– There is no democracy if it is not at the local level. This slogan is posted on the website of the local and territorial congress of the Council of Europe.
– Democracy is a human right to elect an MP, president through suffrage. But democracy must be practiced every day and every moment. People should have their right to elect their mayor. There is no democracy if it doesn’t work at the local level.
– Can you assess the level of Armenia’s local government development and what steps are necessary to reach European standards?
– There is a big difference in institutional decisions, laws and their enforcement. Democracy is not only about suffrage but about the value of this suffrage. For an elected mayor democracy means independence from the government. Democracy is not attained only through official protocols. That is a process pending at all levels. It is hard to forecast when the local government system will be fully developed – in 10 or 20 years. That is an everyday process.
– You are saying that the elected mayor will be more independent. Do you think in our current conditions ht elected mayor will be more independent than what he is when appointed?
– The Council of Europe has always been for the elected mayors. We have reached another important point – the election. When we compare the liberties of the elected and appointed mayors we understand that the difference is drastic. Now we are going to have a mayor and a city council that will be serving the people. And the citizen should realize that he/she is electing officials to serve him/her. The mayoral candidate should represent not only himself but the team by clearly mentioning who from his team will be responsible for pensions, green areas, etc. And the citizen should be the “safeguard” of that process. People should supervise them. It means that such a mentality should be formed between the people and the elected official. We are now taking the first step and the next steps will be taken after elections. After elections of course there will be certain criticism but again this is only the first step. The institution of the elderly council is very important. To a certain extent it separates the city authorities from the main government. For Yerevan these elections are very important as 1/3 of the total population is centered here and the capital city unites financial and other resources. And it is very important that a new atmosphere is formed here.
– There are opinions that it is better to have a mayor, who can be part of the central government than an oppositional mayor, who won’t be able to get along with the authorities and as a result the city will suffer. Do you agree with this opinion?
– Of course not. For example, in many cities of France the mayors represent the opposition. They are socialists. It is very important to differentiate the central government from the local government. These governments are not analogous. It is a wrong opinion to think that the city government belongs to the central one. No, the city council with its duties and functions is a separate body and the management of the city is a separate process.
The local and territorial congress of the Council of Europe is a forum, where the territorial and local government representatives meet. The congress was officially established in 1994 and is considered an inseparable part of the Council of Europe. The congress consists of two chambers – local government chamber and chamber of regions. The functioning is implemented by the secretariat, the office of which is in Strasburg.
This supplement has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The content of this supplement is the sole responsibility of “168 Hours” Newspaper and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union