Recent developments in local and regional democracy in Norway

Historisk arkiv

Publisert under: Regjeringen Stoltenberg II

Utgiver: Kommunal- og regionaldepartementet

Tale/innlegg | Dato: 31.05.2006

"Recent developments in local and regional democracy in Norway" by Deputy Minister of the Norwegian Ministry of Local and Regional Development Dag-Henrik Sandbakken at the Council of Europe, 13th Plenary Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities Statement in Strasbourg the 31st of May 2006.

Council of Europe, 13th Plenary Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities Statement in Strasbourg the 31st of May 2006.

Mr President,
On behalf of the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Mrs. Åslaug Haga, I thank you for this opportunity to address the 13th Plenary Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities on issues regarding recent development in local and regional democracy in Norway.

Norway has a strong commitment to European cooperation and to the Council of Europe.

We highly value the importance of the intergovernmental work and the close cooperation with the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.

I will restrict my speech to two parts;

In the first part I would like to outline what Norway sees as the main challenges facing the Council. I will address the many important conclusions reached at the Warsaw summit.

In the second part I will present the development trends in local and regional democracy in Norway.

Mr President,

The main focus of the Council of Europe should be a thorough follow up of the Action Plan reached at the Warsaw summit.

Firstly,

We must maintain our concentration on our core objectives – securing human rights, democracy and the rule of law for all citizens of Europe. We must act now to consolidate and strengthen the European human rights protection system and the Court of Human Rights.

Norway welcomes all measures taken by the Court itself to enhance its efficiency and prepare for the entering into force of Protocol 14 of the Human Rights Convention. Addressing the sustainability of the Court should be our main priority.

Secondly,

Norway strongly supports closer cooperation between the Council of Europe and the EU, OSCE and the UN. Specifically, we welcome the report of Prime Minister Juncker on the future relationship between the EU and CoE. The promotion of joint programmes and a strengthened political dialogue will contribute to a unified set of human right standards in Europe.

Thirdly,

The administrative and budgetary reform process remains an urgent priority.

Norway encourages the secretariat to pay special attention to initiatives that will promote efficiency and coherence in the organisation.

Fourthly,

The development of regions and communities in Europe today raises challenges, but provides opportunities and answers as well. The Norwegian Government appreciates the proposal to set up a Council of Europe Centre for inter-regional and cross-border cooperation in St. Petersburg. We must ensure that this centre along with other European institutions work for unified standards and avoid duplication.

Let me point out some key areas where concepts and solutions may be found at a decentralized level:

Inter-cultural dialogue has been arranged by the Council of Europe over many years. The ties to the development of Europe of regions are apparent. Norway encourages increased cooperation with other international organisations such as the OSCE, the EU and the UN, in promoting tolerance through dialogue, understanding and inclusiveness. Local and regional authorities have an important role to play in this dialogue, and involving citizens.
Democracy and good governance. Local community development is both a question of attitude among citizens and of technical institutions. We must not underestimate any of them. Norway is positive to the establishment from 1. January this year of a Centre of expertise for local reform as agreed at the Warsaw summit. The Summit saw this as part of the necessary steps to implement the Agenda for delivering good local and regional governance adopted at the ministerial conference in Budapest, by promoting standards and good practices, and by assisting all member states with capacity-building at the local and regional level. The Centre will support the implementation, usually through pilot projects, of local government principles and standards approved by the Committee of Ministers and take due account of relevant Congress recommendations. The Centre of Expertise will cooperate closely with the Congress, and the Congress is represented at the Advisory Board of the Centre.

Mr President,

I thank you for this opportunity to present the recent developments in local and regional democracy in Norway. The reform of the regional level has to be understood in the light of the present situation in my country.

Historically local democracy is strong in Norway and in present day politics it is considered more important than ever.

Compared to other European countries Norway has a relatively small population with its 4.6 million inhabitants. The country is divided into 19 county authorities and 431 municipalities. The counties and municipalities have different tasks, and are at the same administrative level in relation to the state level. The municipalities and counties – the regional level – vary significantly in size, topography and population.

The present government has initiated a reform in which the county authorities – the regional level - are at stake. The reform will be presented in a White Paper in the fall of this year and, assuming that everything will go as planned it will be effectuated in January 2010. The government’s goal for this reform is firstly to strengthen local and regional democracy by decentralising authority to the regional level as well as establishing a clear division of responsibilities and functions.

The reform will be presented in two stages. Firstly we will look at the distribution of functions between the state and the county authorities. The conclusions will be presented in a White Paper this coming autumn. Once decisions have been taken about the functions and responsibilities of the regional level, the government will assess whether the number of county authorities should be reduced. In this process the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities is an important contributor.

Here I would like to underline that Norway also in the future will continue to have democratically directly elected governments at the regional level.

In relation to the European Charter of Local Self-Government this implies that we foresee no changes as to the applicability of the charter to local and regional authorities in Norway. The Charter includes both the municipal and county authorities in the Norwegian system.

Mr. President,

This reform issues regarding the regional level is highly debated in Norway. But there are also other issues on the political agenda. A local democracy commission presented its first report in the spring of 2005, with some very interesting analyzes and conclusions. One conclusion was that the municipalities have more freedom than the present debate about local democracy may suggest. The commission supported the idea that the municipalities are to have a variety of responsibilities and it also suggested that the municipalities should be given more fiscal freedom.

The second report from the commission discussed the actual functioning of local democracy today. The conclusions indicate that there are also positive development trends at the local level. The local democracy commission concludes that municipalities seem to have a high degree of legitimacy, the inhabitants seem content with the way local democracy functions and many people are highly engaged in local political questions. Nevertheless it is still a challenge for the municipalities to guide the local citizens’ participation in the local public life towards the formal decision-making processes. The ministry will present a white paper on these local democracy issues in spring 2007.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you for your attention.