EU Commissioner in charge of Development Louis Michel is asking Europe's local government to take an active role at the European development days. The event will take place in Strasbourg, from 15 to 17 November 2008, and one of.its highlights will be a signing ceremony of twinnings between European local authorities and their counterparts in developing countries.

In an open letter to local authorities in the EU, Commissioner Michel states that it is politically and morally unacceptable that in the 21st century a large part of the world continues to live in absolute poverty... A number of local authorities have already launched development projects with corresponding authorities in countries of the South... We need many more such initiatives. If each local authority with its (however limited) resources decided to twin itself with a town, a municipality, a district, a province, or a region in the South, the world would be changed and poverty would decrease rapidly. For this reason, I am suggesting that you conclude a twinning covenant and am inviting you to come and sign it at the signing ceremony that will take place during the European Development Days in Strasbourg this November.

 

According to the rules, the twinning should focus on establishing a solid cooperation relationship, it must be new or not older than one year, and projects which have already received a grant from the European Commission will not be considered.

The President of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) and mayor of Vienna Michael Häupl has expressed his support: I congratulate Commissioner Michel for this initiative. CEMR encourages all its members (national associations of local and regional authorities) to look for excellent examples of international twinning partnerships which could be nominated for this Europe wide recognition .

Louis Michel's open letter to local authorities (in English and French)

The European Commission's DG Development website (in English and French)

CEMR's North South cooperation activities