Brussels, 21/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - During its Bureau meeting in Yerevan (Armenia) on Friday 18 September, the Conference of Regional and Local Authorities for the Eastern Partnership (CORLEAP) adopted the action plan for 2016-2017 to enhance cooperation between the EU and the six partner states - particularly in the area of administrative and financial decentralisation.
Three main lines of action were defined for the next two years: - deepening reforms in the public administration and the decentralisation process begun among the eastern partners, especially in the areas of tax and budget, in connection with the 2013 European Commission communication on the increased autonomy of local authorities in partner countries (COM 2013); - stepping up the exchange of good practice in administrative management and economic policies: - strengthening the financing from local and regional authorities as part of the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI).
“Implementing reforms in the areas of administration remains crucial for establishing good governance, so as to ensure better economic stability, a favourable economic environment and better interconnectivity”, said the president of the Committee of the Regions (CoR), Markku Markkula. This, he continued, will be done by establishing a clear legal framework, an essential condition for attracting foreign investment, and by fighting against corruption, in order to restore citizens' confidence in public authorities. In this framework, the mayor of Gdansk (Poland), Pawel Adamowicz (EPP, Poland), presented, during the afternoon, the actions taken over the last 20 years to develop participative democracy, and he underlined how the former countries of the USSR were still marked by decades of Soviet centralism.
Elsewhere, reference was made to the process of decentralisation started by the Ukrainian government, and to the empowerment of the local governments of Donetsk and Luhansk, according to the Minsk II agreement that was concluded in February (see EUROPE 11261). In addition to the special laws developed for the eastern regions controlled by the separatists, a three-level system is provided for by the new Ukrainian constitution, adopted at the start of September against a backdrop of violent clashes at the doors of the Ukrainian Parliament (see EUROPE 11379). In the light of this, Markkula announced that an initial meeting of the CoR's task force for Ukraine (which aims to accompany the country's administrative and territorial reforms) will be held on 30 September.
The vice-president of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, Nataliya Romanova, reiterated the need to apply the European charter on local autonomy, and she welcomed the good implementation of the roadmap for developing local democracy, which was adopted by Ukraine in May. Romanova nevertheless warned against the distrust of certain countries, especially Russia, which have reportedly shown their intention to leave the charter.
Although the adoption of the action plan was hailed by the members of the Bureau, some of them regretted its lack of precision. Questioned by EUROPE on this issue, Markkula underlined the fact that this plan laid a general, flexible framework and that it was for the local and regional authorities to submit concrete projects. The final adoption of the plan will take place through written procedure by the end of the year.
Meeting with Armenia's prime minister. Alongside this, Markkula met Armenia's Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan, as part of an impromptu bilateral meeting, with a view to strengthening their cooperation in the field of decentralisation and in fostering entrepreneurship in urban and rural areas. Abrahamyan hailed the improvement in collecting taxes thanks to the recent administrative reforms. Armenia intends to adopt a new constitution next year so as to strengthen parliamentarianism, and it is due to organise a referendum in the spring or autumn of 2016.
The role of CORLEAP (which brings together the local and regional authorities of the EU and Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) was honoured in the Riga statement of 21-22 May (point 25) and was commended for having created a multilateral area for dialogue, “which enables a contribution to different peace processes”, Markkula said.
Indeed, diplomatic conflicts persist between the partner states - like that between Azerbaijan and Armenia on the issue of the March 1918 massacre. CORLEAP's current co-president, Emin Yeritsyan, will hand over his post to his Azeri counterpart, Anar Ibrahimov, on 1 October, in accordance with the decision taken in plenary in April. Nevertheless, “we should not read a symbolic act [of the two countries coming closer together] into this because [the decision] is made in alphabetical order between the partner countries and, as expected, Ibrahimov, did not travel to Yerevan”, a source told EUROPE. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens).