The Spanish secretary of state for European affairs Diego López Garrido has presented the priorities of the forthcoming Spanish presidency of the EU to the secretaries general of CEMR's member associations, on 1 October 2009 in Madrid.

 

Diego López Garrido stated that the Spanish presidency (1st semester of 2010) will focus on "filling the gaps of the Lisbon Strategy", mainly by strengthening its social and environmental dimension. We will need the support of our towns and regions to make a more social Europe, he added.

 

The secretary of state also called for a stronger Commission in order to adopt a common EU policy on energy, in order to reduce our dependency on other countries and a common immigration and asylum policy. Finally, he praised the cooperation between the Spanish government and the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and provinces (FEMP) in the framework of the action plan set up to enable Spanish local authorities work in close cooperation with their national government during the 6 months of the Spanish presidency of the EU.

 

The Madrid meeting was chaired by FEMP's new secretary general Isaura Leal Fernández. She informed participants that FEMP currently manages a Local Investment Fund of some € 8 billion in order to help Spanish local authorities, and has created a Social network in order to facilitate exchange of information on the crisis between Spanish towns and provinces.

 

The crisis at local and regional level 

 

CEMR secretary general Jeremy Smith took the opportunity to present the provisional findings of CEMR's second survey on the impact of the crisis on towns and regions based on the contributions of over 20 national associations of local and regional authorities. The second survey is expected to be released in November 2009.