“One of the priorities for me will be the protection of human rights, to follow the protection of human rights at the local and regional level,” to the question of Aravot.am, as the president of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (CoE Congress), what are the priorities of your activity? , this is how Mark Cools, the President of the CoE Congress, answered. As we have already informed, Mark Cools (Belgium) was elected President of the Congress with a 150 “for” and 5 “against” ratio of votes during the plenary session of the CoE Congress session with a 2.5-year mandate.
Mark Cools told us that they received the demand for human rights protection at the local level from the leaders of the member states during the Reykjavik summit. “There are many decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, which contain specific concerns regarding local and regional authorities. It is interesting to follow the situation of these decisions.”
To our assertion that in the case of local government elections in Armenia, the proportional system mainly works, and to the question: What does your experience show, from the point of view of democracy, are proportional or direct elections of the head of the community more acceptable?
Mark Cools answered: “The European charter of local self-government stipulates that the council of elders can elect the chair of the community or there can be direct elections. This is the choice of the country. Ensuring free elections is essential. For example, the Congress considered the Yerevan Council of Elders elections.
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We asked what is the more democratic way in your opinion, and the newly elected President of the CoE Congress responded like this: “I personally prefer the direct election of the head of the community. But both are democratic ways. You see that in the municipalities, it is not only the mayor who decides on the management of the community, but the council of elders (city council, in the wording of M. C.), and it is good that there are many political forces in the council of elders, be it the majority or the opposition. The role of the opposition is vital to control the majority, the work of the community leader and deputies. So, if you don’t have the proportion of political forces, there is a risk that only one political party will be in the municipality, and this is not a good thing from the point of view of democracy.”
In the conversation with the President of the CoE Congress, we stated that the population of Nagorno-Karabakh is now in Armenia due to forced displacement and asked what tools Congress has to protect the rights of these people and take steps related to the situation, reminding them that during the discussion on the Nagorno Karabakh issue in the PACE, PACE the President used the wording exodus.
Mark Cools replied: “We are apprehensive about the humanitarian situation of the refugees. And that’s why we will discuss this issue during the Congress session. Discussion and voting of the resolution will take place. So, we are very concerned about the situation of the residents of Nagorno Karabakh. About 90 percent of the population living there are now refugees. That is a huge number. Therefore, we will call Azerbaijan to take steps regarding the humanitarian situation.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
Strasbourg
