The Council of European Municipalities was founded in Geneva in 1951 by a group of European mayors; later, it opened its ranks to the regions and became the Council of European Municipalities and Regions.

Today, it is the largest organisation of local and regional government in Europe; its members are national associations of towns, municipalities and regions from over 35 countries. Together these associations represent some 100,000 local and regional authorities.
 
At the head of its political structure is its President , the mayor and governor of Vienna, Michael Häupl. It has a staff of about 20 headed by its secretary general Jeremy Smith.

CEMR's budget is about 2.5 million Euros, the main part of which comes from the membership fees of its national associations. The rest (about 15%) consists of an annual grant  from the EC Commission.

 

CEMR works to promote a united Europe that is based on local and regional self government and democracy. To achieve this goal it endeavours to shape the future of Europe by enhancing the local and regional contribution, to influence European law and policy, to exchange experience at local and regional level and to cooperate with partners in other parts of the world.

 

CEMR works in many fields of activity such as regional policy, transport, the environment, equal opportunities, governance... Its committees and working groups seek to influence draft EU legislation to make sure the interests and concerns of local and regional authorities are taken into account from the earliest stages of the EU legislative process.

 

They contribute to CEMR's calendar of activities by organising seminars and conferences on a wide range of issues to promote the exchange and dissemination of experience at the local and regional level.

CEMR is particulary proud of its unique town twinning network. Today, there are over 26,000 twinning projects linking towns from all over Europe. On this issue, CEMR works closely with the DG Education and Culture of the European Commission.

 

Lastly, CEMR is the European section of the new worldwide organisation United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG).

The statutes of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions were adopted by the Policy Committee in Sevilla, on 23 October 2006. The statutes are available in English, French and German.

CEMR's rules of procedures has been approved by the Policy Committee of CEMR, meeting in Stuttgart on the 5th of December.