Newsletter – n°13 – July 2012

Headlines

The consultation on the Communication on local authorities in development cooperation is now taking shape; it will take place from end August to end October and it will be organised around sessions held alongside PLATFORMA partners’ events.

Around ten sessions will be organised in Europe but also in Africa, Latin America and Asia with the participation of local and regional elected representatives and experts of development cooperation. The objective is to fuel the Communication so that this document becomes a strong strategic commitment towards local and regional authorities in partner countries.

The stakes are high: indeed, the 2013 Communication follows the 2008 Communication, which confirmed the European recognition of decentralised cooperation and the role of local governments in development cooperation. This recognition is relatively recent and the least we can say is that the EU doesn’t necessarily have a culture of commitment with local and regional authorities, even if important efforts have been made in this direction during the past few years, such as the EU support to PLATFORMA or the participation of local and regional authorities in the Structured dialogue.

This Communication will thus define the political framework for the commitment of the European Union towards local and regional authorities for the next 5 to 10 years. This commitment does not come out of the blue; it stems from the priorities of the European development policy as defined by the “Agenda for change”, while the regulations to be voted in 2013 by the Parliament and the Council (see news of 4 June 2012) specify the practical details of the implementation of this policy.

Moreover, an online consultation, also run by PLATFORMA, should allow those not able to participate in the consultation sessions to bring their contribution to the process.