EC pilots concept to ‘engage’ Governments at all levels

It has often been the case in recent years that local authorities have felt taken for granted by higher layers of Government when it comes to delivery of European or national strategies at a local level.

However, Graham Riley, road safety manager for Leeds and assistant technical director for the Access Network, feels that the European Commission is working to bring itself closer to local communities across the EU.

"European Commissioners recognise that harmonising legislation and policy across Europe will be an empty gesture unless Government at all levels is fully engaged in the process," he argues. "They are especially concerned that to the person in the street the European Union is a somewhat abstract and distant concept."

In the recently launched White Paper on Governance, the Commission is promoting Tri-Partite Contracts (TPC) as a tool to engage partners at all levels of Government within Europe. This is a relatively simple idea but before it is employed wholesale the Commission intends to pilot the concept.

"The area of sustainability has been picked to try out the TPC concept, which in this context will be known as a ‘Sustainability Pact’," Graham explains. "The Eurocities organisation has been contracted by the Commission to develop frameworks for such pacts in the areas of sustainable urban management and sustainable urban transport. The latter is led by a working group chaired by myself and involving partners from France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, United Kingdom and the newly incorporated states."

One application for a Sustainability Pact could be the controversial issue of road user charging. To date, Governments have encouraged cities to try the concept - but at their own risk. They have offered no support, either moral or financial, to any local authority wanting to experiment with the concept. However, with a TPC Government would be contractually obliged to stand by a local authority should a scheme prove either unpopular or unsuccessful.

Local Public Service Agreements (LPSAs) is another area that could benefit from TPC’s. A LPSA is a contract between local and national Government, with the onus for performance at the local level. Tying such arrangements into a TPC would ensure that these contracts must support European strategic policy and gave local authorities a means of influencing future policy. At present local authorities are remote from European Government and are expected to deliver, rather than shape, the European future vision for its communities.

"We can expect to see pilot contracts involving UK cities during 2003," Graham concludes."