Lisbon, 10.09.2015 – The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and the Portuguese national authorities signed, on 9 September 2015, a roadmap for the implementation of the decentralisation reform in Portugal. The signing of this roadmap followed the adoption by the Congress of a recommendation on the situation of local democracy in Portugal 323 (2012) and a constructive post-monitoring dialogue on the European Charter of Local Self-Government started in 2013.
António Leitão Amaro, Secretary of State for Local Administration welcomed the signature of the roadmap post-monitoring for Portugal. “The cooperation with the Congress is a demanding but very constructive exercise. We used its monitoring and post-monitoring procedures to improve our political situation to commit within the local democracy” he stated. “We would like to continue our dialogue with the Council of Europe and the Congress”, he concluded.
The Congress delegation met the Secretary of State for Local Administration regularly to discuss the key points of the recommendation. Gudrun Mosler-Törnström (Austria, SOC), Vice-President of the Congress, highlighted this signature as “an important milestone of our common commitment to work in the same direction towards a better local democracy anchored in the principles laid down by the European Charter of Local Self-government”. “This post monitoring in Portugal is the first one in the western part of the European continent, and it will remain exemplary” she added, signing the official roadmap document on behalf of the Congress.
The Congress rapporteur on the situation of local democracy in Portugal, Jos Wienen (The Netherlands, EPP/CCE), who participated in the ceremony, stressed that “The readiness of the Portuguese government to hold these regular exchanges of views bears witness to the attention that they pay to local democracy and to the proper application of the European Charter on Local Self-government”.
Artur Torres Pereira, Head of the Portuguese delegation at the Congress stated that this signature opened a new chapter in the history of the relationship of Portugal and the Council of Europe.
The first roadmap of this kind was signed with the government of Ukraine in May 2015. Other post-monitoring dialogues are in progress with the governments of Georgia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Armenia and Moldova. These should also lead to the drafting of a roadmap for the implementation of the Congress recommendations.
Links:
Contact: Stéphanie Poirel, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, mobile : +33 (0)6 63 55 07 10, Stephanie.poirel@coe.int
Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
Planning, Coordination and institutional Communication Unit
Tel: +33 (0)3 90 21 48 95
Fax:+33 (0)3 88 41 27 51
congress.com@coe.int
www.coe.int/congress
