Brussels, 28/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - The regions and local communities of Europe want to play a key role in getting Europe out of crisis, an issue that dominated a conference of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) in Cadiz, Spain, from 26 to 28 September 2012. It is hoped that the European budget, currently under negotiation, will help them achieve this.
Decentralisation to tackle the crisis. The solution to the crisis must involve a deepening of decentralisation and renewal of the connection between public authorities and inhabitants, as elected local officials are keen to point out. The CEMR president, however, Wolfgang Schuster, Mayor of Stuttgart, said: “the crisis must also be seen as an opportunity. However, and in order to do so, we need a common basis for action, which can only be achieved if all levels of governance work together”.
Budget for local Europe. For Europe's municipalities and regions, the EU's budget must be put at the service of local and regional Europe, and to this end, the CEMR has a weighty ally - EU Budget and Financial Programming Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski. Addressing the conference participants on 26 September, he admitted that “Europe's towns and regions rely on EU funds to get out of crisis”. The commissioner's spokesman, Patrizio Fiorilli, advised local and regional authorites to take action: “The time for speeches and statements is over and the time to talk to your national governments has come”, he told Policy Committee members. According to Fiorilli, national governments need to understand that giving money to the EU is not throwing it out the window as “one euro spent at the EU level can generate up to €14 on the ground, via grants to businesses and scientists, agriculture subsidies and other. Over 90% of the EU budget goes back to Europe's towns and regions. Thus, cutting future EU budgets will harm our towns and regions rather than EU institutions”. He finished his address by stressing that “savings alone will not take us out of the crisis; we also need to invest, and the EU budget can be a catalyst for growth”. (MD/transl.fl)