Brussels, 14/07/2000 (Agence Europe) - The EU High Representative, Javier Solana, is organising, on Monday evening in Brussels, a meeting between municipal representatives from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the mayors of several EU cities. This meeting has as aim to deepen the dialogue with civil society and is part of the EU political framework aiming to support the democratisation process in Yugoslavia. It is a case of encouraging local and regional authorities, but also national, in the EU Member States to play a greater role in the actions for promoting democracy, notably through partnerships and twining between cities.
The Co-ordinator for the Stability Pact, Bodo Hombach, and the United Nations representative, Bernard Kouchner, should take part in this meeting, which should gather opposition mayors from several Serb cities, the mayor of the capital of Montenegro, and representatives from the local administrations in Kosovo as well as mayors from several cities in the EU: Athens, Barcelona, Dortmund, Konstanz, Lille and Boulogne Billancourt.