Newsletter – n°11 – May 2012

The world at a glance

Decentralisation and the principles of free administration and financial autonomy of local authorities should be enshrined in the future Tunisian Constitution. Decentralised cooperation between the Tunisian cities and regions and their European counterparts should be reinforced on this new basis.

These are the main messages communicated to the Constituent Assembly by the National Federation of Tunisian Cities (NFTC) and by the participants in the international conference “Decentralisation: a powerful instrument for democracy and local development” held in Tunis on 28 and 29 May 2012 and organised by the NFTC in partnership with UCLG, AIMF, the Province of Barcelona and Cities Alliance.

While Imed Hammami, president of the Local and Regional Municipalities Committee within the National Constituent Assembly declared that the Assembly had agreed on the decentralisation principle for the future Constitution, the debates mainly concerned the means and the political challenges in order to carry out this reform.

Among the main priorities advanced by the speakers we can mention the organisation of free local elections, the coverage of the whole Tunisian territory by subnational government units and the adoption of a regional solidarity principle, a balance in the division of competences between local governments and the central government, the participation of women in political life, the need of additional human and material resources for municipalities, the propagation of a culture of decentralisation and participative governance in the central state and the future role of the special delegations instituted in the cities since 2011.

The many bilateral and multilateral partners present declared their willingness to support the Tunisian priorities in this field and to commit for a longer term support with Tunisian local authorities.