Brussels, 17/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - To achieve the objectives of sustainable development, the local authorities of developing countries have a decisive role to play if the obstacles to unlocking their full potential are to be removed and if these actors are to be given the possibility of fully participating in the decision-making process which has a direct influence on citizens' quality of life, the European Commission believes. It communication - “Empowering Local Authorities in partner countries for enhanced governance and more effective development outcomes”, which was adopted on Thursday 16 May - reflects the political determination to support the efforts that will be deployed by public authorities to give the regional and local authorities of developing countries the means to be more effective and to promote citizens' participation in the reduction of poverty. This political document had been announced by European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs at the third meeting on decentralised cooperation, which was jointly organised in Brussels on 9-10 April by the Committee of the Regions and the European Commission (see EUROPE 10826).
Although European aid channelled through local authorities remains marginal in many EU partner developing countries, the EU's development policy must contribute to increasing the role of these decentralised cooperation actors through the possibility that will be given to them of airing their concerns and the priorities of citizens, and of stimulating socio-economic development through increasing their capacity in terms of human, natural and financial resources at the local level.
The EU should therefore “work in favour of democratically legitimate, accountable and representative local authorities and local leaders in partner countries with a particular focus on municipal authorities in rural and urban areas. The EU should also explore the opportunities for coordination with regional authorities”, the Commission states.
PLATFORMA - the voice of European regional and local authorities with the EU institutions in the area of cooperation and development - has welcomed this communication which picks up on several key messages that the whole network has been giving for several years, especially on decentralisation, promoting the territorial approach for development, decentralised cooperation, strengthening the capacities of local and regional authorities, and the role of associations of local and regional authorities in the partner countries. “We are delighted that the European Commission has realised the potential of local and regional governments in implementing public policies very close to the citizens, which respond to the dual challenge of the eradication of poverty and sustainable development. We are delighted that local and regional authorities are now considered as political actors that must be fully associated in defining and implementing the policies of national development”, PLATFORMA states (our translation).
More than six years after the adoption of Pierre Schapira's report by the European Parliament and of the 2008 communication which marked the recognition, by the EU institutions, of the action of local and regional authorities for development, PLATFORMA sees in this communication a qualitative evolution of the vision and of the Commission's partnership with the local and regional governments of the partner countries. The network wants this communication to have a cross-cutting effect on the whole of European development policy and will follow carefully how this new policy is reflected on the ground. (AN/transl.fl)