Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-15-Speech-4-045"
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"en.20070315.4.4-045"2
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".
Mr President, honourable Members, I would like to thank the rapporteur, Mr Schapira, for this report that brought due attention to the role of local authorities in development cooperation.
The Commission shares most of the rapporteur’s observations and agrees on the high importance of local authorities, both for better governance and for improving the wellbeing of populations, for example through better service delivery in the basic social sectors. The Commission pays great attention to this aspect, on the one hand by supporting decentralisation processes and local governance through geographic and thematic instruments and, on the other, by involving local authorities in the programming process itself.
While decentralisation is considered one of the important areas of cooperation under geographic programmes, the Commission does not impose focal sectors on the partner countries. Instead, focal sectors in each country are decided following the principle of ownership and in close consultation with all stakeholders. The Commission’s delegations have been provided with guidelines on how to facilitate the inclusion of local authorities’ representatives in the whole consultative process. In cases when the government did not select specific support to local authorities as an area of cooperation, the latter were often supported through sector programmes – in health and education – or through other types of interventions, in particular defining decentralisation policy, elaborating a legal framework and/or supporting planning and financial management capacities at local level.
Another instrument at our disposal is the thematic programme, non-state actors and local authorities in development. It is designed to be subsidiary and complementary to intervention programmes in the country strategy papers. For the period 2007-2010 an amount of EUR 903 million has been earmarked for this programme, of which up to 15% can be allocated to local authorities. As you know, Mr President, it is an actor-oriented programme aimed at capacity-building through support to own initiatives from local authorities and non-state actors originating from the EU and partner countries. Its main objectives concern the facilitation of local authorities’ and non-state actors’ participation in poverty reduction and sustainable development strategies as well as strengthening their networking activities.
Regarding the involvement of local authorities in creating development policies, efforts are being made both at global and country level. At global level, the Commission has established continuous dialogue with the existing European and international platforms such as the United Cities and Local Governments, the Council of European Municipalities and Regions and the Committee of the Regions. At country level, the participation of local authorities in the programming process was introduced under the ninth European Development Fund. It then became an essential principle of the ongoing tenth EDF programming process and, as I have already mentioned, the Commission’s delegations are actively promoting this process.
Following the adoption of the final country strategy papers, the Commission will draft a report to assess the progress made in promoting participatory approaches under the tenth EDF. The analysis will examine a number of issues relating to the consultation process, including questions such as the one mentioned by the rapporteur, whether the consultations held with stakeholders were based on draft CSPs. We are all convinced that close cooperation with the local authorities can bring important benefits to our efforts to combat poverty in the world and I am confident that this process can be further improved through our joint efforts. The report we are discussing now is an important contribution to these efforts."@en1
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