Brussels, 30/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - Will the local and regional authorities be represented in the communication on the future of the European development policy to be published by the European Commission in the autumn, or not? “You can trust me that local and regional authorities will be well represented in the European Commission communication on development cooperation due out this autumn”, Commissioner Andris Pielbags (Development) told the PLATFORMA conference Two years of European action, in Brussels on 29 March. This communication will come further to the Commission's Green Paper on the future of the development policy post-2013, which was well received by the Foreign Affairs Council of 10 December 2010 (EUROPE 10275), but which contains no reference to the local and regional authorities.
The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) hopes to continue to work together with the Commission. Its president, Wolfgang Schuster, said that this would help to ensure better visibility and recognition for the local and regional authorities within the cooperation. He also stressed the fact that in spite of their very different roles in development matters, the authorities and NGOs are capable of working together and creating synergies, producing a real impact on the ground.
“The Commission should consider an overall examination of European aid granted under local governments in its various forms, be they budgetary, sectorial, thematic, project or direct funding”, said Pierre Shapira, because this will help to identify the risks and opportunities of decentralising budgetary support. The deputy mayor of Paris, who is responsible for international cooperation issues, added that the call for proposals mechanism of the Commission should also be more fundamentally adapted to the specific natures of the local and regional authorities.
Drawing up an inventory of the needs of the authorities and their citizens, it can be seen that the problem lies with funding and not the division of competences between the various levels of government, said the Luxembourg MEP Charles Goerens (ALDE). He believes that it is the job of the state to subsidise and co-finance, because it is the closest institution to the community. As for the Commission, this should concentrate on coordinating the development policies of the member states, he said.
Dave Wilcox, a member of Derbyshire County Council, described development cooperation as a mutual sharing of experience. The aim of the development policies is to transfer knowledge, not just money, observed Andris Pielbags. As Europeans, we have learned lessons from our history and the mistakes made in the past. We must act as a result of this, he concluded.
In its press release, the CEMR also states that PLATFORMA, the European platform of local and regional authorities for development, launched its publication Decentralised cooperation for development - European prospects in Brussels on 28 March. This publication proposes examples of actions carried out by the local and regional authorities of Europe in partnership with their counterparts. It also allows the reader to find out more about the diversity and quality of the projects carried out. (G.B./transl.fl)