PLATFORMA - Local & regional international action

PLATFORMA, the European platform of local and regional authorities for development, welcomes the success of the structured dialogue on the involvement of local and regional authorities and civil society in.EU development cooperation, launched in March 2010 by Andris Piebalgs, European commissioner for development.

 

The dialogue came to a close in Budapest, Hungary, at the occasion of a final conference during which recommendations were put forward to improve the partnership between local and regional authorities, civil society and the European institutions in terms of development. These recommendations will hereafter be integrated within the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework for development policy.

 

'The Commission now considers support for decentralisation as being fundamental to increasing the impact of development at the local level," underlined Frédéric Vallier, secretary general of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), which hosts PLATFORMA's Secretariat. 'As a next step, European local and regional authorities must bring support to their counterparts outside of Europe with the aim of reinforcing their ability to establish and maintain a political dialogue with their governments."

 

'The results of this dialogue must now be turned into action," declared Vallier. 'The current restructuring of DG DEVCO (Directorate General for EuropeAid Development and Cooperation), for example, must reflect the dialogue's results by selecting a specialised interlocutor for each actor. In this regard, an important step forward could be the creation of a special unit for local and regional authorities."

 

The steps to come...

 

Commissioner Piebalgs announced that he would publish a communication by early 2012, providing a political basis for the pursuit of the structured dialogue with local and regional authorities and civil society. He assured that the communication would accord full importance to decentralised levels of government.

 

The structured dialogue results are to be reflected in the European Commission's positions in preparation of the post-2013 community instruments and of the High Level Forum on aid effectiveness to Busan, which is to take place in December 2011.

 

* The structured dialogue, which lasted from March 2010 to May 2011, involved local and regional authorities, represented through PLATFORMA, the European Commission, the European Parliament, EU member states and civil society.