Local and regional governments as employers

The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) has published its position paper on the Commission's Green Paper on Entrepreneurship, on 7 September 2004.

 

CEMR believes there is a particular role for both local and regional government in contributing to the progressive development of entrepreneurship in Europe. It also highlights that the decisive advantages of the local and regional are their proximity to the citizens and their problems, their capacity to mobilise "social capital", the possibilities to combine several policy areas and to use these to stimulate entrepreneurship.

 

In its response, CEMR also believes that entrepreneurship should be regarded as a horizontal issue touching various fields of local policies such as economic development, labour-market policy, educational policy and social assistance.

 

CEMR also advocates a greater use of benchmarking and the exchange of best practice, adding that networks of local authorities and their associations are designated to mediate and support such exchanges.

 

CEMR's response to the Green Paper on entrepreneurship

 

The Commission's Green Paper on Entrepreneurship