DEMOCRACY WITH DECENTRALIZATION

A1+
| 14:55:40 | 06-10-2005 | Politics |

“Modern democracy is not only division of powers but also their
decentralization,” President of the Congress of Local and Regional
Authorities of the Council of Europe Giovanni Di Stasi stated during
today’s conference.

In his words, it would be illogical to expect Armenia to become a
democratic state within a period of 15 years. Consequently it is
not surprising that the election to the local self-government was
not “absolutely positive” however considerable progress has been
fixed. Mr. Stasi noted that the Congress was glad to know that the
Mayor of Yerevan will be elective henceforth.

To note, the CoE Congress President is in Armenia to propose formation
of a network of local governing bodies of the three South Caucasian
states.

When asked if the formation of such a structure is possible in case the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict is not settled, Mr. Stasi said, “Complicated
situations may be solved via the dialogue established between the
governing bodies”, and addded that the local self-government bodies
can established ties with analogous European structures.

These issues were also raised at the 18th seminar titled “Training
and trans-border cooperation in Europe”, being held in Yerevan October
5-7 with participation of 100 representatives of different countries
including Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress