Newsletter – n°12 – June 2012

News from the Secretariat

The LRA in EU development policy working group met on 25 June in order to evaluate the different advocacy activities carried out by the PLATFORMA partners and the secretariat during these past few months. Indeed, the network elaborated position papers and amendments to the regulation proposals published by the European Commission on the Development Cooperation Instrument, the Neighborhood Instrument and the Democracy and Human Rights Instrument.

This coordination exercise was welcomed as conclusive and very stimulating, both in its reflection as in its advocacy aspects. There has been a strong mobilisation these past few weeks from the partners and the Secretariat in order to transmit the PLATFORMA positions to the national permanent representations, the future Cypriot Presidency, the MEPs and even to Commissioner Piebalgs and his services. This mobilisation is ongoing, but we now have to see to what extent the PLATFORMA amendments, aiming to make European cooperation programmes more accessible to LRAs but also to reinforce Union support of local democracy and the decentralisation process, will be taken into account by the Parliament.

Download our positions on this page.

The second part of the meeting was dedicated to discussing the main elements that the network wishes to put forward in the Communication on LRAs in development. The Communication is currently being prepared by the Commission services and will be subject to consultations in the fall, in which PLATFORMA will play a key role.