Brussels, 30/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - The members of the Conference of Local and Regional Authorities for the Eastern Partnership (CORLEAP), who were meeting in Tbilisi (Georgia) on Monday 29 September, reiterated the importance of decentralisation in the Eastern Partnership countries. “Decentralisation is a means for local and regional authorities - especially for the regions - to have access to a process in which the citizens are involved, because they are the closest. If we want democracy to become established, a move should be made towards decentralisation”, Michel Lebrun, President of the Committee of the Regions, told EUROPE.
“We must strengthen partnerships between local authorities”, Lebrun added, stressing that territorial cooperation brought “concrete solutions to similar problems in different territories”. The EU authorities which have experienced decentralisation can help their counterparts from the Eastern Partnership countries, helping them benefit from their experience. The association agreements signed between the EU and Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova moreover provide for bilateral cooperation to be strengthened at the regional level.
Financial decentralisation crucial. For the CORLEAP members, there is no true decentralisation without financial decentralisation. Lebrun highlighted the lack of financial decentralisation and the lack of autonomy for local authorities in the Eastern Partnership countries. “If spending must always be done from the central authority, it is clear that decentralisation can seem like a decoy and this is the danger. Good decentralisation must have more financial authority. In European terms, it is important to be able to organise operational programmes with the state but also the regional and local authorities”, he said. The head of the committee on European integration at the Georgian Parliament, Victor Dolidze, believed that “without financial decentralisation, without financial independence, it is not possible to have a true democracy”. In the view of the deputy minister, Tengiz Shergelashvili, without decentralisation it will not be possible to destroy Soviet values. “It is important to develop the economy, the environment and natural resources”, he added. “Local budgetary authority is a crucial principle of subsidiarity”, stated Natalyia Romanova, president of the Chamber of Regions of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.
Adapting the Eastern Partnership. CORLEAP also wanted the Eastern Partnership to be changed in order to give greater place to regional development. “The format of the Eastern Partnership should be changed to be more effective and to have a more important role for regional cooperation and regional development”, said the Georgian minister of state for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, Alex Petriashvili. Recalling that decentralisation was part of the statement from the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius in November 2013, Lebrun underlined that, at the Riga summit, this mechanism was going to be highlighted because “there is no true democracy if there is not a transfer towards local and regional authorities”. The increased role of the local and regional authorities in the policies and strategies of the Eastern Partnership is thus one of CORLEAP's recommendations to the heads of state and government for the next Eastern Partnership summit that will take place in Riga in May 2015. In the recommendations adopted on 29 September, CORLEAP also calls for programmes to support the local and regional authorities as part of the objectives of the Eastern Partnership, and it calls for the EU's support to facilitate the exchange of best practice on strengthening the capacity and effectiveness of institutions, on cross-border cooperation and the process of decentralisation. The members of CORLEAP also call for autonomy and self-governance, for the implementation of reforms on decentralisation, and for political, financial and technical support for all the countries of the Eastern Partnership, with a differentiated approach for those that have signed an association agreement.
Elsewhere, the president of the Union of Communities of Armenia and councillor in the Parakar Community, Emil Yertisyan, was appointed the new co-president of CORLEAP, representing the Eastern Partnership countries. He replaces Mamuka Abuladze from Georgia. (CG)