Democratic guards from Strasbourg will assess the respect of democratic principles during THE ATR

The Congress Monitoring Committee of the Council of Europe (EP), on the basis of a letter from the Latvian Local Government (LAS), decided to organise a fact-finding visit to Latvia in order to gain an in-depth picture of violations of the European Charter of Local Government in Latvia, to which LAS indicates.
On October 29, AT the 37 th plenary session of THE Congress of local and regional authorities in Strasbourg, a meeting of the monitoring committee was held, in which Gints Kaminskis, on the basis of the decision of THE LPS Council, informed THE members of the monitoring committee about the situation in Latvia in relation to administrative territorial reform (ATR) and violations of the Charter. The Chairman of the Monitoring Committee, Mr Leendert Verbeek, informed that, as the Congress monitoring report on the situation with local and regional democracy in Latvia was positive in March 2018, it was decided to respond immediately to the current situation. The Congress will send a letter to Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development, Juris Pūcem, with a request for clarification on the concerns mentioned in the letter. It was also decided to organise a visit of Congress delegation to Latvia for the clearance of facts as early as December.
“The Charter of Local Authorities of Europe, which has also been ratified by Latvia, requires compliance with the right of the local community, namely the public, to decide on the borders of their territory. There can be no debate in a democratic state whether citizens have or have no right to express their views. The people in the municipality and the country as a whole have the right to decide, express their views, and that view must be taken into account. The Charter also speaks about ensuring the interests of the population, but in the context of administrative territorial reform in Latvia, a very opposite path is currently being implemented: consultations with citizens from the Ministry of Ministry were organised formally, without providing specific answers to very specific questions. In the case of urgent issues, the interests of the population are often forgotten. Such attitudes violate the basic principles of democracy, which are also mentioned by the European Union,” Kaminskis says.
In early October, the Latvian municipal Union sent a letter to the President of Congress Anders Knapem (Anders Knape) “on threats to local and regional democracy in Latvia”, to which the Congress immediately responded to the agenda of the Congress Bureau and the monitoring committee. The letters in eight pages set out specific breaches of the Charter, both in respect of ATR and other issues, on the basis of facts and figures.
It should be noted that the previous visit of Congress representatives was held in September 2017, when meeting the representatives of THE LAS, local governments, the Saeima, ministries etc. saw and analysed the principles of the Charter in Latvia as a whole (such visits take place every five years). It should be stressed that the Congress monitoring report on the situation with local and regional democracy in Latvia was positive.
Other information:
The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe is one of THE EP's institutions, bringing together 47 Member States. The main tasks of Congress are to enable local politicians to discuss common problems, discuss experience and make proposals for governments; represent the views of European local and regional authorities in the European Council; be an adviser to the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly on all aspects of European local and regional policy; to cooperate with national and international community organisations; to organise a variety of activities to involve as much population as possible in the process of democracy building; to prepare reports on the implementation of the principles of the European Charter of Local Government IN THE EP Member States, with regular follow-up to local democracy development processes; practical help to the new Member States by creating effective local and regional authorities. Congress played an important role in the preparation and adoption of the international law of the highest legal force, the European Charter of Local Authorities.
The current (37 th) plenary session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (37 th) is held from 28 to 31 October, the theme of which is “mayors of democracy”. Latvia is represented BY LPS Chairman Gints Kaminskis, Chairman of Jelgava City Council Andris Rāmanis and Ināra Silicka, Chairman of the council of Karsava council.
The European Charter for Local Government is available here: https://m.likumi.lv/doc.php?id=39149
The text of the letter is available on THE LAS website: https://www.lps.lv/lv/zinas/lps/5165-demokratijas-sargi-no-strasburas-vertes-demokratijas-principu-ieverosanu-atr-gaita.
More information:
Gints Kaminsky,
LPS apron
Email: gints.kaminskis@lps.lv
The information has been prepared by:
Jana Bunkus and Ilze Rukute,
The Union of Local Governments of Latvia
Department of Communication
Mobile phone: +371 29170955 (Jana)
Email: ilze.rukute@lps.lv; jana.bunkus@lps.lv
www.lps.lv
Twitter: @lps_lv; @LPSBrux