EN Official Journal of the European Union C 54/5

Resolution of the European Committee of the Regions on recommendations to the heads of state or government gathering in Brussels on 24 November 2017 for the fifth Eastern Partnership summit

(2018/C 054/02)

THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS (CoR)

— having regard to the shared commitment to international law and fundamental values, including democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and gender equality, as well as to the market economy, sustainable development and good governance, on which the Eastern Partnership is based;

— having regard to the fact that armed conflicts and destabilisation in many countries and regions in the EU neighbourhood are hindering the development of lasting partnerships (1);

— having regard to the rights-based approach, implemented by the EU since 2016, encompassing all human rights, whether economic, political, civil, cultural and social, as one of the guiding principles of ENI financial assistance, and the important role that LRAs play in defending key rights at local and regional level, inter alia the protection of minorities;

— having regard to the fundamental principles of local autonomy, which represent a European value codified in the framework of the European Charter of Local Self-Government;

— having regard to the importance of engaging civil society organisations, young people and local authorities, particularly in the implementation of new country-specific frameworks for bilateral cooperation, in the form of updated Association Agendas and Partnership Priorities, in a way that contributes to the democratic and economic transformation of the partner countries (2) and strengthens their relations with the EU;

— having regard to the role of local and regional authorities in strengthening resilience, defined as a broad concept encompassing the whole of society, featuring democracy, trust in institutions and sustainable development, and the capacity to reform (3);

— having regard to the role of the Conference of the Regional and Local Authorities for the Eastern Partnership (CORLEAP), as acknowledged in the Report on the Implementation of the European Neighbourhood Policy Review and the Joint Staff Working Document on EaP milestones towards 2020;

— having regard to CORLEAP’s commitment to pursuing the objectives of the EaP in accordance with the reviewed European Neighbourhood Policy and the EU Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy, promoting and implementing, at local level, the universal values upon which the EU is founded, deepening cooperation among local and regional authorities, their associations and civil society organisations, for the benefit of all citizens;

— having regard to the CORLEAP report on Developing civic participation as a way to strengthen local democracy in the Eastern Partnership countries and the recommendations therein;

— having regard to the CORLEAP report on Energy efficiency: The role of local and regional authorities and the recommendations therein;

— having regard to the launch of new initiatives in the field of sustainable municipal development, such as Mayors for Economic Growth and the second phase of the Covenant of Mayors East, which are bottom-up governance models capable of stimulating local authorities’ engagement with citizens and local and international institutions;

— having regard to the mid-term review of ENI assistance 2014-2017;

— having regard to further strengthened cooperation with the permanent observers (4) of CORLEAP and other institutional partners;

Strategic environment

1. underlines that local and regional authorities continue to develop as players and policy shapers within the Eastern Partnership architecture, whereas many of the key EaP deliverables are based on achievements and sustained efforts at sub-national level, and further support is needed to enable them to grow into their role;

2. welcomes local and regional authorities’ reinforced role in the implementation of Eastern Partnership policies, strategies and flagship initiatives, including their increased involvement in the work of the multilateral platforms and their panels;

3. welcomes in particular the debates dedicated to strengthening local and regional democracy within the Eastern Partnership’s Platform 1 on Democracy, good governance and stability;

4. recommends that a structured engagement with local and regional authorities and their associations is pursued as a cross-cutting element of all four Eastern Partnership priority areas, pointing out that people-to-people contacts are just as important as economic and energy connections;

5. emphasises that the engagement of LRAs is key in the context of a more efficient and effective EaP multilateral structure and calls for a further enhanced correlation with the work carried out by CORLEAP;

6. insists on the participation of EaP LRAs in drafting policy recommendations and legislation, as well as their active involvement in negotiations with the central authorities on projects and decisions of interest for the local and regional levels;

7. welcomes the Commission proposal ‘20 Deliverables for 2020’ as an important step in bringing concrete results to the citizens of the EaP countries and commits to actively contributing to the implementation of these Deliverables;

8. calls for adequate political, financial and technical support for all EaP countries within the framework of targeted and more effective partnerships with the EU, in order to better steward their reform process, and with a view to consolidating local democracy and territorial development;

Local democracy and good governance

9. reaffirms that the overall objectives of local democracy and public administration reform, including through a process of decentralisation, remain at the core of CORLEAP’s contribution to the implementation of the European Neighbourhood Policy at local and regional level, irrespective of the chosen degree of partnership with the EU within the framework of a reviewed policy;

10. states that the effectiveness of the EU’s involvement with the Eastern Partnership countries requires the highest degree of participation of local communities, which are becoming increasingly active;

11. emphasises that local elections are essential in terms of engaging citizens and should be accompanied by a process of reflection on how to work more effectively for the public;

12. considers that local and regional authorities are well placed to support the development of a strong civil society and to help ensure the democratisation and modernisation of local communities;

13. calls for existing EU funding schemes, in particular TAIEX and Twinning, to be further adapted so as to target the needs of local and regional stakeholders;

14. encourages a multi-stakeholder approach to local and regional development in the EaP countries based on close cooperation between LRAs, civil society organisations and citizens, in relation to various activities such as support for sport, associations for young people and the elderly, and citizen centres;

15. calls for efficient decentralisation reforms to be accompanied by effective anti-corruption measures at all levels of government, in order to ensure that stronger governance impacts positively on citizens’ daily lives;

16. calls for a greater role and appropriate resources for the associations of local and regional authorities to assist LRAs in participating in the drafting and implementation of national/sectoral/regional strategies and policies affecting them, and in providing services;

17. highlights the need for open dialogue in inclusive public administration and local government reforms, including as part of territorial reforms, and in promoting a partnership culture between local and central authorities;

18. calls for a dynamic approach with regard to transparency, anti-corruption and integrity at all levels of governance, including the local level, thereby helping to build citizens’ trust in public authorities and improving the environment for economic development;

19. promotes a tailor-made and multi-country approach, in order to address the real needs in each and every country, in the best interests of local communities and stronger resilience at local level;

20. advocates a sustainable and transparent regulatory framework to enable local and regional authorities to enhance their organisational and institutional capacities;

21. reiterates the call for simplified access to European funds for local and regional authorities and civil society organisations in cooperation with subnational governments;

22. calls for capacity-building strategies, programmes and curricula, both for local elected representatives and for local administrations, in order to enable local and regional authorities to take full responsibility for the management of the services they provide;

23. calls for gender issues to be taken into account in all ongoing local and regional reforms so as to prevent any gender discrimination;

24. calls on Eastern Partnership countries to respect the right of national minorities to education in their languages in line with the Framework Convention on Protection of National Minorities.

25. reiterates the request that the individual annual reports of the EU on the EaP countries should contain assessments of the advances in regional economic development, the decentralisation process, local self-government and territorial cooperation, in order to further adapt and target EU support;

26. draws attention to the Division of Powers website (5), hosted and developed by the European Committee of the Regions, which provides an overview of levels of institutional and fiscal decentralisation in EU and neighbouring countries, and can support such regular analysis;

27. draws attention to the positive role played by the CoR through the U-LEAD programme and Ukraine Task Force, which help to share expertise and knowledge between local and regional authorities from the EU and Ukraine;

Energy efficiency and local economic development

28. welcomes the fact that one of the main EaP priorities is to provide assistance to partner countries for policies focusing on energy efficiency;

29. calls on national governments to increase their financial support and the competences attributed to communities, which are required for developing local energy strategies;

30. supports the European Commission’s specific programmes for EaP LRAs;

31. calls on the Commission to work together with the EU delegations to substantially increase the visibility of cooperation programmes at regional and local level, and to strengthen capacity-building at subnational level;

32. recommends promoting and strengthening regional and local initiatives aimed at improving investment conditions in EaP countries, such as political and economic partnerships between the European and the EaP regions and cities, entrepreneurial associations and networks;

33. recommends agreeing on sectoral pilot projects within the deliverables for 2020, whose implementation would be the responsibility of local and regional authorities, so that experience can be gained with decentralisation processes;

34. believes it essential to make more resources available for cross-border cooperation, with a particular focus on people-to-people contacts, partnerships between local authorities, and scientific, cultural and youth exchanges; the extension of the Small Project Fund to neighbourhood countries could boost cooperation at grassroots level;

35. calls on national governments to facilitate project registration and, where relevant, the involvement of European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTCs) and their respective regions or cities in cross-border cooperation programmes, with the aim of implementing projects based on territorial needs;

36. insists on local and regional authorities being involved in the programming exercise relating to the new bilateral assistance programmes under the ENI for 2017-2020.

Brussels, 11 October 2017. The President of the European Committee of the Regions Karl-Heinz LAMBERTZ

(1) CoR opinion on the Review of the European Neighbourhood Policy, October 2016.

(2) Council conclusions on the Eastern Partnership, November 2016.

(3) Joint Communication on A Strategic approach to resilience in the EU's external action.

(4) Civil Society Forum, the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

(5) www.cor.europa.eu/divisionofpowers