Council of European Municipalities and Regions

LOCAL INSIGHT
Local and regional governments' view
of European affairs

Stefano Bonaccini has been re-elected as president of CEMR for a second term of office of three years. CEMR’s new Policy Committee members voted in favour of the Italian regional leader as well as other members of the presidency during our recent gathering in Orleans. Bonaccini vowed to continue to lead CEMR as an organisation which defends local interests while tackling global issues.

“I will walk alongside all of you for a Europe based on the work of local authorities in a world that increasingly needs the commitment of the territories to solve the great issues facing humanity”, Stefano Bonaccini said.

 

The European Commission presented today a major programme to help decarbonise Europe’s economy: the Just Transition Mechanism, along with its first pillar, the Just Transition Fund (JTF). Municipalities and regions welcome this initiative, which is in keeping with the European Union’s ambition of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. However, doubts remain regarding its added value and potential for real impact.

The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) has analysed the Commission proposal. In short, we have three main concerns.

How realistic is it to expect additional money for the EU budget? How to ensure the added value of the Just Transition Fund in relation to the other funds? These are some of the questions we address in our analysis.

Statistics about the participation of elected women in decision making across Europe are not comforting. In 2019, only 31% of the Parliaments members in the EU countries were women. Moreover, women counted only for 15% of mayors and 29% of local councillors. This negative trend undermines the potential benefits that would come from a more equal sharing of power between women and men.

In the framework of the International Women's Day, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the Council of European Municipalities and Regions are organising the event "Women in politics: overcoming the gender gap" that will take place on 5 March at the European Committee of the Regions.

The current work of the EU Institutions on the topic of gender parity will be presented in a roundtable discussion with the President of the European Committee of the Regions, Commissioner for Equality Ms Helena Dalli (tbc) and Ms Evelyn Regner (tbc) chair of the European Parliament committee on women's rights and gender equality.

The European Semester needs to be democratised through a bottom-up approach actively involving social partners of the local and regional government sector. That’s the conclusion of CEMR and EPSU’s two-year joint project on “Localising the European Semester”, detailed in their declaration to the EU institutions and national governments.

EU countries coordinate their economic policies through the European Semester. While this process was initially aimed at promoting macroeconomic stability and prosperity in the eurozone, there have been very substantial spillovers for local and regional governments.

Over 60% of the European Commission’s recommendations issued in the context of the Semester have local or regional impacts, covering issues such as rules for local investment, public procurement and social inclusion.
 

You’ve got one month left to catch a great deal! Register now for CEMR’s 2020 Congress in Innsbruck and benefit from the early-bird rates.

Taking place between 6 and 8 May, the Congress of European municipalities and regions is the not-to-be-missed gathering of the dynamic decisionmakers who are building a more sustainable future in their city, town or region.

Climate, digital democracy, sustainable housing... these are just some of the wide variety of topical issues we’ll be covering in our interactive sessions. These will be an outstanding opportunity to learn, network and collaborate with local leaders and experts from across Europe.

Want an even better deal? You could win a free weekend in a 4-star hotel in the centre of Innsbruck. Early-bird registrants will be automatically entered into a lottery. The lucky winner will be informed by the end of March.
 

Europe is off to an ambitious start to the decade. We have taken up far-reaching objectives with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Green Deal to become the world’s first carbon-neutral continent by 2050. But what needs to happen to make these a reality in the thousands of towns and regions that make up Europe?

CEMR has a very busy agenda this week, holding several meetings with members of EU commissioners’ cabinets, namely those of von der Leyen, Timmermans, Simson, Gentiloni and Ferreira. Our goal: to make the case for how local governments and their associations can contribute to achieving Europe’s goal of sustainable and inclusive development.