The News (Site updated Wednesday, May 16, 2012 | 11:00)

Artur Torres Pereira: ''The signature of the Additional Protocol by Bulgaria is a great step towards a full compliance with the Charter''

[15/05/2012 09:30:00] ''The right to participate in the affairs of a local authority denotes in fact the right to seek to determine or to influence the exercise of a local authority's powers and responsibilities'' explains Artur Torres Pereira, rapporteur for the local Chamber of the Congress on Bulgaria, in an interview. ''The signature of the Additional Protocol to the European Charter of Local Self-Government on the right to participate in the affairs of a local authority, only six month after the adoption of the recommendation by the Congress, shows that Bulgaria is an active member State of the Council of Europe which considers seriously the recommendations made to its authorities'', he stressed.

Interview

Keith Whitmore takes part in the 2012 City for Children Award ceremony

[15/05/2012 09:30:00] The Congress supports and takes an active part in the Cities for Children Network which organised the 2012 edition of the European Award of Excellence ''City for Children'', to honour European cities for outstanding child-friendly projects. The 2012 edition was dedicated to child-friendly urban planning. ''We were pleased to note the extent to which children themselves had been involved in the conception of the projects. We firmly believe that all stakeholders in an issue must have their say and their views must be taken into consideration'' underlined Keith Whitmore on 14 May 2012. The jury awarded innovative projects which take the perspective of children and their families into account when conceptualizing the qualities of urban areas with regard to development, architecture, free spaces and use.

Speech

Website ''Cities for children''

Bulgaria signs the Additional Protocol to the European Charter of Local Self-Government

[14/05/2012 16:30:00] ''By signing the Additional Protocol to the European Charter of Local Self-Government on the right to participate in the affairs of a local authority, Bulgaria has given new impetus to its local democracy,” Andreas Kiefer, Secretary General of the Congress said when he met with Lilyana Pavlova Nikolova, Bulgarian Minister for Regional Development and Public Works, on the occasion of the signing ceremony on 11 May 2012. ''The citizens’ participation is decisive because it helps to enhance the legitimacy of decisions, but also because it enables the public authorities to take fuller account of the citizens’ expectations in improving the policies and the services offered,'' he emphasised. This signature marks a tangible step in the implementation of Recommendation 310, which was adopted six months ago by the Congress following a monitoring visit to Bulgaria in November 2010. Photo: (from left to right) Lilyana Pavlova Nikolova, Bulgarian Minister for Regional Development and Public Works, and Andreas Kiefer, Secretary General of the Congress

File ''European Charter of Local Self-Government''

Congress welcomes improvements for local democracy in Serbia despite the predominance of Presidential elections on 6 May

[07/05/2012 11:30:00] On 7 May 2012, a delegation from the Congress has concluded its mission to observe the local and provincial part of the elections carried out in Serbia on 6 May 2012. For the first time, three elections – at presidential, parliamentary and grassroots level – were held concurrently throughout the country. “This has led to organisational challenges for the election administration in over 8000 polling stations and to the fact that local elections were largely overshadowed by the national vote,” stated Nigel Mermagen (United Kingdom, ILDG), Head of the Congress delegation, at a press conference in Belgrade. He also referred to improvements in the legal framework and the electoral system of Serbia which had positive effects on the identification of local leadership in Serbia. Matters of concern from Congress perspective remain the infringement of the secrecy of the vote, the lack of transparency of media ownership and the situation of the Roma minority who seems to be particularly vulnerable to possible electoral malpractices. Photo: Väino Hallikmagi, Estonia (ALDE) Speaker of the EU Committee of the Regions and Nigel Mermagen (United Kingdom, ILDG), Rapporteur of the Congress on local elections in Serbia

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Special web file

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Videos of the Press Conference

Keith Whitmore welcomes the winners of the European Best Practice Award for Coastal Towns

[09/05/2012 11:30:00] ''The aim of the Best Practice Programme has been to identify, celebrate and recognise those local authorities which have shown the best local practices for the regeneration of coastal towns, and consequently make their knowledge and experience available for sharing with other local authorities'', stated Keith Whitmore, Congress President, during the awards ceremony which took place in Blackpool (United-Kingdom) on 9 May 2012. ''It has been our conviction that participation in the Programme will help local authorities to review their own practices, and then measure them against the experiences of their counterparts in other coastal areas, and in that way offers the opportunity for improvement.'' Simon Blackburn, council leader in Blackpool, also welcomed the winners and stressed that the experience-sharing promoted through this Council of Europe initiative is crucial for the successful regeneration of coastal towns. Photo: Deputy mayor of Yevpatoria Sergey Strelbitsky receiving 1st Prize of the European Best Practice Award for Coastal Towns

Speech

Congress Secretary General takes part in the European Citizens’ Initiative conference

[04/05/2012 11:00:00] ''A renewed participatory model of democracy will require a new, decentralised system of multi-level governance, based on a comprehensive framework for citizen participation and be supported by active democratic citizenship and by possibilities for direct cross-border co-operation and interaction at the level closest to the citizen'', said Andreas Kiefer, Congress Secretary General at the first European Conference on European Democracy (EUDEM) held in Salzburg, Austria, on 3-4 May 2012. Representatives of the Committee of the Regions, the Economic and Social Council of the EU, experts, researchers and representatives of civil society met in a first interdisciplinary conference to discuss the implications of the new instrument of citizens’ initiatives in Art. 9 – 12 of the Lisbon Treaty. Photo: (from left to right) Johannes W. Pichler, Henri Malosse, Anne-Marie Sigmund, Luc Van den Brande, and Andreas Kiefer

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Gudrun Mosler-Törnström : ''European democracy improvement can only be successful when it starts at the lowest level''

[09/05/2012 15:30:00] ''European democracy improvement can only be successful when it starts at the lowest level, the communities. The Congress of local and regional authorities represents over 200.000 local and regional authorities of the 47 member states. One could say: We are a watchdog for grassroots democracy'', stated Gudrun Mosler-Törnström, Head of the Austrian delegation of the Congress, at the opening of the EUDEM Conference in Salzburg on 3 May 2012. “To enthusiasm the people for important projects, you have to start at the local level”, she insisted. Among instruments for more direct democracy, she presented in particular the “Salzburg Citizens Initiative”. This project aims towards a stronger involvement of the citizens in projects concerning their surrounding environment, through a three-stage model: an initiative plan, citizens’ initiative and referendum. Photo: (from left to right) Andreas Kiefer, Congress Secretary General, Gudrun Mosler-Törnström, Congress member, and Prof. Dr. Johannes Pichler

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