CONGRESS OF LOCAL AND REGIONAL AUTHORITIES OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE REGIONALISATION TRENDS IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES 2007-2015 A study by members of the Group of Independent Experts of the European Charter of Local Self- Government Edited by Prof. Francesco Merloni Edition: June 2016 Layout: Congress of Local and Regional Authorities This study reflects the views of the contributing members of the Group of Independent Experts of the European Charter of Local Self-Government CONTENTS Introduction - Francesco Merloni et Carlos E. Pacheco Amaral ............................................................ 3 Albania - Edlir Vokopola ................................................................................................................... 22 Austria - Anna Gamper ..................................................................................................................... 31 Azerbaijan - Aydin Aslanov .............................................................................................................. 37 Belgium - Jean-Claude van Cauwenberghe ....................................................................................... 40 Bosnia and Herzegovina - Elena Simina Tănăsescu .......................................................................... 46 Croatia - Zvonimir Lauc ................................................................................................................... 50 Denmark - Vibeke Vinten ................................................................................................................. 56 Finland - Heikki Kulla ....................................................................................................................... 64 France - Michel Verpeaux .................................................................................................................. 71 Georgia - David Melua ...................................................................................................................... 77 Germany - Jens Woelk ..................................................................................................................... 94 Greece - Nikolaos Hlepas ................................................................................................................ 103 Hungary - Zoltán Szente ................................................................................................................. 110 Ireland - Mark Callanan .................................................................................................................. 116 Italy - Francesco Palermo, Sara Parolari, Alice Valdesalici ................................................................ 123 Netherlands - Michiel S. de Vries ..................................................................................................... 131 Norway - Harald Baldersheim, Lawrence E. Rose ............................................................................ 140 Portugal - Carlos E. Pacheco Amaral .............................................................................................. 146 Romania - Elena Simina Tănăsescu ................................................................................................ 149 Russian Federation - Yuri M. Pochta ...............................................................................................156 Serbia - Jelena Jerinić ..................................................................................................................... 168 Slovak Republic - Tomáš Černěnko, Veronika Ferčíková ................................................................... 175 Spain - Angel M. Moreno ................................................................................................................. 183 Sweden - Anders Lidström ............................................................................................................. 192 Switzerland - Reto Steiner, Claire Kaiser ......................................................................................... 197 Ukraine - Anatoliy Kruglashov ....................................................................................................... 203 United Kingdom - Jon Bloomfield .................................................................................................. 209 INTRODUCTION Trends in regionalisation in European countries (2007 – 2015) Pr. Francesco Merloni, professor of Public Law, University of Perugia, Italy and Carlos E. Pacheco Amaral, professor, Department of History, Philosophy and Social Sciences, University of the Azores, Portugal Purpose of the study The Congress entrusted the Group of Independent Experts on the European Charter of Local Self- Government with the task of producing a comparative academic study. This study is based on information from Council of Europe member States affected by the regionalisation process and on recent regionalisation developments in Europe. The main aim of this study is to evaluate regionalisation trends, towards both more and less regionalisation, in individual countries and consequently in Europe as a whole. At the same time it seeks to determine whether the various countries considered actually have regional institutions as defined by the 2009 Council of Europe Reference Framework for Regional Democracy. The intention is to review the situation regarding regionalisation since the 2007 report of the European Committee on Local and Regional Democracy (CDLR)1. Following on from this, the idea is to achieve a broader understanding of the phenomenon from both the legal and institutional angles. The present study formed the basis of a report on the current state of regionalisation in Council of Europe member States (rapporteur: Ms Marie Madeleine Mialot-Muller)2. The study is based on a questionnaire, drawn up by a working group, covering six key points for evaluation of regionalisation processes and on the replies from experts in each of the countries concerned. I. General regionalisation trends II. Institutional and administrative organisation III. Powers IV. Financial autonomy V. Supervision VI. Relations with other tiers of government Definition of regionalisation The study takes the definitions of regions given in the Council of Europe Reference Framework for Regional Democracy, which considers regional authorities to be “territorial authorities between the central government and local authorities. This does not necessarily imply a hierarchical relationship between regional and local authorities.” It further states that “where regional authorities exist, the principle of regional self- government shall be recognised in domestic legislation and/or by the constitution, as appropriate”, defining regional self-government as “the legal competence and the ability of regional authorities, within the limits of the constitution and the law, to regulate and manage a share of public affairs under their own responsibility, in the interests of the regional population and in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity”. Again, according to the Reference Framework, “the right of regional self-government shall be exercised by assemblies elected through direct, free and secret suffrage. This provision shall in no way affect recourse to citizens’ assemblies, referendums or any other form of direct citizen participation, where it is permitted by law.’” 1 European Committee on Local and Regional Democracy: Report on European practice and recent developments in the field of regional self-government, 2007 - https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=1240827&Site=COE 2 Trends in regionalisation in Council of Europe member States: Resolution 390 (2015) 2 of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and Explanatory memorandum - https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?Ref=CPR/2015(29)2FINAL&Language=lanEnglish 3 Countries covered The study has been limited to countries with institutions that can in principle be considered “regional” according to the Reference Framework definition. It covers 31 countries out of the 47 Council of Europe member States and has excluded the sixteen countries that definitely do not possess regional institutions, either because they are too small for regionalisation (seven member States: Andorra, Cyprus, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Principality of Monaco, San Marino) or because they have expressly ruled out any such process (nine member States: Armenia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Slovenia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) and have only one (municipal) tier of territorial self-government. For these countries not included in the study there was no new drive towards regionalisation in the period under consideration (2007-2015). Given these exclusions, the study was confined to the following countries: Albania, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Romania, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. The questionnaire was answered by 27 experts, who wrote the chapters on the individual countries, thus providing an excellent overview of regionalisation trends in Europe. New regionalisation initiatives The purpose of the study was to verify whether: a) there were countries where, as from 2007, the existing regional institutions had been further reinforced in institutional and constitutional terms;