Encyklopedia Administracji Publicznej MW Pivot Skin

EUROPEAN CHARTER OF REGIONAL SELF-GOVERNMENT (ECRSG) – a specific constitution of European regions that defines their status, organisation and operation. It was accepted at the IV session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe on June 3-5, 1997 in Strasbourg. The ECRSG defines the constitutional rules of local-government regional authorities, their goals and mechanisms of action. The most important provisions expressed in it include those related to the following areas: strengthening cooperation among member states in order to realize the principles of respect for human rights and democracy; implementation of citizens’ right to participate in directing of public affairs; implementation of the principle of subsidiarity and actions aimed at building the position of the region as an essential element of the state in the system of territorial democracy and satisfying the needs of citizens. The main objective of the ECRSG is to seek common regional elements existing in various countries, while maintaining differences regarding detailed systemic solutions. The → region has been recognized as the level of authority for which the principle of subsidiarity should be applied, with the simultaneous protection of local self-government. Therefore, the ECRSG directly refers to the → European Charter of Local Self-Government and clearly emphasizes the mutual complementation of both acts. As a basis, the ECRSG recognizes the principle of regional self-governance, which should be recognized in the constitutions of states to the widest extent possible. The definition of regional self-government was included in ECRSG: “Regional self-government denotes the right and the ability of the largest territorial authorities within each State, having elected bodies, being administratively placed between central government and local authorities and enjoying prerogatives either of self-organisation or of a type normally associated with the central authority, to manage, on their own responsibility and in the interests of their populations, a substantial share of public affairs, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity.”(→ subsidizing) [ S. Mazur ].

Literature: B. Dolnicki, Samorząd terytorialny [Local government], Warszawa 2016 ■ I. Pietrzyk, Polityka regionalna Unii Europejskiej i regiony w państwach członkowskich [Regional policy of the European Union and regions in the member states], Warszawa 2000.