Local and Regional Democracy and Good Governance

General

European Committee on Local and Regional
Democracy

Centre of Expertise
for Local Government Reform

Strategy for Innovation
and Good Governance
Reform

Programmes for Democratic Stability

Resources in Local and Regional Democracy

 

Programmes for Democratic Stability

Mission, resources and working methods
Since the beginning of the 1990s, the Council of Europe has been implementing assistance and co-operation programmes for the development of democratic stability, in order to help member states (in particular those of central, eastern and south-eastern Europe) to build up and consolidate their democratic institutions.

The programmes for democratic stability in the field of local democracy draw their inspiration from the European Charter of Local Self-Government and are prepared every year by the Directorate of  Democratic Institutions (DDI) on the basis of the needs expressed by national  authorities.

The scope of the assistance programme is potentially very broad. This implies the need to set priorities and avoid the dispersion of efforts. DDI strategy focuses on a limited number of objectives and concrete targets, which have been defined in line with member states' political priorities, but also with due regard to the “added value” that the Directorate’s action can provide compared to action implemented by other agencies.

The resources allocated to these programmes in the Council of Europe budget are supplemented by funding from Joint Programmes with the European Commission and by voluntary contributions granted by some Council of Europe member states, earmarked to specific projects.

The purpose of the programmes may be summed up in three strategic aims, which are related to the implementation of the subsidiarity principle within the legal orders of the Council of Europe member states:

to foster the decentralisation process
to support the development of effective local and regional self-government
to ensure that democracy takes root at local and regional level.

The DDI's approach to local government reforms is characterised by the inclusion of all potential stakeholders and the preparation of national Decentralisation Action Plans. In this way, the proposed legislative and institutional changes are accompanied by associated capacity-building programmes. This allows local government reform to be pursued in a more integrated way and helps generate the necessary consensus among stakeholders.

In concrete terms, the DDI's working methods centre on the following three main areas:

the provision of policy guidance and support to the drafting of legislation through legal appraisals, expert meetings, roundtables, seminars and other similar activities;

the organisation of multilateral/regional activities, bringing together participants from different countries, to share experience and encourage cross-fertilisation;

the co-operation and the development of synergies with other organisations/implementing agencies.