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EUROPEAN UNION Press Release

Committee of the Regions COR/05/61 Brussels, 23 June 2005

At , , the Committee of the Regions (CoR) advocates the values of local and regional democracy

On 22 June 2005, shortly after the Brussels EU Council on 16 and 17 June, at which the heads of state or government confirmed the Thessalonica Agenda and the future of the western Balkans within Europe, the CoR’s external relations commission (RELEX) held a conference in Pristina (Kosovo) on the role of local and regional authorities in consolidating democracy in the western Balkans. Attended by the prime minister of Kosovo (PISG), Bajram Kosumi, the conference brought together over one hundred local and regional elected representatives from the EU and the western Balkans, together with Kosovo’s key political players. Members of the CoR and its partners – the European Commission, the Council of Europe and the Stability Pact – affirmed that if the peoples of the western Balkans were to have a future within the European Union, it was vital to have genuine devolution and a participatory democracy which fully respected democratic values and minority rights. Participants listed concrete examples of the European devolution model applied successfully both in the EU and in some areas of the Balkans; areas concerned included South Tyrol/Alto Adige (Italy), Istra/Istria (Croatia), the Aland islands (Finland), Tetovo (Macedonia) and Novi Pazar (/Montenegro). These examples provided a template for defining Kosovo’s final status, which will be discussed over the coming weeks in an attempt to stabilise the region. Opening the conference, the CoR’s first vice-president, Sir Albert Bore stated that "The challenges in the Balkans reflect the past and future realities of Europe which we, the European Union, must now confront. These realities demonstrate our success in building an area of peace and stability, of lasting mutual respect, of freedom and an ever-increasing sense of responsibility which would have been unimaginable sixty years ago." The director-general of Commission DG enlargement, Fabrizio Barbaso said, "Kosovo is a constructive partner in the process of stabilising the western Balkans." Noting "the process’s positive direction, while recognising that there was still progress to be made," he reiterated that devolution was the key issue in the process. Kosovo premier, Bajram Kosumi (PISG) said, "Every passing day brings us closer to the Union" and "the prospect of EU membership is promising for the future status of Kosovo". To this end, he announced that policies for integrating minorities were forging ahead.

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The UN representative, Joachim Ruecker said, "Kosovo illustrates the challenges and the benefits of a multi-ethnic society; Kosovo's future depends on the sustainability of the economic and political process." Giovanni di Stasi, president of the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, reiterated Congress’s political message: "There can be no democracy without a dynamic local democracy". He recalled that "Crossborder cooperation would rebuild confidence and fraternity between citizens" and he called on all the region’s politicians to "ratify the Madrid Convention on crossborder cooperation." The Stability Pact representative, Jean-Daniel Biéler said "The Europe of regions and local authorities is a reality: let us use this instrument, including all crossborder programmes, to support the democratisation process in the Balkans." A final declaration was adopted after the meeting and the Committee of the Regions will follow this up in its opinion on Kosovo’s future within the EU and in future discussions on drafting an outlook opinion on minorities in the European Union.

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EUROPEAN UNION Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe

Committee of the European Commission Regions

FINAL DECLARATION

Prishtina/Priština, 22 June 2005

The participants in the conference on The role of EU regional and local authorities in the process of democratic consolidation in the Western Balkans region, organised jointly by the Committee of the Regions of the European Union, the European Commission, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe: 1. welcome the progress made by the States of the Western Balkans in terms of strengthening regional cooperation and democratic consolidation in the region and encourage them to continue with the political, economic and social reforms – and respecting democratic values to the benefit of all citizens regardless of their community of origin – that can deliver a favourable climate for prospective European integration; 2. therefore consider that the local and regional authorities of the Western Balkans and of the European Union should help to achieve this, in accordance with the Conclusions of the Presidency of the European Council in Thessalonika on 19 and 20 June 2003 and of the General Affairs Council of 21 and 22 February 2005; 3. recall that they attach the utmost importance to the political dialogue between the communities of Kosovo and between the authorities in Belgrade and Pristina as the only way to achieve that greater stability which is a prerequisite for the European integration of the whole Western Balkans region; 4. encourage any initiatives to enable all the communities of Kosovo to be part of political discussions and assist in drafting the future political status of Kosovo and its institutional framework, including genuine internal devolution on the basis of proposals drafted with the Council of Europe; 5. endorse the European Commission proposal to explore new avenues in order to ensure that Kosovo can benefit fully from all European Union instruments and – subject to the outcome of the discussions on the final status – call for contractual relations with the Union to be established promptly whilst waiting for a Stabilisation and Association Agreement to be signed;

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6. welcome the initial effort made by the government (PISG) to reform the local government in Kosovo and encourage the authorities to continue these efforts. 7. call on the Committee of the Regions of the European Union and the representatives of the local and regional authorities of the Western Balkans to step up their cooperation efforts and harness the experience gained under the pre-accession policy implemented with the local and regional authorities of the enlargement, accession and current applicant countries; 8. encourage all the States of the Western Balkans region to persevere with devolution and to take ownership of the principles of subsidiarity, proportionality and proximity by establishing units as close to the citizen as possible as the preferred forum for reconciliation and understanding plurality and democracy; 9. stress to this end the importance of the Council of Europe's European Charter of Local Self-Government as a reference text on local democracy in Europe, and which still remains to be signed and ratified by Serbia-Montenegro; 10. recall that devolution must be accompanied by a genuine transfer of power and particularly financial resources and properties commensurate with the new responsibilities entrusted to the local and regional authorities; 11. stress the vital role that the local and regional authority associations must play in each country in putting the views of the local and regional authorities to governments and as key instruments in promoting their action capability on behalf of local and regional politicians; in this respect, encourage the development of the Network of National Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe (NALAS – SEE network) in order to step up exchanges of information and enhance the individual capacity of each member association; 12. are convinced that safeguarding and promoting regional and minority languages are key factors in tolerance and mutual understanding within a pluralist, multi- ethnic and multicultural region such as the Western Balkans; 13. encourage the states of the Western Balkans region to adopt and implement "action plans" and local and regional authority capacity building strategies in accordance with the conclusions of the Zagreb Regional Ministerial Conference on Effective Democratic Governance at Local and Regional Level (25-26 October 2004), in cooperation with the Council of Europe and in preparation for the Evaluation Conference to be held in 2006 in Skopje;

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14. stress, in this respect, the important role played by the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in improving protection of minorities in Europe and encourage the states of South-East Europe to sign and ratify these treaties with a view to improving the protection of the region's minorities and languages; 15. recognise the need in the Western Balkans: − To protect minority languages and not to impose any unjustified limits on their use, for example in the media; − facilitate participation of persons from national minorities in the decision- making processes, in particular at local and regional level; 16. stress that one way to developing confidence and stability in the Western Balkans is through active cross-border cooperation between local authorities and encourage the states that have not yet done so to ratify the Council of Europe's Framework Convention on cross-border cooperation; calls for the European Union to commit financial support for border local authorities in the region; 17. lend their support to the Adriatic Euroregion launched at the Termoli Conference in November 2004, the objective of which is to promote – while awaiting future enlargement of the European Union – cooperation between the institutional partners (at all levels) of the Member States of the European Union, applicant countries and future applicant countries around the Adriatic Sea; 18. endorse the work of the Local Democracy Agencies (LDA) which, during the last ten years, have helped to develop civil society and partnerships between local and regional authorities in South-East Europe; call on the European authorities and the governments concerned to support LDA projects; 19. encourage continuation of dialogue, exchanges of experience and partnerships between the local authorities in the Western Balkans and their European counterparts in order to boost the prospects of democratisation and devolution in the region.

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