Key players for development: a meeting between North and South - At the Assises on Decentralized Cooperation

The Assises on Decentralized Cooperation organized by the Committee of the Regions (COR) and hosted in Brussels on the 29th and 30th of March 2011 by the COR and the European Commission led to some practical conclusions likely to influence the development policy of the EU, which is now being reworked with a view to decentralizing the way it is run.

There was also a variety of parallel events, in particular a debate under the aegis of PLATFORMA, an association of local and regional development authorities, which posed questions on the European Commission’s decentralized cooperation, policy that led to lively debate.

Two other seminars took place outside the Assises, one on the theme of "EU Africa Strategy and Partnership on climate change: the local dimension of a global challenge", and the other organized by the TER-RES project, Responsible Territories - "The Territory: Sharing meaning and redesigning the policies, scales and dynamics of development".

The Director General of EuropeAid, the Commission's directorate general in charge of development, Fokion Fotiadis, and the General Secretary of the COR, Gerhard Stahl, presided over the opening session of the Assises on 29 March 2011. Mr. Fotiadis expressed satisfaction that the Assises were taking place at the same time as the long-term financial framework and restructuring of EU development policy, while Mr. Stahl highlighted the opportunity for the local and regional authorities (LRA) to pass on a clear message to the Commission and other European institutions.

At the plenary session on 30 March, the President of the COR, Mercedes Bresso, asked the Commission for a "reinforcement of the integration of the LRA in development policy" and launched a call to all those involved in development to "stop working in a solitary or bilateral way, and to join multi-sector and multi-level networks within the framework of an integrated territorial approach". The Vice-President of the European Parliament, Isabelle Durant, made the point that her institution provides financial support to the cities and regions involved in decentralized cooperation, thus increasing the ability of the LRA to act as "an essential part in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals".

There was particular anticipation regarding the appearance of the European   Commissioner for Development, Andris Pielbags, as the Commission was to report to the various sessions of the Assises on the state of progress of the "Structured Dialogue" launched in March 2010, and particularly on the mechanisms that it is setting up to enable European LRAs and their partners to play a greater role in development policy. He coined the phrase "think global, act local in order to summarise his approach to decentralized cooperation, and reaffirmed the Commission’s desire to attain and even surpass the MDGs.  He added that “when investments are made at a local and regional level, progress towards the MDGs is faster and more lasting…;   LRAs can support the productive activities that favour job creation, encourage innovation, and enhance development and infrastructure."  He stressed too that efforts were still required to build up the LRAs’ capabilities, and that solutions must be found as regards various statutory and financial questions.

Among the regulatory and financial issues mentioned by the EU Commissioner was that of project appeals, which had also been the subject of debate at the PLATFORMA seminar. He stated that the LRAs could not be treated as NGOs, and that this model was not appropriate for their financing.

At the Assises workshop entitled "The Planning and Implementation of Aid: Structured Dialogue, Present and Future", examined the different possible models and their advantages and disadvantages, focusing the debate and opening the way to consensus regarding a solution. From the Development Directorate General's Directorate of Thematic Operations at, Aristotelis Bouratsis and Georgios Pantoulis represented the Commission.  

The four other workshops at the Assises focused on the topics of "The Territorial Approach to Development and Multi-Level Governance", "Regional and Local Authorities and Sustainable Development", "The Challenge of the LRAs: Inclusive Growth" and "The Contribution of Regional and Local Authorities to Food Security".

Hegel Goutier