As I have reported before, the Council of Europe is not to be confused with the EU. It is a smaller organization dealing with three ‘core issues’, human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Forty- five European countries are members and send delegations to regular meetings of the Congress and the separate Parliamentary Assembly, mostly in Strasbourg.
The Council of Europe’s Congress deals with conventions and standards on local and regional government across Europe. I serve as the Independent representative on it, with Pauline Dee from Shropshire as my substitute. The work is mostly in attending committee meetings and travelling on other Council of Europe missions.
During the past year, I have served as a member of four small teams of Congress observers spending about five days each on visits to report on elections in Armenia (September and October 2005, two rounds), a constitutional referendum in Armenia
(November 2005), and then elections in Palestine (December 2005), acting for the last of these as ‘rapporteur’ and head of mission. I had to attend a meeting in Strasbourg to report back on what we found in Palestine, and I also wrote an article on the trip for 'Aim' magazine in early 2006.
Also during 2005-06, I took part in a conference in Lisbon on the European Charter of Local Self-government (July 2005), and later in two Congress visits to monitor the state of local democracy in member states. The first of these was to Liechtenstein – a tiny but fascinating principality between Switzerland and Austria, about the size and population of a small English rural district. The second visit was to Bosnia & Herzegovina, a troubled country I have reported on before. For both of these small states, I am the Congress’s ‘rapporteur’ on democracy at the local level. I was able to take a report on the Liechtenstein findings to
the Congress Plenary in May 2006, making only minor recommendations for changes. (I can mention in passing that Liechtenstein is almost the only Council of Europe member state ever monitored in which we found that local authorities have enough resources for the functions they need to carry out!)
My next monitoring visit to Bosnia (and the ‘Republika Srpska’, an entity within the state) is scheduled for 1-5 July 2006, during this year’s LGA conference. A report to the Congress on Bosnia & Herzegovina is due in the autumn of 2006. I also now act as the Congress’s ‘rapporteur’ on the revision of the European Charter of Local Self- Government, an important guarantee of local authorities’ rights which most member states, including the UK, have ratified. A first report on the revision of the Charter is due in 2007.
Meanwhile, I am still the Congress’s ‘follow-up rapporteur’ for local democracy in Armenia. As already noted, I took part
in three visits there during the year and while on the spot was able to monitor some slow progress on recommendations of the Congress on Armenia following my report in November 2003.
This is a small space to report on the activities of the Congress I see at first hand, but if anyone is interested in anything mentioned here, please feel free to call me on 01373 300775 or else email me at christophernewbury@wiltshire.gov.uk.
Christopher Newbury
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