Newsletter – n°22 – July 2013

Headlines

In the opening session Santiago Rebolledo, President of the Chilean Association of Municipalities and Juan José Raymondi, government of Port Iguazu, emphasised the importance for local governments to collaborate with the European Union and with each others.

In this respect Francisco Javier Leon de la Riva, mayor of Valladolid (Spain) and President of the committee of external relations of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Regions (FEMP) highlighted the benefits gained from municipal cooperation and exchange of experiences.He also stressed the necessity of a multilevel dialogue and the participation of local governments in key decision making bodies at the national level.

Just over a month after its official release, the Commission presented the Communication “Empowering Local Authorities in partner countries for enhanced governance and more effective development outcomes”. The Communication was well received and Frederic Vallier, Secretary General of the Council of Municipalities and Regions recalled that the challenge was now to provide inputs to the Commission for the effective implementation of the policy.

In other sessions delegates discussed the necessity to raise the profile of women in local governments so as to achieve inclusive policy. Maria Arboleda, Technical Secretary of the LAMUGOL network (Latin American Women in Local Government) expressed the will of several national associations of women in local government to work with the EU Delegations to empower women as political actors and to improve service delivery to women at local level.

Manuel Ballbe, from the University of Barcelona, presented a study on safety policies at the local level. The study shows the positive impact of actions held jointly by LRG and the private sector and of participatory processes to deal with crime and safety issues. Examples of good practice included processes which associate citizens in detecting problems and identifying emerging risks. In this regards public safety plans implemented by the city of Penalolen (Chili) and Pernanbuco (Brasil) were presented.

The seminar took place in the context of the Latin American Summit of Mayors held by FLACMA, the Latin American section of UCLG, and was made possible thanks to the contribution of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Regions and the Diputacio of Barcelona, with the support of CPMR and FOGAR.

Documents and reports of the sessions can be asked to platforma@ccre-cemr.org.