Governance and citizenship

'I am pleased to announce that the French government has opened the process of the ratification of the European Charter of local self-government. The bill will be submitted to the Parliament in the coming months".

 

That is how French Minister for Local liberties, Patrick Devedjian, announced at the Versailles seminar that France is about to ratify the charter of local self-government. (Full speech - French only)

 

Some 120 representatives of European municipalities and regions gathered in Versailles' town hall on 16 January. They were marking the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the European Charter of local liberties in the same building.

In turn, the charter of local liberties gave birth to the European Charter of self-government adopted by the Council of Europe in 1985.

 

CEMR Président Valéry Giscard d'Estaing attended the seminar. In his speech, he focused on the future of Europe, in particular on the European Constitution.

 

'In fact, the current disagreements shouldn't be insurmountable. At the Nice summit, an agreement was found between all the parties. Yet, the differences between today's proposals and the Nice document are not that wide. About 80% of the Convention's proposals are not subject to disagreement: a stable presidency, a Foreign minister, the role of subsidiarity, the revision of the competences”¦ Indeed, there are only two outstanding issues: the vote procedure at the Council and the competences of the Commission. The Constitution is ready to be accepted, all it would take to the Council is a reflection effort and an open mind. What must be avoided is to get stuck down in bureaucratic bickering since a Constitution is an act of political synthesis; we also must solve the issue before the various elections in Member states and for the European parliament".

 

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing concluded by praising the Irish Presidency's approach of one-to-one discussions with individual member states.

Fiscal powers ?

 

Several speakers called for fiscal competences for municipalities.
The host of the seminar, the Mayor of Versailles, Etienne Pinte, commented that 'what was said in the same room fifty years ago is still very much relevant today, especially in France. We are in the middle of the debate on devolution; the principle of fiscal competences for local and regional authorities has been enshrined in the Constitution (however) devolving competences is not followed by enough financial resources". (Full speech - French only)

 

Patrick Devedjian added : 'The authors of the Versailles Charter had already understood that there is no local self-government without fiscal competences. Their analysis was accurate".

 

Same call from Claude du Granrut speaking on behalf of the Committee of the Regions of the EU : 'Local and regional governments are one of the main factors of economic growth in Europe. Economic development happens at local and regional level. But to achieve it, municipalities must create the infrastructure enabling companies to move in; local fiscal competences are thus important since they give municipalities the means to further build their competences".

 

Founding member of CEMR Lucien Sergent attended the 1954 conference at which the Versailles Charter was adopted. He too called for fiscal competences for municipalities, quoting two articles of the charter: 'Local liberties must be defined by the Constitution and by a right of appeal to an independent court. Municipalities fulfil their obligations through taxes based on their own resources. If these are lacking, then a compensation fund should intervene". (Full speech - French only)

 

Jan Olbrycht, CEMR vice-president reminded delegates that 'in 1954 in Versailles, nobody was saying: more competences to local authorities. They only said : we are ready to work for Europe and for the citizens. Because citizens are more important than institutions! This statement is still relevant these days. Today, our problem is the 'democratic deficit" at European, national, and local and regional levels".

 

The president of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in Europe, Herwig van Staa, praised the authors of the Versailles Charter, reminding that the European Charter of local self-government drew from the Versailles Charter. (Full speech)

 

Also available : CEMR's vice president Georgios Giannopoulos' speech And Prsident of AFCCRE Louis Le Pensec's speech.

 

Photos of the meeting