaged ‘Mobility and Security’ pacts (point 3.3 of the Communication); therefore encourages the EC to better explain its proposal so that the EaP partners know and understand clearly what needs to be done and what they can expect in return from the EU;

28.

welcomes the intention of the European Parliament to accept the invitation from the European Commission to make the EuroNest Assembly an integral part of the EaP;

29.

supports a supervisory role for the CoR and the EaP Local and Regional Assembly, especially when it comes to monitoring the work of the EU-EaP country joint subcommittees dealing with issues related to the thematic platforms on Democracy, good governance and stability, and Contacts between people, including issues of social and economic development, regional development, cross-border cooperation, administrative reforms and decentralisation in EaP countries;

30.

urges the governance bodies of the EaP not only to grant political recognition to local and regional authorities, but to incorporate them formally and effectively into the cooperation process and into the EaP;

31.

strongly urges that local and regional authorities, alongside central governments, take part if possible from an early stage in preparing association agreements, strategic documents and action plans that are conceived on a bilateral basis between the European Union and the EaP partner countries, and in particular within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy, regarding the preparation, implementation and evaluation of the NIPs;

32.

and therefore calls upon the EaP countries’ governments to set up mechanisms for structured national dialogue and consultation with sub-state (regional and local) agents, the social partners and civil society, by bringing in networks and associations of local and regional authorities;

33.

considers that the existing sectoral ENP tools (thematic dialogue, participation in the Community Programmes and Agencies, and sectoral agreements) should be harmonised with the Eastern Partnership offer, which could be summarised as follows: ‘contractual sectoral relationship based on two fundamental principles — obligatory approximation to the respective EU sectoral acquis and access to the EU sectoral programmes and institutions’. Observer status for sectoral agreement should be a fundamental idea of the Eastern Partnership that absolutely corresponds with the declared need to enhance the EU commitment vis-à-vis its Eastern neighbours and vice versa;

34.

especially suggests that both the New Partnership Instrument and sectoral tools should be an integral part of an EaP package which the EU would negotiate individually with each partner country. This EaP tools package would provide the basis for harmonisation as well as transparent evaluation of various EaP tools. The EaP countries should be given transparent and clear benchmarks so that they know where they are moving in relation to the EU within the EaP;

35.

aims at expanding and upgrading cooperation between local and regional authorities from the EU and EaP countries and making it an integral part of EU relations with the East European partners. The role of local and regional authorities is irreplaceable in various policy areas that are covered by EaP such as good governance, administrative reform and decentralisation, social and economic development, regional development and cohesion policy, cross-border cooperation, protection of environment, public order issues, prevention of and response to natural and man-made disasters, cultural cooperation, education, tourism, and pupil and student exchanges;

36.

initiates a dialogue with the EC in order to find ways of engaging local and regional authorities from EaP countries into a Comprehensive Institution-Building Programme (CIB). It is aimed at improving the administrative capacity of the Eastern partners, and thus should cover all relevant sectors of cooperation including those sectors, in which the role of local and regional authorities is irreplaceable. In addition, the CoR should prepare its own plan on how to contribute to the implementation of the CIB programme in cooperation with its partners from the EaP countries;

37.

resolves to significantly contribute to the implementation of the EaP in the area of the economic and social development of the EaP countries. The CoR should support the proposal of the Commission on signing Memoranda of Understanding on regional policy with the Eastern partners aimed at building their administrative capacity at national and local level. This could be combined with the CIB instrument and the CoR’s programme of actions and/or cooperation with partners from local and regional authorities in the EaP countries. The cooperation should aim at sharing best practises and experience from the EU regional development and cohesion policy;

38.

in addition, resolves to assist and/or to consult — in cooperation with local and regional authorities from the EaP countries — the European Commission and national governments in the process of identifying pilot regional development programmes addressing the needs of regional and local development in the EaP countries modelled on EU cohesion policy. Furthermore, the CoR should initiate discussions with its partners from the EaP countries in order to support their direct cooperation with the regions of the EU and to encourage their participation in existing trans-national programmes in South-Eastern, Central and Northern Europe. The CoR should also encourage local and regional authorities in the EaP countries to take use of a new opportunity offered by the EaP when it comes to the ENPI-funded projects for cross-border cooperation on the borders of the EaP countries;

39.

initiates a discussion with the European Commission in order to specify its own participation in the thematic platforms on Democracy, good governance and stability and on Contacts between people. The CoR should initiate the creation of some specific panels (fourth operational level of the EaP) dealing with issues close to the core agenda of local and regional authorities with a view to supporting the work of the EaP thematic platforms (third operational level). The EC could vice versa invite representatives of local and regional authorities to participate in the work of thematic platforms and/or specific panels where appropriate and/or needed. In order to specify the role of the CoR in the aforementioned two thematic platforms as well as to achieve better coordination with the Commission, further discussion is needed;

40.

resolves to assist the European Commission in drawing up the programme for training and networking of local authorities with a view to strengthening administrative capacities and promoting local governance reform under the thematic platform on Democracy, good governance and stability. The CoR will elaborate and come up with its proposals on a specific EaP Cultural Programme that is going to be launched under the thematic platform on Contacts between people. The CoR will initiate a discussion with the Commission on its possible participation in work under the thematic platforms on Economic cooperation and convergence with EU policies and on Energy security since there are partial agendas in these policy areas in which the local and regional authorities might make an important contribution;

41.

especially considers its contribution to a flagship initiative on Prevention of, preparedness for, and response to natural and man-made disasters to strengthen disaster management capacities at local, regional and national level. The CoR will initiate a discussion with its partners from the EaP on a potential contribution of local and regional authorities to the implementation of this flagship initiative;

42.

encourages the promotion of closer relations between the EU regional and local authorities and their counterparts in the EaP countries through the existing European institutional platforms for regular political dialogue and through concrete shared projects with the aim of setting up a common pathway to the future possible establishment of an Eastern Europe and south Caucasus Local and regional Assembly (EaP LRA);

43.

urges the European Commission to harmonise, coordinate and closely link the new approach with the various existing Community programmes, projects and instruments in order to harness the relevant experiences, avoid duplication of activities and accumulate progress;

44.

considers that giving greater responsibility to local and regional elected representatives will contribute to the emergence of multilevel governance bringing together different institutional levels in the process of deciding, preparing, implementing and evaluating public policies and development policies;

45.

suggests that local human, technical and academic resources be mobilised when implementing projects, and that public participation be maximised, so that they take ownership of the cooperation process and the ensuing projects;

46.

recognises an open initiative for the participation of third countries — particularly Russian Federation and Turkey — that could be involved in the work of a thematic platform, panel or an initiative, on a case-by-case basis and provided that there is agreement that common interest in a topic, geographical proximity or existing economic links would make this beneficial.

47.

requests its President to submit this opinion to the Presidency of the EU, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Economic and Social Committee, and to the Heads of State of the EaP countries.