OSCE, Council of Europe meet in Tirana to co-ordinate regional work on local government

Representatives from the OSCE and the Council of Europe met on 12 and 13 May 2014 in Tirana to co-ordinate their work on local government issues in southeastern Europe.

Topics discussed include good practices and knowledge sharing in local government support; political participation of women at the local level; the European Charter of Local Self-Governance; and recent developments on the local government acquis of the Council of Europe. The participants also exchanged ideas on how to increase co-operation and improve mechanisms for identifying joint and regional projects.

Welcoming the participants to Tirana, the Head of the OSCE Presence in Albania, Ambassador Florian Raunig, said that the OSCE and the Council of Europe have significant, complementary roles to play in strengthening respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms, democracy and rule of law.

“Regional co-operation, not only between our organizations, but between the countries of the region, must be a priority,” Raunig said. Closer regional co-operation would allow for an exchange of views, identifying needs, gaps and weaknesses of the region and help determine how the OSCE, though ODIHR and the field missions, could work together with key partners such as the Council of Europe to better assist the countries of the region.”

Daniel Popescu, Head of the Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform, and heading the Council of Europe delegation, said: “Strengthening the quality of governance at all levels is among the top priorities of both organizations. Most European countries have launched or are considering launching local government reforms. Such reforms typically aim at improving local and regional territorial structure, citizen participation, public ethics and value for money of public services. There is a lot of interest in these fields in Europe, many experiments and innovations, a wealth of knowledge to contribute to and to benefit from.”

The OSCE was represented by Marcin Walecki, Chief of Democratic Governance and Gender Unit at the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), and representatives of all field operations in southeastern Europe.

In Albania, the OSCE and Council of Europe are working closely together to support the government in areas such as administrative-territorial and decentralization reform. In addition, they have developed together with the Central Election Commission the idea of a continuous training platform for electoral commissioners and other electoral stakeholders.