While local elected representatives are generally aware of the importance of their role in protecting the environment, it is vital that they have the legal and administrative powers to realise their environmental objectives: supplementing the European Charter of Local Self-Government with a specific protocol on the environment would make their task much easier and unleash their full potential, according to the Congress Chamber of Local Authorities during the debate on “Environmental protection: How can local elected representatives make a difference?” held on Wednesday 26 March
There have been floods in Austria, Spain, France, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia; droughts in Croatia, Spain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine; heatwaves in Albania, Cyprus, Greece, Finland and Turkey; and forest fires in Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia, Portugal and Slovenia. And this is not an exhaustive list of the events that took place in Europe last year. “Local elected representatives hold the keys to protecting the environment in their areas but lack the legal instruments to activate them,” said Chamber President Bernd Vöhringer (Germany, EPP/CCE) at the start of the debate. Some towns and cities have, however, developed ambitious strategies, as in the case of Split, Croatia’s second-largest city. Its mayor, Ivica Puljak, described several of the measures taken to the members, including cleaning up sea water, restoring beaches, planting thousands of trees and filling in a huge open landfill site. In terms of sustainable transport, Split intends to invert the “traffic pyramid” in the city: journeys by car, which currently make up the majority, were to be very much in the minority in a few years’ time, mainly being replaced by walking and cycling. “Our bike-sharing service is already the most widely used in Europe,” he said proudly. He added that the right to health and a healthy environment involved many other legal developments: “For instance, we have just won the right in court to be informed about the nature and consequences of a case of pollution in our area, which central government had refused to disclose to date, and that’s a great victory for Split,” explained Mr Puljak.
Too many towns and cities in Europe are unable to make such commitments, as they have neither the necessary prerogatives nor resources. Yet local authorities are on the front line when it comes to dealing with environmental disasters and they are far too often too late to anticipate them. “They have to put out fires with buckets of water,” said Meropi-Spyridoula Ydraiou (Greece, L, EPP/CCE), Congress thematic spokesperson on the environment and climate change. “We therefore need local authorities to have the real capacity to take environmental action, and that is why it is essential to draft an additional protocol to the Charter, focusing specifically on the environment,” she said. “A text that would make local elected representatives aware of the importance of their daily actions in favour of the environment and give them the means to act and anticipate risks”.
Her call received broad support from Chamber members and also from the youth delegates who, through Roxana Maria Chiritoiu (Romania), also pointed out that “all over Europe, young people are growing up in an era in which disasters, whether giant fires or floods, are becoming normal.” She also emphasised that young people are still not very involved in the development of measures and the decisions taken, and therefore called for genuine trust to be established between local authorities and young people.
During the debate, many elected representatives and youth delegates described practical examples of steps taken or to be taken at local level, such as the protection of peat bogs in Ireland and the ending of their commercial exploitation. Alternatively, the development of bioenergy that could reduce CO2 emissions and could also be beneficial for local authorities that store and use it, some of which even manage to make a profit from it.
Véronique Bertholle (France, L, SOC/G/PD) said that local authorities had real leverage for green transition through their public procurement: in Strasbourg, 41% of the contracts awarded by the city now included an environmental clause with which municipal purchasing could be made much greener, and allows the bread served to children in school canteens to be not only organic, but sourced from local suppliers, thus lowering the city’s carbon footprint.
In the face of the climate crisis, local elected representatives must be able to fight on equal terms and finally have the capacity to implement environmental measures and realise their full potential in this area. The Chamber members agreed on the importance of drawing up a protocol additional to the Charter, which would be the start of a solution to a problem that will grow in scale over time and must be addressed as quickly as possible.
Mediabox interview with Ivica Puljak
Mediabox interview with Meropi-Spyridoula Ydraiou
Thematic debate: Environmental protection: How can local elected representatives make a difference?
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