CORLEAP: decentralisatie en fiscale autonomie voor oostelijke buurlanden (en)

Mayors and regional politicians from the EU and Eastern neighbouring countries met yesterday for the second annual meeting of the Conference of Regional and Local Authorities for the Eastern Partnership (CORLEAP) in Chişinău, Moldova, in the presence of Kristalina Georgieva i, European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response. CORLEAP members agreed on a way forward that will include public administration reform, fiscal decentralisation and regional cooperation as key priorities for action.

The CORLEAP was established by the Committee of the Regions (CoR) in 2011 to bring a regional and local dimension into the EU's Eastern Partnership. CORLEAP brings together 36 regional and local politicians including 18 from the six Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) and 18 from the CoR. By involving the local and regional levels of government in the implementation of the EU's Eastern Partnership, the CoR seeks to help strengthen local and regional self-government in the partner countries and bring the Eastern Partnership closer to its citizens.

This was CORLEAP's second Annual meeting which took place yesterday at the invitation of Dorin Chirtoacă, the General Mayor of the Chişinău Municipality and co-chair of the CORLEAP. The event marked the first time since the creation of the platform that the Conference has held a meeting outside the EU in one of the EaP countries. It gave members the opportunity to discuss the contribution of cities and regions in the development of the EU's Eastern Partnership as well as current challenges, in particular the current stage of the decentralisation process, which included the fundamental issue of fiscal decentralisation.

In his opening address, Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso, CoR President and CORLEAP co-chair stressed that, “greater political and fiscal autonomy for regional and local authorities is an important factor enabling multi-level governance to function effectively. CORLEAP should be a common tool in achieving this goal. Considerable attention should be paid to the need for fiscal decentralisation in the EaP countries as a lack of financial autonomy may hinder their cities and regions to fully exercise their potential. We should also be able to put in place funding opportunities to improve the efficiency of local and regional administrations in the Eastern neighbourhood. This is why we support direct access to support from EU instruments financing the EaP policy”.

Addressing the current stage of affairs in the EU’s Eastern Partnership, Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, said that, “the EU cares deeply about the Eastern partnership and the regional dimension of this Partnership is ever more important. The regional and local authorities are the best transmission line for the citizens’ needs and aspirations. CORLEAP, a forum rich in diversity and experience, focuses on concrete actions and results, and its members are among the best-placed to make the Eastern Partnership live up to its potential for success”.

Also speaking at the opening session, Dorin Chirtoacă strongly emphasised the need for administrative and fiscal decentralisation and for direct access to European funds, “the existing instruments are not sufficient in order to ensure the effective participation of EaP countries, especially local authorities, in the European integration process. We would like to propose an approach that would give CORLEAP the adequate means to encourage local democracy, to conform to European standards and bring our countries closer to the EU.”

Mihai Moldovanu, Deputy Prime Minister of Moldova, referred to the adoption of a national strategy on decentralisation and insisted on the Government’s resolve to come up with an efficient decentralisation process while ensuring that local and regional authorities have their own sources of income.

Meeting ahead of the Conference, the CORLEAP Bureau agreed on a set of three main priorities namely public administration reform, fiscal decentralisation and territorial cooperation. These will be addressed in a report that will be submitted at the next CORLEAP meeting, due to take place in Lithuania - which will be holding the EU Presidency during the second half of 2013. The 2013 meeting will be an important milestone in an effort to develop a local and regional dimension of the Eastern Partnership and gain the support and attention from the policy makers in the run-up to the 3rd Eastern Partnership Summit of Heads of State and Government, to be held in Vilnius in November 2013.

The CORLEAP also adopted a set of conclusions in which its members call for reinforced political and fiscal autonomy for regional and local authorities and commit to closely follow the on-going decentralisation and devolution efforts in EaP countries. CORLEAP also intends to support a training of local and regional authorities from EaP countries to improve local capacity building. In addition, CORLEAP calls for the creation of direct access to adequate financial instruments (European and national) for local and regional authorities from EaP countries and asks for a limitation on, or even the removal of, the co-financing requirements for local authorities within the EU aid programmes.