Council of European Municipalities and Regions

LOCAL INSIGHT
Local and regional governments' view
on European affairs

“Local and regional governments in Spain and across Europe are paving the way to the active implementation of the global goals”, writes Carlos Martínez Mínguez Mayor of Soria (Spain), CEMR Vice-President & Spokesperson on the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

Sustainable development is increasingly being linked with a new trending concept: sustainable recovery. The COVID-19 pandemic which hit Europe so hard, and continues to affect us, still requires local and regional governments to be at the forefront of crisis management and recovery planning, touching not only upon health issues but also social, environmental and economic priorities for citizens and local governments.

 

Today about 60% of a mayor’s political agenda is influenced by European legislation. It is therefore crucial to ensure that EU rules do not add unnecessary administrative burdens to local governments and can be effectively implemented without additional costs.

With its agenda on Better Regulation, the EU executive aims to make progress in future law-making by focussing on more transparent and evidenced-based policy processes for improved  outcomes. How? For instance, by enhancing impact assessments and introducing a “rural proofing” mechanism in EU legislation to analyse any potential impact on rural jobs, growth and sustainable development. 
 

The digital transformation is having a major impact on our societies, everyday life, economy and the way public administrations function. With its communication “Europe’s digital decade”, the European Commission outlined its vision for the digitalisation of our societies, notably by setting targets in areas such as education, business, infrastructure and government.

These unprecedented targets do not come alone. The EU’s €672.5 billion Recovery and Resilience Facility has indeed fixed that at least 20% of national recoveryplans be dedicated to digital transition.



 

CEMR and Eurocities held a joint event on clean and circular on Monday (7 June) as an official partner event of European Green Week. This was an opportunity for lively exchanges between experts from international organisations and local elected officials actively working on sustainable water management in their constituencies.

Oriana Romano, head of unit for water governance and circular economy in cities at the OECD, spoke on the urgent need to take action on water issues, particularly given the ever-growing populations of urban areas.