CoE+EU Anti-Corruption Rapporteur Van Staa to EuroFora: need to control Local/Regional Authorities

- "One of the most Important issues today is to Fight against Corruption on Local/Regional levels", stressed to "EuroFora" Dr. Herwig Van Staa, President of the influential PanEuropean watchdog on Regional democracy and rule of Law, CLRAE's Chamber of Regions, (competent for 47 Countries, including Russia, Ukraine and Turkey, etc), during Exceptionaly Parallel sessions on this issue by both elected representatives of Regions and Municipalities, as well as CoE's inter-Governemental Anti-Corruption Watchdog "GRECO" (See infra).

Dr. Van Staa, who is a very Exprimented former President of all CLRAE, (i.e. including its Chamber of Local Authorities, as Municipalities, etc.), as well as President of Austria's Historic and beautiful Region of Tyrol, speaking to "EuroFora" in the CoE, stressed the need to start a systematic and specialized Monitoring on the use that Local and Regional Authorities make of the growing Financial Support that they receive from the EU and/or other Public sources,  in order to be able to really Fight against Corruption :  
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- "I'm the Rapporteur on Corruption not only of the CLRAE (i.e. of the PanEuropean CoE), but also of the Inter-Institutional Group of (EU's) Committee of the Regions (CRE) and the Congress" for EU - CoE cooperation".  reminded from the outset Dr. Van Staa, (who has also, since a long time, both as former President of all the CLRAE, and now, as new President of its Chamber of Regions, a Personal Reputation of being "the main Speaker for Anti-Corruption"), enlarging and unifying the scope.

=> "We (EU+CoE) want to have a (special) Department, inside OLAF, (EU's anti-Fraud body), which should be competent specificaly "for Local and Regional affairs", Dr. Van Staa pointed out.

- "For the time being, it's mainly the CLRAE and CRE which are trying to act systematically in this direction and implement the relevant rules, (i.e. via representatives of elected heads of Regions or Municipalities themselves). he explained.

- "But OLAF (i.e. EU's independent anti-Corruption Agents)doesn't have that yet, so that there is not yet a Specialized Monitoring of LRAs", Dr. Van Staa criticized.

- That's why  CLRAE's Chamber of Regions organized thise week in Strasbourg, a special Debate, together with Courts of Auditors, in order to create Support, through developments concerning Democracy, independent Ombudsmen, and other Monitoring Networks, in the fight against Corruption not only on the National  level, but also on the Regional and Local levels'", he anounced.

- Until now, "We have only National Controls because most responsibilities for the use of (EU's) Financial Support lies, in principle, to Member States.

=> "But I'm in favour to say that, if f.ex. they take Money from the (EU) Regional Develoment Funds, then, it's also the Regions and Local Authorities which can decide on the use of these Financial Supports, should be Monitored, in order to make sure that all is in order", he  stressed.

For that purpose, CLRAE organized this week in Strasbourh a special Forum on "Regional Governance" for "Efficiency, Transparency and Control", introduced by a specialized Official : the President of the European Organization of Regional External Audit Institutions for Public Finances (EURORAI), Stephen Taylor, and including Statements by representatives of Regional Courts of Auditors from France and Austia, Christophe Rosenau  and Reinhard Krismer, President and Director of Alsace's and Tyrol's Regional Court of Auditors, respectively.

Moreover, Van Staa spoke to "EuroFora" in the CoE in Strasbourg at the same time that the general, PanEuropean body's Anti-Corruption watchdog, GRECO, (a PanEuropean Committee composed by Independent Experts from each one of its Member States) was exceptionally holding also a Plenary meeting  in parallel.
Regional and Local Authorities' use of important Public Funds, as well as their policy of massively hiring new staff contrary to the Economy Measures taken by National Governments, etc., partcularly during the present period of Global Crisis, have been recently criticized, often by Governing Majorities at National Level, specially when, on the contrary, most Regions and/or Municipalities are controlled by the Opposition, provoking sometimes also a problem of Democratic Legitimacy conflict when there are serious Conradictions between the policies chosen at National or Regional/Local levels, (given, f.ex., their consequences also on Public Debts, etc).

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