Newsletter – n°11 – May 2012

News from the Secretariat

The first meeting of the Political Forum for Development, the European arena succeeding to the Structured Dialogue, was held on 10 and 11 May in Brussels.

Pierre Schapira, who took the floor as PLATFORMA spokesperson, insisted on the political nature of the Forum. He reminded the importance of a long term dialogue based on trust with the European institutions, and in this framework he presented the proposals formulated by PLATFORMA in the Florence declaration. He underlined the essential expertise of local and regional authorities (LRA), of their associations and of PLATFORMA as the European coordination platform so as to succeed in this attempt.

Besides, the European Commission announced that a Communication on LRAs will be prepared for the beginning of 2013, and that a close cooperation with PLATFORMA will be sought in the preparation phase for this document (see our article headline).

Finally, while the theme of access to basic services was being addressed in a session dedicated to the preparation of the Communication on the civil society (expected for October 2012), LRAs’ representatives underlined the responsibility of local and regional authorities in this field and reminded the Budapest recommendations on this issue. 

The next meeting will be held in October 2012 and should allow an evolution towards a more coherent representation of partner countries.

Context

Carried out in 2010 and 2011, the Structured Dialogue gathered the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Member States, the civil society organisations (CSO) platforms and PLATFORMA LRAs. With the objective of evaluating the commitment of LRAs and CSOs in the EU external cooperation, the Structured Dialogue led to a series of recommendations in this field.