Fuente: © Council of Europe
http://www.coe.int/

Congress calls for continued modernisation of local and provincial government in Turkey

/noticias.info/ At its autumn session, the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities considered a further monitoring report on local and regional democracy in Turkey, presented by Anders Knape (Sweden, EPP/CD) and Hans-Ulrich Stöckling (Switzerland, ILDG).

The rapporteurs stressed the Turkish government’s determination to press on with key institutional changes for modernising local and provincial authorities through a new programme of legislative reforms. They said that four laws had already been passed, on urban communities, municipalities, special provincial administration and public administration, but that further reforms, in particular budget reforms, were necessary if there was to be any real redistribution of powers and responsibilities on the ground.

In a recommendation adopted after the debate, the Congress called on the Turkish authorities to continue the reforms and modernisation of local and provincial government’s legal basis, in close consultation with the Turkish Association of Local Authorities, and to supplement the four laws already passed with further legislation, in particular on financial resources.

The Congress also recommended that the Turkish government work closely with local authorities on the gradual transfer of responsibilities and pointed out that municipalities and villages needed particular attention. It likewise said that local authorities should take on the services they could reasonably provide, with appropriate funding provided under a law on local finance. This would be in conformity with the principle of subsidiarity enshrined in the Charter of Local Self-Government.

Lastly, decentralisation needed stepping up at provincial level to make the provinces strong enough to take over a large proportion of public affairs by using their own resources. notas_de_prensa_archivo