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Seminar on the Participatory Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe Today: Challenges and Perspectives

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Seminar on the Participatory Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe Today: Challenges and Perspectives Seminar on the Participatory democracy in central and eastern Europe today: challenges and perspectives p r o c e e d i n g s Vilnius, 3-5 July 1997 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page I. OPENING SESSION Mr Gunnar JANSSON, Chair of the Committee on Parliamentary and Public relations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe............................................................................................................... 5 Welcoming address by Mr Vytautas LANDSBERGIS, Speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament ............................................................................... 6 Introduction by Mr Andreas GROSS, Member of the National Council (Switzerland), General Rapporteur of the Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe..................................................................................................... 7 II.WORKING SESSION I ........................................................................................................... 9 Theme I: Participatory democracy in the Baltic States, before and after the communist regime Rapporteur: Mr Henn-Jüri UIBOPUU, Professor at the University of Salzburg, Tallinn (Estonia).................................................................... 9 Observations : Mr Rimantas DAGYS, Vice-Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Lithuanian Seimas ...................................................... 11 Mr Tunne KELAM, Deputy Speaker of the Riigikogu (Estonia), Vice-Chair of the Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe............................................................................. 12 DEBATE ............................................................................................................................ 14 III. WORKING SESSION II ............................................................................................... 17 Theme IV: Historic and present challenges of participatory democracy Rapporteur :Mr Andreas GROSS, Member of the National Council (Switzerland).............................................................................. 17 Observations : Mr Fernando PEREIRA MARQUES, Deputy (Portugal) ..................... 20 3 DEBATE ............................................................................................................................ 21 Page IV. WORKING SESSION III .............................................................................................. 27 Theme II: Participatory democracy in other Eastern European countires Rapporteur : Mr Ulrich HÄFELIN, Professor at the University of Zurich (Switzerland)................................................................................ 27 Observations : Mr Robert FICO, Deputy (Slovakia)....................................................... 29 DEBATE ............................................................................................................................ 30 V. WORKING SESSION IV .............................................................................................. 35 Theme III: Participatory democracy and civil society Rapporteur : Ms Auli KESKINEN, Director of the Department of Research and Development at the Ministry of the Environment (Finland) .................................................................. 35 Observations : Mr Francesco Enrico SPERONI, Senator (Italy), Vice-Chair of the Sub-Committee on participatory democracy of the Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.................................................................................................................... 36 DEBATE: ...................................................................................................................................... 36 VI. CLOSING SESSION ...................................................................................................... 41 General conclusions : Mr Massimo LUCIANI, Professor at the University La Sapienza, Rome (Italy)......................................... 41 Closing remarks : Mr Andras BÁRSONY, Deputy (Hongary), Chair of the Political Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe .................... 43 VII. REPORTS ........................................................................................................................ 45 VIII. LIST OF PARTICIPANTS ........................................................................................... 95 4 5 I. OPENING SESSION Chair: Mr Gunnar JANSSON Member of the Eduskunta of Finland, Chair of the Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Welcoming address : Mr Vytautas LANDSBERGIS Speaker of the Seimas of Lithuania General Rapporteur : Mr Andreas GROSS Member of the National Council (Switzerland) Member of the Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Chair: It is both a pleasure and an honour for me to open this seminar in a country whose history offers so much food for thought, especially regarding the subject which will occupy our attention today and tomorrow. On behalf of the committee and of all those attending this meeting, I wish to thank the Lithuanian Parliament, and its Speaker, for their generous hospitality and for the working conditions provided. I likewise thank all those who have accepted our invitation and I extend a special welcome to those who do not belong to any national delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly and are therefore not yet familiar with our procedures. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is the European assembly of the national parliaments and is therefore an unrivalled forum for the consolidation of our relations. Mr Landsbergis, we have not forgotten your role as the representative of your country. You have defended its independence and have since become a very active member of our Assembly. The defence and strengthening of pluralist democracy, along with the struggle for human rights, are among the priorities of our Organisation. But the Council of Europe has also embarked on fresh fields of activity: among them are the protection of social rights, health, culture, education and the environment and so on. Within the Assembly, the Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations is the body that concerns itself particularly with the way democracy works. In this context, it has taken an interest in the working of parliaments, in the role of the media and the new information and communication technologies and in the instruments of direct democracy. On this last topic, it adopted a resolution in April; the text is at your disposal. The preparatory report was based on a comparative study of the situation in 28 countries. The long and detailed discussion in the committee revealed the great complexity of the matter. The final text of the resolution is the 6 result of a large number of "adjustments" necessitated by the diversity of national traditions and experience in the 40 member states but, in contrast to what often happens in such circumstances, is not a reduction to the lowest common denominator. But Mr Gross, whose report puts forward options which in some respects are more radical, will perhaps have a slightly different point of view... In any case, the subject is not exhausted. We have still to learn from one another and try to understand one another better: this will be the purpose of our discussions. I declare the seminar open. Mr Vytautas LANDSBERGIS, Speaker of the Seimas of the Lithuanian Republic: Let me start by expressing the hope that the discussions you are about to embark on in our capital and in our parliament will be successful. The Seimas and Lithuanians are ardent supporters of participatory democracy. This concept has at all times guided our way during the dark periods we have gone through. Democracy for us was the road that beckoned us towards full freedom and independence. This is proved by events in the three Baltic states. I am sure you remember Black Ribbon Day in 1989, when a magnificent human chain was set up stretching from Vilnius to Tallinn. Those who took part had only one aim in their minds: to bring about that freedom and independence. In so doing, they were voicing the determination of their countries, just as they have done on other occasions, for example when they collected more than 500,000 signatures to a petition calling for the withdrawal of the Soviet army. This aim seemed unrealistic at the time but freedom and independence very soon became realities. This was due largely to direct democracy. It was by a referendum in February 1991, for example, that 80% of voters opted for democracy and independence. Through direct democracy we achieved representative democracy and succeeded in restoring Lithuanian independence and afterwards in liberating our capital and country by peaceful means. By making its voice heard, the people seized its right to be a nation. I repeat that, today as yesterday, our lives are based fairly and squarely on faith in democracy as the only means of attaining security and stability. We are aware that only a democratic country can hope to obtain the support and protection of the international democratic organisations and the Atlantic Alliance. We know about the problems confronting the democracies and are experiencing them ourselves in Lithuania. On all sides there is a crisis
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