In cooperation with

Governing in partnership United to build a stronger Europe

BRUSSELS, 12 DECEMBER 2011

PROGRAMME 10:00 – 13:30

Venue : European Commission, Charlemagne building, Alcide de Gasperi hall, 170 rue de la Loi, B-1040, Brussels

9:30 Registration/welcome of participants

10:00 Towards a new model of governance in Europe

 Round table introduced and chaired by Wolfgang Schuster, Lord Mayor of Stuttgart, President of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions  Michèle Sabban, Vice-President of Ile-de-France Region, President of the Assembly of European Regions

 Jean-Yves Le Drian, President of Brittany Region, President of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions  Frank Jensen, Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, President of EUROCITIES  Keith Whitmore, President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, member of the Manchester city council

11:30 Europe 2020 strategy and the future cohesion policy – the contributions of Europe’s territories

 Address by Johannes Hahn, European Commissioner for Regional Policy

Panel debate and exchange with Commissioner Hahn

 Introduced and chaired by Annemarie Jorritsma, Mayor of Almere, Co- President of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions, President of the Association of Netherlands Municipalities  Michèle Sabban, Vice-President of Ile-de-France Region, President of the Assembly of European Regions  Jean-Yves Le Drian, President of Brittany Region, President of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions  Frank Jensen, Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, President of EUROCITIES  Mercedes Bresso, President of the Committee of the Regions

12:45  Closing address by José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission

With the support of the In partnership with the European Commission Committee of the Regions 1 CEMR POLICY COMMITTEE Hosted by  BRUSSELS, 12-13 DECEMBER 2011 

9.30-13.30 Governing In Partnership - United to build a stronger Europe Charlemagne building, rue de la Loi 170, 1040-Brussels

Departure to Committee of the Regions Jacques Delors building, Atrium 5, rue Belliard 99-101: ± 10 min. walking

13.30-14.45 Lunch reception hosted by the Committee of the Regions

15.00 Opening of the CEMR Policy Committee meeting, by Dr Wolfgang Schuster, President of CEMR, Lord Mayor of Stuttgart (Room JDE 52)

A. Exchange and debate with Mercedes Bresso, President of the Committee of the Regions

B. Welcome to new CEMR members and partners:  Mamuka Abuladze, President of the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia, member of Rustavi City Council  Vladimir Moskov, Mayor of Goce Delcev (Bulgaria), President of NALAS  Representative of the Association of Mayors of France

16.00- 17.45 Thematic exchanges in three parallel sessions:

A) Consequences of - Introduced and moderated by Annemarie Jorritsma, Mayor of Almere, CEMR the crisis for local Co-President, President of VNG and regional - António Costa, Mayor of Lisbon, CEMR Executive President, member of the authorities Committee of the Regions - Philippe Laurent, Mayor of Sceaux, Member of the Council of the Département (Room JDE 51) Hauts-de-Seine, Executive President of the French section of CEMR (AFCCRE) - Kenneth Davey, OBE, representing the group of experts of the European Committee on Local and Regional Democracy, Council of Europe, on their work examining the effects of the financial crisis at local level - Vladimir Moskov, Mayor of Goce Delcev (Bulgaria), President of NALAS

B) Future of the EU - Exchange moderated by Angelika Poth-Mögele, CEMR Director of EU Policy cohesion policy - Presentation of the Commission’s proposals on the future regulations: Nicholas Martyn, Deputy Director General - Development, Coordination and (Room JDE 52) Communication of Cohesion Policy, DG Regional Policy, European Commission - Carola Gunnarsson, member of Sala Municipal Council, Vice-President of SALAR - Bernard Soulage, Vice-President of the Rhône-Alpes Region, member of the Committee of the Regions - Claudio Martini, former President of the Tuscany Region - Andrei Chiliman, Mayor of Bucharest 1st Sector, Romanian Municipalities Association

C) What role for - Exchange moderated by Sandra Ceciarini, CEMR Director of Citizenship and local and regional International Cooperation authorities in the - Anders Knape, President of SALAR, CEMR Executive President, member of the transition toward Committee of the Regions democracy in the - Mohamed Ridha Farhat, Ambassador of Tunisia in Belgium Mediterranean? - Bülent Tanik, Mayor of Çankaya, Ankara, Union of Municipalities of Turkey, (Room JDE 53) CEMR Vice-President - Francisco de la Torre Prados, Mayor of Málaga, member of the Committee of the Regions - Alexandre Zafiriou, European External Action Service

17.50 Plenary session (Room JDE 52): Local and regional authorities facing the global challenges  Presentation by Joan Clos i Matheu, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme - UN-HABITAT, former Mayor of Barcelona

18.15 Closing of the first day of the meeting

2

At the invitation of the Union of Belgian Cities and Municipalities

Come celebrate with CEMR!

60 years of local and regional Europe

Monday 12 December 2011 at 20.00

At the invitation of

The Association of the City and the Municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, The Association of Flemish Cities and Municipalities, The Union of Cities and Municipalities of Wallonia

Introduction by Jean-Luc Vanraes, Minister of the Brussels-Capital Region for External Relations

Welcome by Jos Clijsters, Chairman of the Management Board, Dexia Bank Belgium

Venue: The Belgian Comic Strip Center 20 rue des Sables, B-1000 Brussels

Offered thanks to the support of Dexia Bank Belgium and the Brussels Capital Region

3

At the invitation of the Union of Belgian Cities and Municipalities

Tuesday 13 December – Hosted by the Union of Belgian Cities and Municipalities Venue: Egmont Palace, Arenberg Hall, Place du Petit Sablon 8 Bis, 1000 Brussels

9.00 Welcome of participants

9.30 Continuation of the CEMR Policy Committee

Local government in Belgium - presentations and exchange:

 Moderated by Annemarie Jorritsma, Mayor of Almere, Co-President of CEMR, President of VNG  Marc Cools, Deputy Mayor of Uccle, President of the Union of Belgian Cities and Municipalities and the Association of the City and the Municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region  Luc Martens, Mayor of Roeselare, President of the Association of Flemish Cities and Municipalities  Jacques Gobert, Mayor of La Louvière, President of Union of Cities and Municipalities of Wallonia

 Exchange with the participants

10.30 1. Adoption of the draft agenda

2. Approval of the draft list of decisions from the meeting of Mondorf-les-Bains (6- 7 December 2010)

3. Approval of the accounts and discharge for 2010

4. Change in membership of the Executive Bureau

5. Implementation of the 2011 work programme, with approval of latest position papers and outcomes of the Rybnik Congress of Citizenship & Twinning

6. 25th General Assembly, 26-28 September 2012, Cádiz

 Presentation by Bruno García De León, Deputy Mayor of Cádiz

11.30-11.45 Coffee break

7. CEMR strategic plan and the 2012 work programme

8. Vote of the 2012 budget, with report from the Financial Management Committee and Executive Bureau

4

9. UCLG affairs

10. Requests for CEMR membership and new partnerships:

 Request for membership from the Albanian Association of Communes, presented by the President, Sabri Sollaku, Mayor of Bradashesh  Partnership with the Faroese Municipal Organisation, presentation by the President, Gunvá Við Keldu, Mayor of Klaksvík

11. Calendar of main meetings

12. Other urgent matters

13.00 Closing of the Policy Committee followed by buffet lunch, Hall of Mirrors, Egmont Palace

With the support of the European Commission

5

6 2 COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN MUNICIPALITIES AND REGIONS EUROPEAN SECTION OF UNITED CITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

15.12.2010/nh

POLICY COMMITTEE

 MONDORF-LES-BAINS, 6-7 December 2010 

for decision  for information DRAFT LIST OF DECISIONS

6 December

President Häupl opened the meeting, thanking the hosts, Association of Luxembourg Cities and Municipalities (SYVICOL) for hosting CEMR’s Policy Committee.

Mr Dan Kersch, President of SYVICOL, took the floor to welcome the Policy Committee, recalling his association’s longstanding committed involvement in the work of CEMR.

The President excused the specially invited guest speakers who, due to the extremely difficult weather conditions, had not been able to travel to the meeting.

1. Setting up the Policy Committee

On the basis of nominations received from the member associations for the 2011-2013 mandate, the new Policy Committee was set up. Ms Bougeard, Chair of CEMR’s women’s elected committee, recalled that this was the first year in which the new Rule on gender balance in Policy Committee delegations was applied, and underlined this important step forward for our organisation ensuring such a fundamental balance.

2. Adoption of the draft agenda

The Policy Committee adopted the draft agenda.

3. Approval of draft list of decisions of the Oslo Policy Committee (3-4 June)

The Policy Committee approved the draft list of decisions of the meeting in Oslo, which took place 3-4 June 2010.

3.1. For information, draft list of decisions of the meeting of the Secretaries General and Directors (Kyiv, 23-25 September)

3.2. For information, draft list of decisions of the meeting of the Executive Bureau (Bordeaux, 29 October)

The members of the Policy Committee took note of the draft list of decisions of the last meeting of the Secretaries General and Directors and of the Executive Bureau.

7

4.1. Approval of the accounts and discharge for 2009

Cllr Keymer, Vice-Chair of the Financial Management Committee, transmitted the regrets of the Chair Halvdan Skard who was unable to participate in this meeting, and paid tribute to the Chair’s leadership of the Committee’s important work. He presented the information from the Committee’s last meeting, in particular on the accounts of 2009.

The Policy Committee took note of the document on the accounts of 2009 and:

- Decided to carry over the results of the period, that is a surplus of 309.94 € ; - Gave discharge to the President and Secretary General for the year 2009.

4.2. Nominations of CEMR’s Professional Auditors

Cllr Keymer presented the different proposals which the Financial Management Committee had debated regarding the nomination of the Professional Auditors. Dr Haas (Deutscher Landkreistag) considered that for the sake of better neutrality CEMR should not continue with the same Professional Auditors in the new mandate.

Following a brief exchange during which Cllr Keymer underlined the Committee’s view in favour of continuing with the currently mandated Auditors, the matter was put to a vote. With two votes against, the Policy Committee decided in favour of the proposal presented by the firm Deloitte, and nominated for the period 2011-2016:

- Professional Auditor, Deloitte & Associates, represented by Jean-Pierre Vercamer - Alternate Auditor, the firm BEAS, represented by William Di Cicco.

5. Report on the implementation of the 2010 work programme

The Secretary General presented the report on the implementation of the 2010 work programme.

Mr Le Pensec (AFCCRE) congratulated the secretariat on the work carried out over the year. For future reports, he requested that certain key areas and themes be highlighted for easier legibility, given the density of the current report. He regretted that the French section’s work on twinning in 2010 was not referred to in this context, and noted the clear need to prioritise CEMR’s activities in the future. The latter point was further underlined by Mr Pellegrini (AICCRE).

The members of the Policy Committee approved the secretariat general’s annual report.

5.1. Key issues in EU policy work, including the EU budget review

CEMR’s rapporteur on cohesion/territorial policy and economic development, Ms Gunnarsson (SALAR), presented CEMR’s work relating to the EU budget review. The members of the Policy Committee unanimously approved CEMR’s response to the Consultation on the EU Budget Review.

The Policy Committee further approved:

- CEMR’s Policy Position on “The future of EU Rural Development Policy” - CEMR’s key political messages on “Cohesion Policy and the Europe 2020 Strategy” - CEMR’s response to the consultation on the future energy strategy for Europe - CEMR’s address to the 7th High-level Meeting on Local Governance in the EU 8

Mr Le Pensec particularly welcomed CEMR’s work on the future energy strategy. He considered that the paper on the EU rural development policy should be further improved, underlining the resources offered by rural communities. He warned CEMR against focalising in general too much on bigger cities and neglecting the interests of the smaller communities. CEMR’s Director of EU Policy welcomed this as encouragement for CEMR to pursue our work in this important field.

The members of the Policy Committee noted the “Multi-sectoral guidelines to tackle third- party violence and harassment related to work”, and the information on the organisation of the EU policy work and lobbying.

5.2. European citizenship and outcomes of the 2010 regional seminars

The Policy Committee noted the information on CEMR activities in the field of citizenship in 2010: in particular town twinning and equality of women and men. Mr Porawski (Association of Polish Cities) presented the citizenship and twinning congress taking place in September 2011 in Rybnik, Poland, in the context of the Polish EU Presidency.

5.3. CEMR in the world: PLATFORMA, UCLG, EU Charter on local governance

The President recalled that UCLG’s 3rd World Congress took place in November in Mexico City and gave the floor to Mr Kadir TOPBAŞ, the newly elected President of UCLG, Mayor of Istanbul. The President of UCLG congratulated CEMR on its coming 60th anniversary, and underlined how he was looking forward to working with the European section in the coming years.

The Policy Committee was invited to take note of the information on the nominations within the new statutory bodies of UCLG and the European representation in the world organisation.

Mr León de la Riva (FEMP) took the floor to speak on recent work of the PLATFORMA network, underlining in particular the positive response from the European Commission to the application to pursue the PLATFORMA project for two more years. Dr Schuster (RGRE) underlined the importance of such platforms as facilitating concrete and practical exchanges. He hoped that additional CEMR members would become directly involved in this work.

6. Elections of CEMR’s Statutory Organs

The President recalled the elections process, reviewing its preparation over the year. He presented his proposal, which had been circulated prior to the Policy Committee meeting, for a modification of the configuration of the position of “first Vice-President of CEMR”, into two seats of “Co-President of CEMR” in order to best be able to ensure the political and geographic balances within CEMR’s structures.

The Policy Committee agreed this proposal, and further agreed to launch the relevant limited amendment of CEMR’s statutes in this context.

9 President

The outgoing President presented the two candidates for President of CEMR: Mr Anders KNAPE, President of SALAR, member of the City Council of Karlstad, and Mr Wolfgang SCHUSTER, President of CEMR’s German Section, Mayor of Stuttgart.

Both candidates made a presentation and answered a number of questions.

The election of the President then proceeded by secret ballot.1 Dr Schuster was elected as next President of CEMR, with 107 votes cast (55 for Mr Schuster, 52 for Mr Knape).

Mr Schuster expressed his thanks to the Policy Committee, and paid tribute to the outgoing President, Dr Michael Häupl, for whom it was decided to confer the honorific title of Honorary President of CEMR. Dr Häupl took the floor to wish the new President and CEMR well for the future.

As newly elected President, Mr Schuster assumed the chair of the meeting.

Co-Presidents

Later in the meeting, the Policy Committee unanimously elected as Co-Presidents of CEMR:

- Ms Aina CALVO SASTRE, Mayor of Palma de Mallorca, member of the Executive Committee of the FEMP, and; - Ms Annemarie JORRITSMA, Mayor of Almere, President of VNG

Executive Presidents

At the President’s proposal, the Policy Committee unanimously approved as Executive Presidents:

 Mr Albert BORE, Councillor and former Leader of Birmingham City Council, President of the Committee of the Regions from 2002-2004  Mr António COSTA, Mayor of Lisbon, Co-President of UCLG  Mr Anders KNAPE, President of SALAR, member of the City Council of Karlstad  Mr Oldřich VLASÁK, Member of the European Parliament, Member of Hradec Králové City Council, President of SMO-CR

1 As agreed by the Executive Bureau, this election was supervised by an “ad hoc supervisory body”: Christophe Chaillou, Director General of the AFCCRE, Andrzej Porawski, Executive Director of the Association of Polish Cities, Heikki Telakivi, Director of International Affairs, Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, Mireille Colbach of SYVICOL, together with the representatives of each candidate.

10 Vice-Presidents members of the Executive Bureau:

The Policy Committee elected as Vice-Presidents, members of the Executive Bureau:

 Mr Knud ANDERSEN, Member of the Regional Council of the Capital Region of Denmark, member of the board of the Association of Danish Regions  Mr Pedro CASTRO VÁZQUEZ, President of the FEMP, Mayor of Getafe (substitute nominated: Mr Francisco LEÓN DE LA RIVA, Mayor of Valladolid)  Cllr Gordon KEYMER, Leader of Tandridge District Council (LGA-UK)  Ms Ligia KRAJEWSKA, Deputy Chair of Warsaw City Council, Member of the Board of the Association of Polish Counties  M. Louis LE PENSEC, President of the AFCCRE, former Minister, Deputy Mayor of Mellac  Mr Erwin MOHR, Member of the Municipal Council of Wolfurt, member of the Board of the Austrian Association of Municipalities  Ms Dagmar MÜHLENFELD, Mayor of Mühlheim an der Ruhr  Mr Romeo STAVARACHE, Mayor of Bacau, member of the Romanian Municipalities Association Steering Committee

The President recalled that a further proposal is expected from AICCRE, following the Italian section’s coming general assembly.

Later in the meeting, it was proposed that a seat as Vice President member of the Executive Bureau be accorded to Mr Bülent Tanik, Mayor of Çankaya, Ankara, of the most recent CEMR member, the Union of Municipalities of Turkey. The Policy Committee debated and agreed the proposal.

Vice-Presidents non members of the Executive Bureau

The Policy Committee elected as Vice-Presidents, non members of the Executive Bureau:

 Mr Mário de ALMEIDA, Mayor of Vila do Conde  Mr Markku ANDERSSON, Vice-President of the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, Mayor of Jyväskylä

European Vice-Presidency of UCLG

The President recalled that following the UCLG Congress recently held in Mexico City, the members of the Policy Committee should designate the European Vice-President of UCLG. The President expressed his interest in pursuing his mandate in this role – which he had held since the previous congress. The Policy Committee agreed and designated Dr Schuster as the European Vice-President of UCLG.

Leadership of the Financial Management Committee

The Policy Committee elected as the leadership of the Financial Management Committee:

 Chair: Mr Halvdan SKARD, President of the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities, member of the Baerum Municipal Council  Vice-Chair: Mr Gordon KEYMER, Leader of Tandridge District Council

11 Membership of the Financial Management Committee

The Policy Committee elected as members of the Financial Management Committee:

 Mr Stephan ARTICUS, Secretary General of CEMR’s German Section / German Association of Cities  Mr Vincenzo MENNA, Secretary General of AICCRE  Mr François ZARAGOZA, Special advisor to the President of the AFCCRE

Honorary Auditors

The Policy Committee elected as the Honorary Auditors of CEMR:

 Mr Carlos PRIETO MARTÍN, Director of Finance of the FEMP  Mr Heikki TELAKIVI, Director of International Affairs, Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities

The President recalled that other candidacies for various positions remained due to be confirmed, following associations’ general assemblies, and would be brought as appropriate to the next Policy Committee meeting.

The first day of the meeting was closed.

7 December

The President thanked the hosts for the lovely evening programme they offered.

7. Presentation on instruments for local and regional authorities by the European Investment Bank

Mr Stéphane VIALLON from the EIB’s section responsible for financing possibilities for local and regional authorities/public sector, made a presentation of EIB instruments addressed to Europe’s local and regional authorities. Among different points, he underlined that currently at the creation of new instruments, consultation of the local and regional level was not necessarily effectively undertaken; the Bank’s services would welcome closer collaboration with CEMR members to optimise this work and the effectiveness of future tools. During the exchange that followed, members of the Policy Committee shared their experiences of projects undertaken with EIB support.

8. Reflection process 2010 - TOWARDS THE CEMR OF TOMORROW!

Cllr Keymer, in his capacity as member of the ‘steering group’ which was set up to follow the 2010 reflection process, presented the background and first outcomes of this work. He underlined the complexity of the project, which in his view started making serious progress thanks to the success of the special event and meetings in Bordeaux - “Bordeaux 2010: A time to reflect!” - organised to take forward the exchanges and provide space for all members to contribute to the reflection.

He underlined that the document recently circulated followed the last meeting of the Steering Group and constituted a first paper toward a strategy for CEMR’s future. CEMR needed to focus on key areas of what we do well, with a cost-effective approach. He considered that it would be useful if the Steering Group could pursue its work in link with the Financial Management Committee, so that the real limitations on the organisation’s resources would be well taken into account from an early stage.

The President underlined the importance of now drawing up concrete proposals, considering the financial impacts, and effectively communicating our visions and mission.

12 Several members regretted that the reflection document had been circulated at such a late stage before the meeting. Mr Le Pensec expressed disappointment that the document was not stronger, as he had hoped to have a more pivotal output already in the process. Mr Lamers (VNG) agreed with Mr Le Pensec’s negative analysis of the process at this stage, expressing concern that the next steps for CEMR in this context were not clear.

Mr Articus (RGRE) considered the approach to the process a praiseworthy one, and that in seeking to define a strategy to reach a future aim, a document laying out fundamental values and goals at this point was indeed useful. Mr Vlasák agreed that the work should continue in this direction, and that the key now was to lay out a plan. Mr Pellegrini underlined that as CEMR celebrates its 60th anniversary, this process should allow us to take into account lessons learned.

Cllr Wilcox (UK-LGA) underlined that members who might not be satisfied with the work carried out thus far should consider how to more effectively bring their own contribution to the process to ensure that it takes a direction they can be pleased with; if necessary, the composition of the steering group could be reworked.

It was broadly agreed that the Steering Group should pursue its work in the coming year at least, with the aim of bringing forward a more complete document in the year.

The President underlined that the aim was not to rewrite the principles presented in CEMR’s statutes, but rather to translate these more abstract points into a concrete vision adapted to the changing context CEMR works in. The debate was closed, with the general agreement to continue to work from the current document, towards a more developed strategic proposal.

9. Vote of the 2011 budget

Cllr Keymer, as Vice-Chair of the Financial Management Committee, presented the options for CEMR’s budget in 2011: a new freeze on all membership fees at the levels called in 2009 (Option 1), or a reduction by 5% of all membership fees (Option 2). He recalled that at their meeting in Kyiv, the Secretaries General and Directors broadly supported Option 1, in the context of preserving the secretariat’s capacity.

Broad debate followed: Mr Articus recalled all that the members expected from the secretariat and hoped that the option selected would be to protect its ability to deliver. Mr Rehwinkel (VNG) agreed, promoting option 1 in the interest of protecting CEMR’s lobbying capacity. Mr Wies (SYVICOL) further supported option 1.

Explaining why LGA preferred option 2, Cllr Wilcox described the extremely difficult situation facing his association in England. He indicated that the LGA would be unable to meet the level of commitment implied under option 1, and that a negotiated settlement would be needed. The Austrian Association of Municipalities and AICCRE also supported option 2, arguing for the importance of showing their own members an important sign of solidarity in these difficult times. Mr Menna, Secretary General of AICCRE proposed that CEMR’s fee calculation system be reviewed in future, and it was considered that this could be studied by the Financial Management Committee in the coming year. Mr Menna further underlined the particularly difficult current situation in Italy, involving budget constraints from the national government, including new obstacles for local and regional elected representatives to participate in international activities (travel being severely restricted under new rules).

Mr Laurent (AFCCRE) indicated that the French section preferred option 1. He requested that CEMR denounce more strongly in our lobbying positions any measures taken to reduce fiscal autonomy and financial opportunities of the local level in Europe.

The Policy Committee voted by a clear majority to adopt the Option 1 of the CEMR 2011 budget, implying a new freeze on all membership fees at the levels called in 2009. 13 The President recalled that a freeze in fees over three years would be a difficult situation for CEMR. Cllr Keymer indicated that the Financial Management Committee would aim to meet early in the new year to study the application of the voted option.

10. Adoption of the 2011 work programme

The Secretary General presented the draft 2011 work programme, indicating the aim of innovating and taking into account first elements coming out of the reflection process.

Mr Lamers and Cllr Wilcox underlined the importance of section A in the work programme. Mr Lamers requested that the continuation of the reflection process be indicated explicitly somewhere in the programme. Ms Jacobs (IPO) requested that CEMR respond to the Commission's White Paper on Transport. Dr Haas requested reference to the pressure on local and regional government from the European Union, and in particular the Single Market concept challenging the way they organise, finance and provide services. It was requested in this context that the programme include that CEMR will refer to the new provisions of the Lisbon Treaty and promote local and regional services of general interest as an expression of self-government.

Subject to these amendments, the Policy Committee adopted the 2011 work programme.

The Secretary General recalled some key dates in 2011, highlighting the celebration of CEMR’s 60th anniversary on 28 January in Geneva. Mr Wehrli of the Swiss section presented his association’s warm invitation to all the members to take part.

Regarding the proposed calendar of statutory meetings in 2011, Mr Knape expressed his view against reducing Policy Committee meetings to only one per year. His position was broadly supported. The President proposed that one of the two yearly meetings could be organised in Brussels, if possible in link with events of the Committee of the Regions.

Ms Calvo Sastre invited the Policy Committee to hold its next meeting in June in her city of Palma de Mallorca, which was unanimously welcomed by the meeting.

11. 25th CEMR General Assembly, Cádiz, 2012

The President recalled that the secretariat in close collaboration with the FEMP and the partners at the city of Cádiz, has gotten underway with the preparations of the 2012 General Assembly of CEMR.

The Policy Committee decided upon the dates of the General Assembly as the 19, 20 and 21 September 2012. [Following the meeting in Mondorf-les-Bains, the host city proposed that due to internal matters for the city of Cádiz, the General Assembly take place the following week, at the preferred period: 26, 27 and 28 September 2012. The contract for the organisation of the General Assembly was since signed and the preparations pursued in this way.]

Mr Knape recalled the strongly supported view that the meeting of the Policy Committee organised prior to the opening of the General Assembly should be scheduled with sufficient time set aside. Mr Lamers underlined the importance of preparing more dynamic sessions with fewer speakers, and called on the member associations to cooperate with the secretariat for a better balance.

12. Calendar of meetings

The Policy Committee took note of the general calendar of meetings. The President thanked SYVICOL and its President Dan Kersch for hosting the meeting, and for ensuring such a well run programme.

14 3 COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN MUNICIPALITIES AND REGIONS EUROPEAN SECTION OF UNITED CITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

CEMR POLICY COMMITTEE

 BRUSSELS, 12-13 DECEMBER 2011 

 for decision for information

REALISATION OF THE 2010 BUDGET

This document presents the realisation of the budget 2010.

It complements the certification document of the accounts for 2010 by the firm Deloitte, professional auditors of CEMR (attached with the additional documents).

The accounts found hereafter were debated by the Financial Management Committee which met in Paris on 23 May 2011, and audited by the Honorary Auditors of CEMR on 9 September 2011.

They were also presented to and debated by the Secretaries General and Directors who met in Cádiz on 27-28 October 2011.

Following the recommendation of the Honorary Auditors, the members of the Financial Management Committee decided on 19 September 2011 to propose to the Policy Committee the following draft decision:

Draft decision

The members of the Policy committee are invited to:

 Decide to carry over the results of the period, a surplus of 3 502 Euro;

 Give discharge to the President and Secretary General for the year 2010.

15 RESULT ON 31 DECEMBER 2010

2009 2010 ACTUAL ACTUAL ACTUAL BUDGET ACTUAL ACTUAL ACTUAL CEMR CONTRACTS TOTAL CEMR CEMR CONTRACTS TOTAL WORKING INCOME 1 945 783 1 945 783 Affiliation fees 2010 2 169 000 1 937 433 1 937 433 ‐255 292 ‐255 292 Transfers to UCLG ‐382 000 ‐287 383 ‐287 383 1 690 491 1 690 491 Net affiliation fees 2010 1 787 000 1 650 050 1 650 050 115 599 115 599 Affiliation fees previous years 216 464 216 464 ‐2 900 ‐2 900 Transfers to UCLG ‐84 911 ‐84 911 1 803 190 1 803 190 Net affiliation fees 1 787 000 1 781 603 1 781 603 230 000 230 000 EC grant 240 000 235 773 235 773 126 494 126 494 EC Contracts 144 324 144 324 11 820 11 820 Contracts cofinancing CEMR 52 646 52 646 Contracts cofinancing Partners 91 500 91 500 21 500 21 500 Contracts other 12 262 58 236 70 498 General Assembly 16 000 32 658 32 658 DEXIA 20 000 10 000 10 000 Other working income 20 000 34 486 34 486 Release of provision 5 500 5 500 1 039 7 214 8 253 Income previous years 2 088 387 198 174 2 286 561 TOTAL 2 083 000 2 074 124 299 561 2 373 685

WORKING EXPENDITURE 1 406 509 85 262 1 491 770 Salaries + social charges 1 349 000 1 346 782 128 676 1 475 457 221 207 221 207 Rent and service charges 220 000 224 355 224 355 165 088 4 558 169 646 Other office costs 220 000 176 360 4 051 180 411 28 666 5 635 34 301 Fees 46 052 8 000 54 052 78 451 37 010 115 461 Meeting costs 80 000 51 137 53 912 105 049 88 719 61 829 150 548 Travel costs 92 000 114 616 97 891 212 506 Rapporteurs 5 000 Communication 79 000 92 608 3 758 96 366 75 393 2 647 78 040 Depreciation and provisions 20 000 15 479 15 479 13 586 13 586 Contracts cofinancing CEMR 12 000 11 820 11 820 Unforecast 10 000 2 089 439 196 941 2 286 380 TOTAL 2 087 000 2 067 388 296 287 2 363 675

‐1 052 1 233 181 WORKING INCOME / EXP. ‐4 000 6 736 3 273 10 009

FINANCIAL INCOME Exchange rate earnings 10 103 942 11 045 Income short‐term investment 10 000 2 364 92 2 456 10 103 942 11 045 TOTAL 10 000 2 364 92 2 456

FINANCIAL CHARGES 37 37 Exchange rate losses 10 482 397 10 879 Banking and financial charges 6 000 8 075 888 8 963 10 519 397 10 917 TOTAL 6 000 8 075 888 8 963

‐416 545 128 FINANCIAL RESULT 4 000 ‐5 711 ‐796 ‐6 507

2 098 490 199 117 2 297 606 TOTAL INCOME 2 093 000 2 076 488 299 653 2 376 140 2 099 958 197 339 2 297 297 TOTAL EXPENDITURE 2 093 000 2 075 463 297 175 2 372 638

‐1 468 1 778 310 TOTAL 1 025 2 477 3 502

16 REALISATION OF THE 2010 BUDGET

The period of 2010 closed with an overall surplus of € 3 502, corresponding to € 1 025 for CEMR’s own budget and €2 477 for the contracts. The total resources of CEMR’s own budget went from € 2 093 000 (voted budget) to € 2 076 488 (actual budget) – a decrease of around 0.8% – the details of which are indicated below:

 INCOME

 Income from MEMBERSHIP FEES is detailed hereafter. In 2010, CEMR received two membership fee instalments from Italy, in place of the three received in previous years. This constitutes a decrease in resources of €70 000. Nevertheless, in view of the elections that took place in December 2010, this was compensated for by the settlement of membership fees dating from previous years.

 The sum of the OPERATING GRANT allocated to CEMR by the EC for 2010 represents co financing for up to 11,36% of CEMR’s expenses for the year, with an upper limit of €240 000. Due to the decrease in expenses for this year compared to those in the submitted budget, the grant will be limited to €235 773.

 The OTHER CONTRACTS (€12 262) correspond mainly to a contract concluded with OSI Europe Foundation (€9 000).

 An agreement for €20 000 was entered into with DEXIA for the period July 2010 – June 2011, 50% of which (€10 000) was allocated to the financial year 2010.

 The OTHER WORKING INCOME (€34 486) corresponds to reimbursement by UCLG for work conducted by CEMR staff on the World Organisation’s finances.

 The FINANCIAL REVENUE (€2 456) indicates the remuneration of investments divested during the financial year. In addition, there are some latent capital gains in relation to on-going investment which are not included in the financial year’s result, amounting to €88 864.

 The grant linking CEMR to the City which will host the next GENERAL ASSEMBLY, Cadiz, was signed at the start of 2011, the first transfer for which will be made and included in the 2011 accounts.

 The income linked to CONTRACTS (€299 561) include in particular co financing by the EC for the contracts “Platforma” (€73 000), “twinning” (around €72 000) and Covenant of Mayors (around €18 000), as well as a contract concluded with the French ministry of foreign affairs (€42 000). It furthermore includes co financing from partners on the different contracts (€91 500).

 EXPENSES

 The item SALARIES AND SOCIAL CHARGES (€ 1 346 782 excluding contracts) is lower than in the voted budget.

 The item OFFICE RENT (€ 224 355) includes the exceptional cost incurred by CEMR due to the office space which remained vacant in the House in Brussels.

 The item OTHER OFFICE COSTS AND FEES (€ 222 412 in total) was higher by around €2 400.

 The items covering CEMR activities: cost of MEETING AND INTERPRETATION, TRAVEL COSTS, RAPPORTEURS and COMMUNICATION/PUBLICATIONS (€258 361 in total) are marginally higher than in the voted budget (€256 000). Nevertheless, the items covering travel and communication have risen, whereas meeting costs remain under budget.

 The item covering DEPRECIATION/PROVISIONS is slightly lower than in the voted budget, the renewal of certain equipment having been differed to the 2011.

 The expenses linked to COMMUNITY CONTRACTS (€297 175) correspond to the amounts declared in the framework of various contracts in which CEMR has contributed.

17

2010 MEMBERSHIP FEES

CEMR MEMBERSHIP FEES

The table below shows the balance transferred by CEMR members in 2010, €1 781 603. This amount is lower than the net amount foreseen in the budget (€1 787 000) and than the amount settled in 2009 (€1 803 190).

UCLG MEMBERSHIP FEES

The net membership fees to be collected by UCLG through CEMR was €372 294 (among which €84 911 corresponds to the membership fees for previous years settled in 2010), compared with €258 192 in 2009 and €300 000 outlined in the budget.

BUDGETARY COMPARISON

CEMR / CCRE UCLG / CGLU TOTAL

IBUDGET BUDGET

VOTED M EM BERSHIP FEES 1 871 000 382 000 2 253 000 COTISATIONS VOTEES

PROVISIONS -84 000 -82 000 -166 000 PROVISIONS

NET BUDGET FOR 2010 1 787 000 300 000 2 087 000 BUDGET NET POUR 2010

II RECEIVED RECU

2010 M EM BERSHIP FEES RECEIVED 1 638 830 285 813 1 924 643 COTISATIONS RECUES 2010

RECEIVED FOR PREVIOUS YEARS 131 553 84 911 216 464 RECU ANNEES ANTERIEURES

PROVISIONS 11 222 1 570 12 792 PROVISIONS

TOTAL RECEIVED IN 2010 1 781 603 372 294 2 153 897 TOTAL RECU EN 2010

III BUDGETED / RECEIVED BUDGET/ RECU

FEES RECEIVED MINUS BUDGETED -5 397 72 294 66 897 RECU M OINS BUDGETISE

PERCENT RECEIVED -0,30% 24,10% 3,21% POURCENTAGE RECU

18 MEMBERSHIP FEES : CEMR 2010 TOTAL BUDGET TOTAL CALLED TOTAL RECEIVED PROVISIONED 2010 OVERDUE

COTISATIONS : CCRE 2010 BUDGET TOTAL TOTAL APPELE TOTAL RECU PROVISION 2010 EN RETARD

AL Albanian Association of Municipalities 628 628 372 256

AT Österreichischer Städtebund 30 466 30 466 30 466 Österreichischer Gemeindebund 30 466 30 466 30 466

BA A. Municipalities/Cities Federation Bosnia Herzegovina 1 082 1 082 1 082 A. Municipalities/Towns Republic of Srpska 1 082 1 082 542 540

BE Union des Villes et Communes Belges 72 388 72 388 72 388

BG NAMRB 14 112 14 112 14 112

CH Association Suisse du CCRE 28 319 28 319 17 090 11 229

CY Union of Cyprus Municipalities 3 972 3 972 3 972

CZ Union of Towns and Communities of the Czech Rep. 28 223 28 223 28 223

DE Rat der Gemeinden und Regionen Europas 245 384 245 384 245 384

DK LGDK 19 734 19 734 19 734 Danish Regions 19 734 19 734 19 734

EE Association of Estonian Cities 1 411 1 411 1 411 Association of Municipalities of Estonia 1 411 1 411 1 411

ES Federación Española de Municipios y Provincias 160 705 160 705 160 705

FI Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities 36 028 36 028 36 028

FR Association Française pour le CCRE 211 000 211 000 211 000

GR Central Union of Greek Municipalities and Communities 55 410 55 410 55 410

HU Hungarian Associations 28 223 28 223 28 223

HR Croatian County Association 6 582 6 582 6 582

IE Institute of Public Administration 2 135 2 135 2 135 Local Government Management Services Board 2 000 2 000 1 332 668 668

IL Union of Local Authorities in Israel 7 290 7 290 4 860 2 430

IS Association of Local Authorities in Iceland 2 276 2 276 2 276

IT AICCRE 209 410 209 410 69 803 139 607

LT Association of local authorities in Lithuania 8 467 8 467 8 467

LU Association des Villes et Communes Luxemb. 6 408 6 408 6 408

LV Union of local and Regional Governmnts of Latvia 5 645 5 645 5 645

MK As. of units of local self -gov. of Macedonia (ZELS) 1 675 1 675 1 675

MO Union of Municipalities of Montenegro 452 452 452

MT Maltese Association of Local Councils 1 787 1 787 1 787

NL VNG / IPO 107 913 107 913 107 913

NO Kommunenes Sentralforbund 48 963 48 963 48 963

PL Assoc. of Polish Cities 34 142 34 142 17 071 17 071 Assoc.of Polish Counties 15 174 15 174 5 058 10 116

PT Associaçao Nacional de Municipios Portugueses 45 362 45 362 22 756 4 196 22 606

RO Association of Romanian Communes (ACOR) 4 959 4 959 2 500 2 459 Association of Romanian Towns (AOR) 4 959 4 959 4 959 National Union of County Councils of Romania 4 959 4 959 3 306 1 653 1 653 Romanian Municipalities Association (AMR) 4 959 4 959 4 959

RS Standing conference of towns & municip. of Serbia 2 201 2 201 2 201

SI Assoc. of Municipalities and Towns of Slovenia 2 822 2 822 2 822

SE Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions 62 343 62 343 62 343

SK Assoc. of Towns and Communities of Slovakia 14 112 14 112 9 407 4 705 4 705

TR Union of Municipalities of Turkey 21 761 21 761

UA Association of Ukrainian cities 18 745 18 745 6 246 12 499

UK Local Government Association 232 800 232 800 232 800

TOTAL 1 848 320 1 870 081 1 638 830 11 222 231 249

RECEIVED 88% 19

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MEMBERSHIP FEES : UCLG 2010 TOTAL BUDGET TOTAL CALLED TOTAL RECEIVED PROVISIONED 2010 OVERDUE

COTISATIONS : CGLU 2010 BUDGET TOTAL TOTAL APPELE TOTAL RECU PROVISION 2010 EN RETARD

AL Albanian Association of Municipalities 195 195 115 80

AT Österreichischer Städtebund 5 800 5 800 5 800 Österreichischer Gemeindebund 5 800 5 800 5 800

BA A. Municipalities/Cities Federation Bosnia Herzegovina 276 276 276 A. Municipalities/Towns Republic of Srpska 276 276 138 138

BE Union des Villes et Communes Belges 15 900 15 900 15 900

BG NAMRB 712 712 712

CH Association Suisse du CCRE 8 946 8 946 8 946

CY Union of Cyprus Municipalities 500 500 500

CZ Union of Towns and Communities of the Czech Republic 2 682 2 682 2 682

DE Rat der Gemeinden und Regionen Europas 57 800 57 800 57 800

DK Local Government Denmark 4 400 4 400 4 400 Danish Regions 4 400 4 400 4 400

EE Association of Estonian Cities 300 300 300 Association of Municipalities of Estonia 300 300 300

ES Federación Española de Municipios y Provincias 31 900 31 900 31 900

FI Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities 7 600 7 600 7 600 FR Association Française pour le CCRE * 50 971 25 486 25 486

GR Central Union of Greek Municipalities and Communities 7 300 7 300 7 300

HU Hungarian Associations 2 623 2 623 2 623 HR Croatian County Association 514 514 514

IE Institute of Public Adminstration Local Government Management Services Board

IL Union of Local Authorities in Israel 6 900 6 900 4 600 2 300

IS Association of Local Authorities in Iceland 401 401 401

IT AICCRE 47 866 47 866 47 866

LT Association of local authorities in Lithuania 800 800 800

LU Association des Villes et Communes Luxemb. 761 761 761

LV Union of local and Regional Governmnts of Latvia 414 414 414

MK As. of units of local self -gov. of Macedonia (ZELS) 206 206 206

MO Union of Municipalities of Montenegro 117 117 117

MT Maltese Association of Local Councils 215 215 215

NL VNG / IPO 20 700 20 700 20 700

NO Kommunenes Sentralforbund 7 562 7 562 7 562

PL Assoc. of Polish Cities 3 895 3 895 1 947 1 948 Assoc.of Polish Counties 1 731 1 731 577 1 154

PT Associaçao Nacional de Municipios Portugueses 8 700 8 700 4 364 804 4 336

RO Association of Romanian Communes (ACOR) 893 893 450 443 Association of Romanian Towns (AOR) 893 893 893 National Union of County Councils of Romania 893 893 594 299 299 Romanian Municipalities Association (AMR) 893 893 893

RS Standing conference of towns & municip. of Serbia 470 470 470

SI Assoc. of Municipalities and Towns of Slovenia 362 362 362

SE Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions 13 000 13 000 13 000

SK Assoc. of Towns and Communities of Slovakia 1 400 1 400 933 467 467

TR Union of Municipalities of Turkey

UA Association of Ukrainian cities 2 959 2 959 986 1 973

UK Local Government Association 51 032 51 032 51 032

TOTAL 382 257 356 772 285 813 1 570 70 960

RECEIVED 80,1% * Due to the particular case of French contributions to UCLG from Cités Unies France, AFCCRE settles 50 % of the nominal amount

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\\par-server\usershares\Dominique Arrestat\2010\cloture 2010\RECU 2010 MAJ : 12/04/2011 TOTAL RECEIVED TOTAL BUDGET TOTAL CALLED PROVISIONED 2009 RECEIVED 2010 TOTAL RCVD DUE TO DATE MEMBERSHIP FEES : CEMR 2009 2009

COTISATIONS : CCRE 2009 BUDGET TOTAL TOTAL APPELE TOTAL RECU 2009 PROVISION 2009 RECU 2010 TOTAL RECU DU A CE JOUR

AL Albanian Association of Municipalities 628 628 402 402 226

AT Österreichischer Städtebund 30 466 30 466 30 466 30 466

Österreichischer Gemeindebund 30 466 30 466 30 466 30 466

BA A. Municipalities/Cities Federation Bosnia Herzegovina 1 082 1 000 1 000 1 000

A. Municipalities/Towns Republic of Srpska 1 082 541 541 541 541

BE Union des Villes et Communes Belges 72 388 72 388 72 388 72 388

BG NAMRB 14 112 14 112 14 112 14 112

CH Association Suisse du CCRE 28 319 28 319 14 107 14 107 14 212

CY Union of Cyprus Municipalities 3 972 3 972 3 972 3 972

CZ Union of Towns and Communities of the Czech Rep. 28 223 28 223 28 223 28 223

DE Deutscher Landkreistag 24 538 24 538 24 538 24 538

Deutscher Städtetag 61 346 61 346 61 346 61 346

Städte und Gemeindebund 29 446 29 446 29 446 29 446

Rat der Gemeinden und Regionen Europas 130 054 130 054 130 054 130 054

DK LGDK 19 734 19 734 19 734 19 734

Danish Regions 19 734 19 734 19 734 19 734

EE Association of Estonian Cities 1 411 1 411 1 411 1 411

Association of Municipalities of Estonia 1 411 1 411 1 411 1 411

ES Federación Española de Municipios y Provincias 160 705 160 705 160 705 160 705

FI Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities 36 028 36 028 36 028 36 028

FR Association Française pour le CCRE 211 000 211 000 211 000 211 000

GR Central Union of Greek Municipalities and Communities 55 410 55 410 55 410 55 410

HR Croatian County Association 6 582 6 582 6 582

HU Hungarian Associations 28 223 28 223 28 223 28 223

IE Institute of Public Administration 2 135 2 135 2 135

Local Government Management Services Board 2 000 2 000 2 000

IL Union of Local Authorities in Israel 7 290 7 290 7 290

IS Association of Local Authorities in Iceland 2 276 2 276 2 276 2 276

IT AICCRE 209 410 209 410 139 606 69 804 209 410

LT Association of local authorities in Lithuania 8 467 8 467 8 467 8 467

LU Association des Villes et Communes Luxemb. 6 408 6 408 6 408 6 408

LV Union of local and Regional Governmnts of Latvia 5 645 5 645 5 645 5 645

MK As. of units of local self -gov. of Macedonia (ZELS) 1 675 1 675 1 675 1 675

MO Union of Municipalities of Montenegro 452 452 452 452

MT Maltese Association of Local Councils 1 787 1 787 1 787

NL VNG / IPO 107 913 107 913 107 913 107 913

NO Kommunenes Sentralforbund 48 963 48 963 48 963 48 963

PL Assoc. of Polish Cities 34 142 34 142 11 381 22 761 34 142

Assoc.of Polish Counties 15 174 15 174 10 116 5 058 15 174

PT Associaçao Nacional de Municipios Portugueses 45 362 45 362 15 120 4 213 30 242 45 362

RO Association of Romanian Communes (ACOR) 4 959 4 959 3 306 1 653 4 959

Association of Romanian Towns (AOR) 4 959 4 959 4 959 4 959

National Union of County Councils of Romania 4 959 4 959 4 959 4 959

Romanian Municipalities Association (AMR) 4 959 4 959 4 959 4 959

RS Standing conference of towns & municip. of Serbia 2 201 2 201 2 201 2 201

SI Assoc. of Municipalities and Towns of Slovenia 2 822 2 822 2 822 2 822

Assoc. of Municipalities of Slovenia 2 822 2 822 2 822

SE Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions 62 343 62 343 62 343 62 343

SK Assoc. of Towns and Communities of Slovakia 14 112 14 112 9 406 4 706 4 706 14 112

UA Association of Ukrainian cities 18 745 18 745 12 496 6 249 18 745

UK Local Government Association 232 800 232 800 232 800 232 800

TOTAL 1 842 561 1 850 520 1 681 031 9 460 141 014 1 822 045 28 472

RECEIVED 98,46% 1,54%

21

MAJ : \\par-server\usershares\Dominique Arrestat\2010\cloture 2010\RECU 2009 MAJ 2010 18/04/2011 MEMBERSHIP FEES : UCLG 2009 TOTAL BUDGET TOTAL CALLED TOTAL RECEIVED PROVISIONED 2009 RECEIVED 2010 TOTAL RCVD DUE TO DATE RECU 2010 BUDGET TOTAL TOTAL APPELE TOTAL RECU 2009 PROVISION 2009 TOTAL RECU DU A CE JOUR COTISATIONS : CGLU 2009 REGULARISATION

AL Albanian Association of Municipalities 187 187 120 120 67

AT Österreichischer Städtebund 5 800 5 800 5 800 5 800

Österreichischer Gemeindebund 5 800 5 800 5 800 5 800

BA A. Municipalities/Cities Federation Bosnia Herzegovina 276 203 203 203

A. Municipalities/Towns Republic of Srpska 276 69 69 69 69

BE Union des Villes et Communes Belges 15 900 15 900 15 900 15 900

BG NAMRB 708 708 708 708

CH Association Suisse du CCRE 8 531 8 531 8 531

CY Union of Cyprus Municipalities 500 500 500 500

CZ Union of Towns and Communities of the Czech Republic 2 621 2 621 2 621 2 621

DE Deutscher Landkreistag 6 000 6 000 6 000 6 000

Deutscher Städtetag 14 300 14 300 14 300 14 300

Städte und Gemeindebund 7 100 7 100 7 100 7 100

Rat der Gemeinden und Regionen Europas 30 400 30 400 30 400 30 400

DK Local Government Denmark 4 400 4 400 4 400 4 400

Danish Regions 4 400 4 400 4 400 4 400

EE Association of Estonian Cities 300 300 300 300

Association of Municipalities of Estonia 300 300 300 300

ES Federación Española de Municipios y Provincias 31 900 31 900 31 900 31 900

FI Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities 7 600 7 600 7 600 7 600

FR Association Française pour le CCRE* 50 913 50 913 25 456 25 456 25 457

GR Central Union of Greek Municipalities and Communities 7 300 7 300 7 300 7 300

HR Croatian County Association 514 514 514

HU Hungarian Associations 2 582 2 582 2 582 2 582

IE Institute of Public Adminstration

Local Government Management Services Board

IL Union of Local Authorities in Israel 6 900 6 900 6 900

IS Association of Local Authorities in Iceland 400 400 400 400

IT AICCRE 47 866 25 000 25 000 25 000

LT Association of local authorities in Lithuania 800 800 800 800

LU Association des Villes et Communes Luxemb. 741 741 741 741

LV Union of local and Regional Governmnts of Latvia 409 409 409 409

MK As. of units of local self -gov. of Macedonia (ZELS) 200 200 200 200

MO Union of Municipalities of Montenegro 98 98 98 98

MT Maltese Association of Local Councils 210 210 210

NL VNG / IPO 20 700 20 700 20 700 20 700

NO Kommunenes Sentralforbund 7 408 7 408 7 408 7 408

PL Assoc. of Polish Cities 3 677 3 677 1 225 2 452 3 677

Assoc.of Polish Counties 1 634 1 634 1 088 546 1 634

PT Associaçao Nacional de Municipios Portugueses 8 700 8 700 2 900 807 5 800 8 700

RO Association of Romanian Communes (ACOR) 820 820 546 274 820

Association of Romanian Towns (AOR) 820 820 820 820

National Union of County Councils of Romania 820 820 820 820

Romanian Municipalities Association (AMR) 820 820 820 820

RS Standing conference of towns & municip. of Serbia 429 429 429 429

SI Assoc. of Municipalities and Towns of Slovenia 341 341 341 341

Assoc. of Municipalities of Slovenia 341 341 341

SE Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions 13 000 13 000 13 000 13 000

SK Assoc. of Towns and Communities of Slovakia 1 400 1 400 934 466 466 1 400

UA Association of Ukrainian cities 2 959 2 959 1 972 987 2 959

UK Local Government Association 49 754 49 754 49 754 49 754

TOTAL 379 342 356 710 253 950 1 342 61 253 315 203 41 507

RECEIVED 88,36% 11,64% * Due to the partircular case of French contributions to UCLG from Cités Unies France, AFCCRE settles 50 % of the nominal amount

22

MAJ : \\par-server\usershares\Dominique Arrestat\2010\cloture 2010\RECU 2009 MAJ 2010 18/04/2011 TOTAL TOTAL RECEIVED PROVISIONED RECEIVED PROVISIONED TOTAL BUDGET RECEIVED 2010 TOTAL RCVD DUE TO DATE MEMBERSHIP FEES : CEMR 2008 CALLED 2008 2008 2009 2009 TOTAL BUDGET TOTAL TOTAL RECU 2008 PAR 2008 RECU 2009 PAR 2009 RECU 2010 TOTAL RECU DU A CE JOUR COTISATIONS : CCRE 2008 APPELE

AL Albanian Association of Municipalities 628 628 628

AT Österreichischer Städtebund 27 966 27 966 27 966 27 966

Österreichischer Gemeindebund 27 966 27 966 27 966 27 966

BA A. Municipalities/Cities Federation Bosnia Herzegovina 1 082 1 082

A. Municipalities/Towns Republic of Srpska 1 082 541 541 541

BE Union des Villes et Communes Belges 68 167 68 167 68 167 68 167

BG NAMRB 12 271 12 271 12 271 12 271

CH Association Suisse du CCRE 27 494 27 494 9 146 4 601 4 601 13 747 13 747

CY Union of Cyprus Municipalities 3 454 3 454 3 454 3 454

CZ Union of Towns and Communities of the Czech Rep 24 542 24 542 24 542 24 542

DE Deutscher Landkreistag 25 023 25 023 25 023 25 023

Deutscher Städtetag 59 153 59 153 59 153 59 153

Städte und Gemeindebund 29 714 29 714 29 714 29 714

Rat der Gemeinden und Regionen Europas 126 495 126 495 126 495 126 495

DK LGDK 18 252 18 252 18 252 18 252

Danish Regions 18 252 18 252 18 252 18 252

EE Association of Estonian Cities 1 228 1 228 1 228 1 228

Association of Municipalities of Estonia 1 226 1 226 1 226 1 226

ES Federación Española de Municipios y Provincias 155 705 155 705 155 705 155 705

FI Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authoritie 31 890 31 890 31 890 31 890

FR Association Française pour le CCRE 218 436 206 000 206 000 206 000

GR Central Union of Greek Municipalities and Commun 50 410 50 410 50 410 50 410

HU Hungarian Associations 24 542 24 542 24 542 24 542

IE Institute of Public Administration 2 073 2 073 2 073 2 073

IL Union of Local Authorities in Israel 30 335 5 000 5 000 5 000

IS Association of Local Authorities in Iceland 2 153 2 153 2 153 2 153

IT AICCRE 204 410 204 410 136 274 68 137 204 410 0

LT Association of local authorities in Lithuania 7 363 7 363 7 363 7 363

LU Association des Villes et Communes Luxemb. 5 572 5 572 5 572 5 572

LV Union of local and Regional Governmnts of Latvia 4 908 4 908 4 908 4 908

MK As. of units of local self -gov. of Macedonia (ZELS) 1 457 1 457 1 457 1 457

MT Maltese Association of Local Councils 1 592 1 592 1 592

NL VNG / IPO 102 913 102 913 102 913 102 913

NO Kommunenes Sentralforbund 43 963 43 963 43 963 43 963

PL Assoc. of Polish Cities 43 147 30 680 30 680 30 680

Assoc.of Polish Counties 19 177 13 636 4 545 4 545 9 091

PT Associaçao Nacional de Municipios Portugueses 41 783 41 783 16 827 24 776 180 180 41 783

RO Association of Romanian Communes (ACOR) 4 313 4 313 4 313 4 313

Association of Romanian Towns (AOR) 4 313 4 313 4 313 4 313

National Union of County Councils of Romania 4 313 4 313 4 313 4 313

Romanian Municipalities Association (AMR) 4 313 4 313 4 313 4 313

SI Assoc. of Municipalities and Towns of Slovenia 2 454 2 454 2 454 2 454

Assoc. of Municipalities of Slovenia 2 454 2 454 2 454

SE Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regio 57 343 57 343 57 343 57 343

SK Assoc. of Towns and Communities of Slovakia 12 271 12 271 12 271 12 271

UA Association of Ukrainian cities 18 745 18 745 18 745 18 745

UK Local Government Association 227 800 227 800 196 468 31 332 31 332 227 800

YU Standing conference of towns & municip. of Serbia 2 001 2 001 2 001 2 001

MO Union of Municipalities of Montenegro 411 411 411 411

TOTAL 1 804 391 1 750 776 1 587 616 35 933 133 846 180 180 1 721 641 29 135

RECEIVED 90,7% 7,6% 0,0% 98,3% 1,7%

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\\par-server\usershares\Dominique Arrestat\2010\cloture 2010\RECU 2008 MAJ 2009 MAJ 2010 12/04/2011 TOTAL PROVISIONED RECEIVED PROVISIONED TOTAL BUDGET TOTAL RECEIVED RECEIVED 2010 TOTAL RCVD DUE TO DATE MEMBERSHIP FEES : UCLG 2008 CALLED 2008 2009 2009 TOTAL BUDGET TOTAL TOTAL RECU 2008 PAR 2008 RECU 2009 PAR 2009 RECU 2010 TOTAL RECU DU A CE JOUR COTISATIONS : CGLU 2008 APPELE

AL Albanian Association of Municipalities 179 179 179

AT Österreichischer Städtebund 5 800 5 800 5 800 5 800

Österreichischer Gemeindebund 5 800 5 800 5 800 5 800

BA A. Municipalities/Cities Federation Bosnia Herzegovina 69 69

A. Municipalities/Towns Republic of Srpska 69 69 69

BE Union des Villes et Communes Belges 15 900 15 900 15 900 15 900

BG NAMRB 704 704 704 704

CH Association Suisse du CCRE 8 115 8 115 8 115

CY Union of Cyprus Municipalities 500 500 500 500

CZ Union of Towns and Communities of the Czech Rep 2 561 2 561 2 561 2 561

DE Deutscher Landkreistag 6 017 6 017 6 017 6 017

Deutscher Städtetag 14 223 14 223 14 223 14 223

Städte und Gemeindebund 7 145 7 145 7 145 7 145

Rat der Gemeinden und Regionen Europas 30 415 30 415 30 415 30 415

DK Local Government Denmark 4 400 4 400 4 400 4 400

Danish Regions 4 400 4 400 4 400 4 400

EE Association of Estonian Cities 300 300 300 300

Association of Municipalities of Estonia 300 300 300 300

ES Federación Española de Municipios y Provincias 31 900 31 900 31 900 31 900

FI Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authoritie 7 600 7 600 7 600 7 600

FR Association Française pour le CCRE 54 962 54 962 27 481 * 27 481 27 481

GR Central Union of Greek Municipalities and Commun 7 300 7 300 7 300 7 300

HU Hungarian Associations 2 541 2 541 2 541 2 541

IE Institute of Public Adminstration

IL Union of Local Authorities in Israel 6 900 6 900 6 900

IS Association of Local Authorities in Iceland 400 400 400 400

IT AICCRE 47 866 25 000 25 000 25 000

LT Association of local authorities in Lithuania 800 800 800 800

LU Association des Villes et Communes Luxemb. 720 720 720 720

LV Union of local and Regional Governmnts of Latvia 405 405 405 405

MK As. of units of local self -gov. of Macedonia (ZELS) 193 193 193 193

MT Maltese Association of Local Councils 205 205 205

NL VNG / IPO 20 700 20 700 20 700 20 700

NO Kommunenes Sentralforbund 7 254 7 254 7 254 7 254

PL Assoc. of Polish Cities 3 458 3 458 3 458 3 458

Assoc.of Polish Counties 1 537 1 537 512 512 1 025

PT Associaçao Nacional de Municipios Portugueses 8 700 8 700 8 700 8 700

RO Association of Romanian Communes (ACOR) 748 748 748 748

Association of Romanian Towns (AOR) 748 748 748 748

National Union of County Councils of Romania 748 748 748 748

Romanian Municipalities Association (AMR) 748 748 748 748

SI Assoc. of Municipalities and Towns of Slovenia 321 321 321 321

Assoc. of Municipalities of Slovenia 321 321 321

SE Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regio 13 000 13 000 13 000 13 000

SK Assoc. of Towns and Communities of Slovakia 1 400 1 400 1 400 1 400

UA Association of Ukrainian cities 2 959 2 959 2 959 2 959

UK Local Government Association 48 477 48 477 41 809 6 668 6 668 48 477

YU Standing conference of towns & municip. of Serbia 387 387 387 387

MO Union of Municipalities of Montenegro 79 79 79 79

TOTAL 380 135 357 407 281 445 6 668 6 668 25 000 313 113 44 295

RECEIVED 78,7% 1,9% 7,0% 87,6% 12,4% * Due to the partircular case of French contributions to UCLG from Cités Unies France, AFCCRE settles 50 % of the nominal amount

24

\\par-server\usershares\Dominique Arrestat\2010\cloture 2010\RECU 2008 MAJ 2009 MAJ 2010 12/04/2011

CEMR PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT OVER FOUR YEARS

EUR EUR EUR EUR 31.12.10 31.12.09 31.12.08 31.12.07

WORKING INCOME

Affiliation fees received for current year 1 937 433 1 945 783 1 911 662 1 884 879 Affiliation fees transferred to UCLG -287 383 -255 292 -288 113 -306 114 Net affiliation fees for current year 1 650 050 1 690 491 1 623 549 1 578 765 Affiliation fees received for previous years 216 464 115 599 73 437 117 827 Affiliation fees transferred to UCLG -84 911 -2 900 -480 -28 710 Net affiliation fees 1 781 603 1 803 190 1 696 506 1 667 882 EC grant 235 773 230 000 230 000 210 000 EC contracts 144 324 126 494 285 973 226 738 Co-financing contracts - CEMR 11 820 27 491 202 280 Co-financing contracts - Partners 91 500 52 646 13 511 Other contracts 70 498 21 500 30 000 23 750 DEXIA 10 000 General Assembly 30 000 Other working income 34 486 32 658 32 695 33 452 Release of provisions 5 500 33 104 Exceptional income 78 289 Income from previous years 8 253 23 744 TOTAL 2 373 685 2 286 561 2 481 312 2 364 101

WORKING EXPENDITURE

Salaries and social charges 1 475 457 1 491 770 1 397 648 1 474 922 Rent and service charges 224 355 221 207 197 456 187 929 Moving costs 17 063 Other office costs 180 411 169 646 227 170 186 930 Fees 54 052 34 301 67 481 23 469 Interpretation and meeting costs 105 049 115 461 146 382 165 495 Travel costs 212 506 150 548 269 517 193 288 Publications/communication 96 366 78 040 55 916 110 296 Twinning website 88 591 EC contracts 11 820 27 491 2 002 Depreciation/provisions 15 479 13 586 17 759 15 217 Others 5 500 TOTAL 2 363 675 2 286 380 2 500 911 2 376 611

WORKING RESULT 10 009 181 -19 598 -12 510

FINANCIAL INCOME

Exchange rate earnings Income from short term investments 2 456 11 045 31 356 24 049 TOTAL 2 456 11 045 31 356 24 049

FINANCIAL EXPENDITURE Exchange rate losses 37 Banking and financial charges 8 963 10 879 9 149 9 687 TOTAL 8 963 10 917 9 149 9 687

FINANCIAL RESULT -6 507 128 22 207 14 362

TOTAL INCOME 2 376 140 2 297 606 2 512 668 2 388 150 TOTAL EXPENDITURE 2 372 638 2 297 297 2 510 060 2 386 298

TOTAL 3 502 310 2 608 1 852

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26 4 COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN MUNICIPALITIES AND REGIONS EUROPEAN SECTION OF UNITED CITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

POLICY COMMITTEE

 BRUSSELS, 12-13 DECEMBER 2011 

 for decision for information

CHANGES IN CEMR’S EXECUTIVE BUREAU AND REPRESENTATION

Draft decision The members of the Policy Committee are invited to:  Agree the proposed new candidacies for representation on CEMR’s Executive Bureau and bodies;  Agree the nomination regarding CEMR’s representation within the Euro- Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM, by the more commonly used French acronym).

1. Members can recall that following the elections of CEMR’s different bodies in Mondorf-les-Bains at the end of 2010, certain candidacies for various positions remained due to be confirmed, following associations’ general assemblies. Below, the latest candidacies received over the course of 2011 are presented. The members of the Policy Committee are invited to ratify these.

Vice-President member of the Executive Bureau:

 Mr Giampiero ORSONI, Mayor of Venice, President of the Federation AICCRE- Veneto

Vice-President non member of the Executive Bureau:

 Ms Eleni LOUCAIDES, Member of the Executive Committee, Union of Cyprus Municipalities, Member of Nicosia Municipal Council, Member of the Committee of the Regions

Honorary Auditor:

 Ms Ingrid ŠTEGMANNOVÁ, Head of External Relations, Union of Towns and Communities of the Czech Republic

2. In addition, the members of the Policy Committee are invited to note that CEMR has received the expression of interest from the FEMP to name Mr Francisco de la Torre Prados, Mayor of Málaga, as CEMR’s representative on the Euro- Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly.* Once approved formally, this nomination would assume the seat which, subsequent to his election as CEMR President, Wolfgang Schuster wished to vacate to the benefit of another member who would be able to take up this part of CEMR’s international representation.

* The permanent, joint assembly which represents the local and regional dimension in the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) bringing together local and regional authorities from the three shores of the Mediterranean. The EU delegation is composed of members of the Committee of the Regions and representatives of European and international associations engaged in Euro-Mediterranean cooperation, including the CEMR. 27

28

5 COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN MUNICIPALITIES AND REGIONS EUROPEAN SECTION OF UNITED CITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

POLICY COMMITTEE

 BRUSSELS, 12-13 DECEMBER 2011 

 for decision for information

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 2011 WORK PROGRAMME

Draft decision

The members of the Policy Committee are invited to:

 Take note of and exchange views on the secretariat’s report on the implementation of the 2011 work programme to date.

1. As has been our practice in previous years, the secretariat has carried out a review of our actions carried out under the 2011 work programme set by the the Policy Committee at their end-of-the-year meeting in Mondorf-les-Bains.

An earlier version was considered by the Secretaries General and Directors at their meeting in Cádiz, and the subsequently amended report is enclosed for approval by the Policy Committee.

2. As the members of the Policy Committee will note, the large majority of goals have been achieved. In addition, there have been many other activities undertaken by CEMR during the year, and which are not necessarily captured by this report.

3. The members of the Policy Committee are invited to take note of the report and have an exchange on the implementation of this year’s work programme.

29 Introduction – LIFE OF THE ORGANISATION

In 2011, CEMR celebrates 60 years of local and regional Europe.

CEMR kicked-off its 60th anniversary year with an event in its founding city, Geneva, hosted on 28 January by the City of Geneva and its Mayor, Ms Sandrine Salerno, in cooperation with CEMR's Swiss section and founding member, the ASCCRE.

Throughout the course of this milestone year in European local and regional history, CEMR and its member associations have been undertaking a number of initiatives, such as its Citizenship and Twinning Congress held in Rybnik, Poland, in September 2011, so as to further develop its progressive strategy. This strategy aims at reinforcing the voice of decentralised levels of government at the European level, notably with regard to the Europe 2020 Strategy and the strengthening of local democracy across the continent.

CEMR is concluding its 60th anniversary year with an event to be held in Brussels on 12 December 2011 during its Policy Committee meeting. The event will be hosted by CEMR's Belgian member associations (VVSG, UVCW, and AVCB). At this occasion, CEMR will notably unveil its strategy for the coming period, coming out of its reflection process, carried forward over the course of the year’s statutory meetings.

I. PROMOTE AN INNOVATIVE, SUSTAINABLE AND COHESIVE EUROPE FROM THE GROUND UP

The European Union’s political agenda was dominated by the economic development in particular in the Euro zone and the discussion on the measures to take to handle it. The Europe 2020 Strategy (Smart Growth, Sustainable Growth, and Inclusive Growth) and its flagship initiatives, aiming at stimulating growth, therefore provided the guidelines for all relevant policies and legislation in the European Union.

The CEMR concentrated its activities on influencing the debates and the decision making processes of the relevant initiatives.

In order to contribute to the successful implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy, CEMR President Dr Wolfgang Schuster submitted the proposal to the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, to mobilise local actors, cities, regions and by a ‘governing in partnership’ taking actions to achieve the objectives of the Strategy. The idea was positively received by the Commission President and is further followed up with his services to further develop concrete actions.

To this end, we proposed to explore the possibility of acting in consortium with major European associations of local and regional authorities (AER, CPMR, EUROCITIES) in order to draft a concrete proposal to the Commission on how to involve Europe's local and regional authorities in bottom-up action in partnership with the European and national levels towards the key objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy in selected relevant Framework Initiatives. This work will be the particular focus of the high-level event “Governing in Partnership – United to Build a Stronger Europe”, which CEMR organises in cooperation with the three partner networks, at the invitation of the Commission’s Secretariat General, and together with other key partners, including President of the Committee of the Regions, Mercedes Bresso. President Barroso and Commissioner Hahn are due to contribute actively to the programme, highlighting the interest at the highest level which our work in this field is attracting.

With the preparation of the next Multi-annual Financial Framework (2014 – 2020), published in June, the Commission also started the preparation of the future policies. The CEMR, supported by a dedicated focus group, engaged very much in the preparation of the future cohesion policy. Constant contact with the relevant Commission services, Members of the European Parliament, the Committee of Regions and the Polish Presidency helped us to achieve a first very positive result: the Commission’s regulations, adopted on 6th October, include a number of our key issues: local development as a 30 priority across all funds; integrated delivery of all territorial funds; delegation of management of funds reinforced; simplification of management and audit procedure. On 29th November, CEMR together with its member associations COSLA and ARM organised a seminar with the European Parliament Urban-Intergroup on ‘local development’, to discuss this important element of the new Structural Fund regulations. The event was well attended and the Members of the European Parliament expressed their interest to continue these discussions in the coming months.

Another priority for 2011 is the completion of the Single Market, addressed with 12 actions proposed by the European Commission in its ‘Single Market Act’. CEMR welcomed the Commission’s initiative to revise and modernise the public procurement legislation. With our publication on ‘over-reliance of public procurement as a policy instrument’ (2010) and the good cooperation with key members of the European Parliament and Commission officials, we contributed substantially to the debate and provided input to the reflections. The European Parliament adopted its resolution end of October, which reflects relevant CEMR views: simplification and flexibility for the procuring authority as a priority; no mandatory ‘strategic procurement’ (addressing policy goals by public procurement); public-public cooperation to be considered as a Member State’s internal administrative organisation and therefore not subject to procurement rules and exclusion of service concessions from the scope of the European procurement rules. The European Commission seems to also follow many of our major points and we will continue the constructive cooperation with the European legislator.

In relation to the new State Aid rules to compensate for the provision of services of general economic interest (SGEIs), CEMR contributed to the debate and expressed its view to Commission officials and members of the European Parliament in the first half of the year, based on the Commission’s communication published in March. However, the Commission’s documents, published in September, raise quite some concerns. CEMR expressed its view of these proposals, which the Policy Committee is invited to adopt (see document 5.1). Competition being a unique Commission competence (no co- decision with the European Parliament and Member States), our expectations for the outcome (to be expected next year) remain modest.

Concerning the Future of Social Services of General Interest (SSGIs), the CEMR contributed to the report by the European Parliament, highlighting the principle of subsidiarity and importance of maintaining voluntary frameworks at European level. As a result, the final European Parliament report placed strong emphasis on the leading role of local and regional authorities in defining and maintaining SSGI’s and maintaining any such European frameworks voluntary.

Contributing to the Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE) flagship initiative (in the Smart Growth pillar of the Europe 2020 Strategy), CEMR enjoys a good cooperation with the European Commission. We assisted in the preparation of the Digital Assembly, organised by the European Commission, responded to several initiatives and consultation under or linked to the DAE (including the eGovernment action plan, eSignature consultation, eProcurement) and discuss the involvement of local and regional authorities in the implementation of the EU's interoperability work (like the European Interoperability Framework, EIF).

In the Sustainable Growth pillar of the Europe 2020 Strategy, promoting energy efficiency is an important element. The CEMR has focussed its lobbying activities on the proposal for a directive on energy efficiency and its concrete proposals to encourage a more efficient use of energy at all stages of the energy chain. The draft directive entails a number of provisions which are likely to heavily impact on local and regional authorities (e.g. a binding 3% renovation target of public buildings per annum and compulsory inclusion of energy efficiency criteria in public procurement). The CEMR focus group on energy efficiency has drafted a position paper, and we have started lobbying the European institutions. We contributed to the Committee of the Regions’ report and are in contact with key actors in the European Parliament.

31 CEMR continues its work in the Covenant of Mayors’ Office and recently became “Supporter of the Covenant” to make its commitment for the initiative more visible. The activities in the fourth quarter of the year are concentrated on the organisation of the Annual Ceremony which aims gathering up to 800 Mayors and senior representatives in Brussels.

Another relevant Commission initiative is the Action plan on urban mobility and CEMR has been closely involved in the implementation of key actions. Together with Polis and Eurocities, CEMR is recognised as a main interlocutor of the urban mobility and we are represented in the expert group on urban intelligent transport system (ITS) and in the advisory board of the study on the financing needs in the area of sustainable urban mobility.

CEMR also expressed its view on the Commission’s White Paper on transport, which defines a political vision for transport in Europe for the ten next years. Several of proposed initiatives, if translated into legislation, would directly or indirectly impact on local and regional authorities’ competences and activities on mobility (e.g. urban mobility, transport infrastructures, development and deployment of clean and innovative technologies, etc.). CEMR’s messages focus on the environmental impact of transport, the flexibility to be left to municipalities and regions to respond to mobility challenges, and the financial issue. We promoted our position to key MEPs and will continue doing so.

In general terms, CEMR has pursued its work ensuring a strong voice toward the rotating EU Presidencies: in the first half of the year, CEMR played a pro-active role in major debates organised in the frame of the Hungarian Presidency. The Secretary General represented CEMR in a high level meeting on Multi-level Governance, in the informal Inter-ministerial meeting on Local Development, in the closing conference of the Structured Dialogue on Cooperation Development and was the Key note speaker of the closing session of the Civil Society Forum. In the second half of the year, the Executive Bureau were able to exchange with the Polish Presidency of the EU, represented by a Secretary of State of the Ministry of Regional Development, during their meeting in Warsaw, 28 September. On this occasion, in particular, CEMR’s leadership underlined our position regarding the future of cohesion policy. CEMR’s Secretary General was invited to participate at the Informal Inter-ministerial conference and Meeting in Poznan (29-30 November 2011) and had the opportunity to address the ministers and deliver CEMR message on the future of Cohesion policy.

32 II. PROMOTE A EUROPE OF DIALOGUE AND EXCHANGE

Promoting European citizenship and contributing to dialogue and cooperation by participating in the re-launch of the twinning concept in today's society is one of the priorities of CEMR. In this context CEMR has launched the preparation of a White Paper on Citizenship which will be presented at the European Commission (DG COMM) before the end of the year.

The White paper is one of the major results of the debate of the “Citizens of Europe!”- European Congress on Citizenship and Twinning organised by CEMR in Rybnik, Poland, on 29 September-1 October thanks to the cooperation of the Association of Polish Cities. The Congress received the financial support of the European Commission as the big event on citizenship being organized under the Polish Presidency of the European Union. The Congress gathered more than 350 participants from 28 countries. It allowed exchange on the latest developments, tools and practices in the field of citizenship and twinning but also discussions on how partnership between local and regional authorities can contribute to a more inclusive Europe where all citizens can play an active role. The final declaration, which is provided in annex, was approved and widely disseminated, and constitutes a part of the White Paper.

CEMR continued its activities in monitoring the impact of the financial and economic crisis and monitoring national, regional and local policies to address the impact and to initiate and support the economic recovery in Europe's cities and regions. In collaboration with the Council of Europe Committee for Local and Regional Democracy (CDLR) and LGI (Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative of the Open Society Institute) CEMR's network of financial and economic experts contributed to the collection of information on the impact of the crisis, on local authorities' resources and on policy recommendations. This information, compiled in a Europe-wide report, was presented at the meeting of Ministers responsible for local and regional government at their 17th Ministerial Conference in Kyiv, Ukraine (November 2011).

On more specific European Union initiatives:

The CEMR has expressed its view on the revision of the Working Time Directive; underlining the invaluable role of local and regional government, underpinned by the principle of subsidiarity. Our main concerns are how this directive impacts on services which are provided on a 24-hour continuous basis as well as its more generic implications for managing health and safety issues caused by working arrangements.

Throughout the last quarter of 2011, the Employers’ Platform has engaged in the discussion on the issue of Sustainable Pensions. A White Paper is due to be published by the European Commission by the end of 2011, and will lead to a coordinated response by the CEMR-Employers’ Platform in 2012.

Within the framework of the Employers’ Platform activities, and as recognised social partner at European Social Dialogue representing employers’ organisations on the Local and Regional Government Committee, the CEMR has been working on a number of thematic priorities, such as the impact of the economic and financial crisis on local and regional government administrations; social considerations in public procurement, and the implementation of guidelines on tackling third party violence in the workplace. Furthermore, the Committee submitted a project proposal to the European Commission to work on the Future of the Workplace: Providing quality jobs, modern and sustainable workplaces in local and regional government.

33 At work with members and partners of greater Europe - the EU’s “neighbourhood”:

The CEMR underlined its aim to support its members heading towards European Union accession and to gain full recognition for the role local authorities can play in this process, at the occasion of a meeting of the secretaries general and directors (7-8 April 2011) which the Serbian members at the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities hosted in Belgrade – the first time CEMR had the occasion to organize such a meeting in Serbia. This was moreover the occasion to take forward our collaboration with NALAS – the network of local authorities’ association of south-east Europe, who contributed, notably with the outcomes of their major event – the International Municipal Fair – NEXPO (Sarajevo, 10 March 2011), at which CEMR had likewise contributed. NALAS further contributed to the Cádiz meeting of the secretaries general and directors (27-28 October), providing a contribution on the results of their study on the impact of the crisis for local authorities of south-east Europe. The President of NALAS is moreover due to take an active part in CEMR’s Policy Committee meeting in Brussels.

Further to our aim to enhance activities with partners in neighbouring areas to the east, and on top of our longstanding goal to strengthen local democracy and local and regional authorities in Europe, the CEMR membership took a positive view to the application for membership of the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia. Confirmed by the Executive Bureau meeting in Warsaw, the leadership of NALAG is due to participate for the first time on the occasion of the end of year Policy Committee in Brussels (12-13 December).

CEMR is also engaged as challenges and hopes also arise in Europe’s neighbourhood, indeed the Arab-spring is bringing both great opportunities and expectations to the people around the Mediterranean. In this context, CEMR participated in the organisation of the 2nd Euro-Arab Cities Forum, together with the City of Malaga, the Congress/Council of Europe, the Arab Towns Organisation (ATO) and Coppem (in Malaga, 25-26 February 2011). The participants in the Forum adopted a Declaration which is of key importance regarding solidarity between European and Arab cities: « The Forum pays tribute to the courage of the women and men, the cities and communities who are embarking on the path of democracy and the securing of basic freedoms, including the right to protest and freedom of expression. The Forum demands the immediate cessation of all crimes against humanity perpetrated against the civilian population. In this context we commit ourselves to pursuing our action in order to guarantee peace in our countries”.

The Executive Bureau further approved a political message from the President to the European Institutions on the evolution of the political situation in southern Mediterranean countries and the role of local and regional authorities. This underlined that “The Arab revolutions are the consequence of the desire by our neighbours south of the Mediterranean for increased social justice in the face of corruption and for greater democracy to combat arbitrary powers. The European Union has an obligation to support these peoples. CEMR should accompany this unprecedented movement by helping the implantation and reinforcement of local democracy, an essential element in establishing inclusive and fully democratic societies.” In this area, CEMR will seek to coordinate a common approach on behalf of the national associations of local and regional authorities in this context. A political declaration is due to be put forward later in the year.

Moreover, as mentioned, the recognition of local authorities in the EU policies to support the transition in Mediterranean countries is one of the priorities of PLATFORMA (see below). Contacts have been established with the European Commission and the European External Action Service of the European Union to exchange on future possibilities of action to support the new democracies.

34

On the world stage:

CEMR and its members contribute to dialogue and exchange in two main ways: within our world organisation UCLG, and in PLATFORMA for which CEMR hosts the secretariat for the years 2011 and 2012.

In March 2011, celebrating its two years action, PLATFORMA organised a Conference at which the European Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs contributed, underlining in his speech the recognition of local and regional authorities for development.

At the same time, PLATFORMA released a publication on “Decentralised Development Cooperation - European Perspectives”, which showcases a number of actions led by European local and regional governments in partnership with their counterparts in EU partner countries.

Concluding one year of Structured Dialogue with the Commission, a conference, in which PLATFORMA participated, was hosted by the Hungarian Presidency in Budapest on the 17-19 May 2011. Following the success of this dialogue, the Commission has proposed to put in place a “permanent dialogue” whose launching conference took place in Brussels on 9-10 November 2011 and where PLATFORMA was confirmed as the voice of local authorities for development.

PLATFORMA has actively contributed to the different consultations led by the European Union on the future of the European policy for development cooperation and to the external policy of the European Union. As a result of the role played by PLATFORMA in the last years, the communication published by the European Commission on 13 October “Increasing the impact of EU development Policy: an agenda for change” fully recognize the role of local and regional authorities , as announced by Commissioner Piebalgs at the PLATFORMA final Conference.

CEMR will moreover continue to host the PLATFORMA secretariat; in April the project covering the period 1 April 2011-31 March 2013 has started. In the framework of this project PLATFORMA has put in place thematic working groups facilitating the contribution to the European legislation: A/ The working group on the future of the European policy for development; B/ the group on aid efficiency, which is under the leadership of UCLG and VNG; C/ The group on Mediterranean affairs. These three groups have already met in October/ November and started to work, particularly by electronic means, in order to influence the European legislation and the future programmation on this field for 2014-2020. .

At world level, CEMR continued to actively participate in the political and statutory life of our World Organisation, UCLG. President Schuster as European Vice-President of UCLG, chairs the coordination of the European members of UCLG set up by CEMR. The European section of UCLG has actively participated in the new life of the organisation after the Mexico Congress, including the procedure of selection of the new Secretary General of UCLG.

CEMR is committed to strengthening the voice of the European members to the world organisation. CEMR and its President have been working very closely with UCLG and President Topbaş on the two priorities indicated in Rabat: to obtain for UCLG the Observatory status to the United Nations and to reinforce the role of regions in the organisation. CEMR has also committed to strongly contributing to the work of the new Committee on Gender. The World Council of Florence on 9-11 December is the occasion to take these matters forward.

In order to facilitate exchange of information and knowledge on Europe's local and regional authorities, CEMR continued its annual co-operation with DEXIA in order to produce the annual set of factsheets about EU sub-national governments.

35 III. STRENGTHEN LOCAL DEMOCRACY AND LOCAL AND REGIONAL AUTHORITIES IN EUROPE

CEMR represented local and regional authorities in European dialogue on local and regional policies within the Council of Europe (CoE), especially its Committee for Local and Regional Democracy (CDLR). This allowed our concerned associations to comment on and to contribute to the CoE's series of reports on the structure and operation of local and regional democracy. This includes CEMR's support to the annual European Local Democracy Week (ELDW), an annual event where local authorities from all 47 member states of the CoE organise public events to meet and engage with their citizens on issues of current interest with the aim is to promote and foster democratic participation at a local level.

In the European Union, the application of the Lisbon Treaty was relevant for the CEMR and its lobbying activities. The role of local and regional government as partners in the decision making process has increased and it is important to make the European institutions aware on this. CEMR promoted the ‘Governance in Partnership’ concept and we observe that more and more this idea replaces the ‘multi-level governance’ model, since it puts emphasis on the partnership approach and not on a hierarchical structure.

At the annual meeting of the Presidents representing local and regional government with the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, in June 2011, CEMR Co-President, Annemarie Jorritsma stressed the importance of an “ambitious EU budget proposal” in order to stimulate the economy and asked that municipalities and regions be given an active role in the design and implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy.

We have been successful in getting a concrete reference to regional and local authorities in the common regulation of the European structural funds and further clarification on their involvement in the preparation of the Partnership Contracts that will be concluded between the European Commission and the Member States. The ‘European Agenda for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals’, published in July, also allocates an active role to the local level and recommends a close cooperation between the different levels of governance.

In the debate on the future of the Single Market, CEMR has expressed its view, recalling the objective of the Lisbon Treaty to contribute to a competitive social market economy; the need to take into consideration the different cultures, traditions and values in the Member States; the fact that local and regional self-government are not sufficiently taken into consideration and the importance of high quality and accessible services of general interest in the territories.

CEMR participates in the ‘Public Employers’ Forum, initiated by CEEP on changes in public services, where, so far, we addressed the impact of liberalisation and increased competition; how to ensure sustainable financing and the impact on the human resources management. Further issues to be discussed will be ‘new skills for new jobs’ (November) and the impact of the demographic change (December).

Experts from member associations participated in the exchange of experience and information about the improvement and modernisation of local and regional administration and services by implementing eGovernment strategies and the Digital Local Agenda; issues addressed were for example the integration of systems, promotion of open and common standards, privacy and the availability and handling of data.

The CEMR has continued to promote the European Charter for equality between women and men at local level. To respond to the strong demand of the signatories of the Charter to help them for the implementation of the Charter, CEMR has launched the concept of the European Observatory for the Charter of equality for women and men at local level. CEMR is now seeking the means to ensure setting up of the Observatory.

36

IV. ADAPTING OUR ORGANISATION TO THESE OBJECTIVES

The political, social and economic crisis coupled with the current period of austerity sweeping over Europe and the rest of the world, has led CEMR to develop new working methods in order to become a more efficient organisation at the service of our members.

From a press and communication point of view and in order to increase its visibility, CEMR focused its energies on its primary targets: its members, European institutions and European media.

In order to translate the first objective of the 2011 CEMR work programme, “Promoting an innovative, sustainable and cohesive Europe from the ground up”, into practical achievements, CEMR has been working on a new visual identity, including a new logo and graphic charter, the first of which should be presented in the coming months. CEMR has also adopted and rigorously put into place a new approach in its day-to-day work so as to become more sustainable. This approach was notably put into place with the launch of CEMR “SmartCards”, a pocket-sized means of distributing publications, including a brief summary of the topic, date of publication and relevant contact information as well as quick and easy online access to the publication.

The secretariat general’s staff also now uses “Skype” in order to communicate amongst themselves and with members, which has enabled CEMR to drastically cut down on communication costs. The internal use of Skype has also allowed CEMR to reduce the number of emails exchanged and adopt a more inclusive strategy in its work and activities.

With regards to achieving the second work programme objective, “Promote a Europe of dialogue and exchange”, CEMR has changed the technology of its current website in favour of open source technology. The implementation of this new technology into the current website’s framework will be completed by the end of 2011.

CEMR has set up a network of its member association press officers (MAPOs) in order to reinforce cooperation from a press and communication perspective. This network was notably very successful when it came to promoting the European Congress on Citizenship and Twinning, held in Rybnik, Poland, from 29 September to 1 October 2011.

The existing monthly newsletter was to be updated over the course of 2011, an initiative that was put on hold in order to base it on the findings of the reflection process on the future of CEMR, following the outcomes to be agreed at the end of the year Policy Committee meeting.

In the context of the third work programme objective, “Strengthen local democracy and local and regional authorities in Europe”, CEMR decided to refocus its aim in terms of media work (sending of press releases, writing of articles and columns, interviews, invitation to CEMR events, etc.) particularly on European media, as one of its main aims is to influence European policy in the interest of the local and regional authorities represented by its member associations.

Finally, CEMR has pursued its efforts in adopting a more result-oriented approach, notably through its monthly newsletter, which includes a number of briefs on the concrete results of CEMR’s Secretariat General’s work as well as briefs on the work currently underway. This allows members to get an easy-to-follow update on the outcomes of the work undertaken by CEMR and its members at European level.

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38 5.1

COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN MUNICIPALITIES AND REGIONS CONSEIL DES COMMUNES ET REGIONS D’EUROPE

Registered in the Register of Interest Representatives Registration number: 81142561702-61

CEMR Response to the Consultation on the new texts regarding the application of State aid rules to Services of General Economic In- terest (SGEI)

Brussels, October 2011

Conseil des Communes et Régions d'Europe• Council of European Municipalities and Regions 15 Rue de Richelieu F-75 001 Paris 1 square de Meeûs B-1000 Bruxelles tel : + 33 1 44 50 59 59 [email protected] - www.ccre.org Tel : + 32 2 511 74 77 39

European Commission documents:

 Communication on the application of the European Union State aid rules to compensation granted for the provision of services of general economic inter- est  Commission decision on the application of Article 106(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to State aid in the form of public service compensation granted to certain undertakings entrusted with the operation of services of general economic interest  Communication from the Commission: EU framework for State aid in the form of public service compensation  Commission regulation on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid granted to under- takings providing Services of General Economic Interest

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Key messages 1. The recognition of regional and local self-government in the TFEU as a part of the fundamental political and constitutional structure of the Member States, the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and the Protocol on SGIs need to be better reflected in the Commission’s texts. 2. In almost all cases local SGEIs don't have internal market relevance and their funding does not qualify as state aid. 3. The inconsistency of the proposed rules with the public procurement rules makes their application very difficult for practitioners. State Aid rules on SGEIs and public procurement rules should be consistent in relevant legislative elements, such as thresholds, exemptions, etc. 4. The application of the 4th Altmark criterion remains difficult and other means to compare the level of compensation should be discussed and explored. 5. CEMR is against the reductions of the annual compensation threshold (from €30m to €15m during 2 years) and the decrease of passenger threshold for airports (200,000 instead of 1 million) as proposed in the Decision on the application of Art. 106(2), which goes against the announced aim to distinguish between small-scale and large- scale services. 6. The introduction of a 10,000 inhabitants threshold in the de-minimis regulation does not make sense since the size of public authorities differs and depends on their internal administrative structure; the number of inhabitants does not reflect the amount of state aid. 7. Such an inhabitants threshold is not appropriate in relation to the growing number of public-public co-operations in all Member States which are essential to achieve efficiency savings and tackle demographic problems.

Main recommendations 1. Commission should make the rules simple to understand, easy to apply and possible to implement without having to engage costly external experts (consultants and lawyers). 2. Commission should provide clarification on the distinction between SGEIs and non- economic SGIs; a set of criteria that recognise the non-commercial nature of sub- national SGEI provision would be helpful. 3. We consider the threshold of the de-minimis regulation of €150,000 per annum, in place of €200,000 over three years, to be too low and suggest at least € 450,000 over a period of three years. 4. Instead of a limit of 10,000 inhabitants, the Commission should focus on the purely local impact of the aid as decisive rather than the size of the authority awarding aid. 5. The definition of what is 'intrinsically local' should be defined bottom-up and reflect the different economic circumstances and institutional settings. 6. The burden of proof should fall on the Commission or other complainant, not on the local or regional government concerned, to prove if there has been any 'manifest error' in the award of the aid. 7. The EU should only intervene in cases of local or regional SGEIs of substantial scale. The Commission should explore further ways to define when the trade between Member States would be affected by the State aid in question.

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General remarks 1. Whilst welcoming on the one hand the fact that the European Commission con- sults stakeholders on its texts for new rules on State aid in relation to Services of General Economic Interest (SGEI), CEMR regrets the very short period of one month to react to such a complex and complicated set of important texts. 2. We therefore regret not having had sufficient time and capacity to comment on all elements of the texts, but wish to express our views on relevant parts hereaf- ter. 3. Following the Commission’s Communication on the ‘Reform of the EU State Aid Rules on Services of General Economic Interest’, published in March 2011, and further statements and comments of Commissioner Almunia on this issue, we had the impression that the Commission would take a pragmatic approach, in particular by looking to clearly exclude lower values of aid based on the nature and size of the services concerned. This would allow the Commission to con- centrate its limited resources on reviewing larger amounts of aid. 4. Also, the Commission had indicated that it would provide further clarification on the question of when the functioning of the internal market would be adversely affected to such a significant extent that it would be contrary to the interests of the EU. 5. With the publication of the texts on 16th September, we were rather surprised to see that the Commission had in fact prepared more detailed and sometimes even more complicated rules, which may contribute to a lack of understanding and administrative complexities in particular at local and regional level. 6. The sub-national level is struggling hard to understand and apply the different aspects of both state aid and procurement rules. The CEMR calls on the Euro- pean Commission to make an effort to make the rules simple to understand, easy to apply and possible to implement without public authorities having to en- gage costly external experts (consultants and lawyers). 7. We observe some inconsistencies between the European public procurement directives and the State aid rules and wish to urge the European Commission to align the relevant legislative elements (e.g. thresholds, exemptions, etc.) as much as possible to make the rules coherent for practitioners. 8. Finally, we want to highlight that the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union recognises regional and local self-government as part of the fundamental political and constitutional structure of the Member States (Article 4), which is an essential cornerstone of the European multi-level system of democracy and governance, complementing the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality (Article 5) and the Protocol on SGIs, which provides wide discretion to national, regional and local authorities as regards how they commission and organise their services of general economic interest.

Specific comments

The Communication on the application of the European Union State aid rules to compensation granted for the provision of services of general economic interest 9. We stress that local SGEIs in almost all cases don’t have internal market rele- vance and their funding therefore does not qualify as state aid. We also ask for more coherence between public procurement rules and state aid rules.

42 10. Instead of a compilation of ECJ rulings which won’t make a significant change for local and regional authorities in the understanding of EU rules, we need more clarification on the distinction between SGEIs and non-economic SGIs. A set of criteria that recognise the non-commercial nature of sub-national SGEI provision would be helpful. 11. We believe the Communication and the decision are not constant in relation to child care services; the Communication (pt. 22) considers kindergarten as non- economic whereas the decision (art. 1.1.c) exempts childcare from the notifica- tion requirement and this implies that here the Commission considers childcare services, which include kindergartens, to be of an economic nature. 12. We understand that with this Communication, the Commission intends to pro- vide clarification on key questions in relation to State aid rules and SGEIs, based on CJEU jurisprudence, in particular the Altmark judgement. 13. Here, we still believe that the 4th criterion should be abandoned; the comparison analysis with a ‘typical undertaking’ as described in the ruling is very difficult to apply in practice, because companies do not release commercially sensitive da- ta on their costs. Other means to compare the level of compensation should be taken in consideration. ’Testing the market’ by a public procurement procedure should not be the only alternative because it creates more bureaucratic burdens for both contracting authorities and the undertakings bidding for the contract. The possibility to entrust an undertaking with SGEI without a public procure- ment procedure must always be available. 14. Furthermore, the 4th criterion refers to a public procurement procedure and the ‘selection of the tenderer capable of providing those services at the least cost to the community’. With reference to the current discussions about the modernisa- tion of public procurement legislation and the upcoming reform of the public procurement directives, we believe that the procurement option to focus solely on the ‘lowest price’ (Article 53, Directive 2004/18) should indeed be kept. Tak- ing into account environmental or social criteria as increasingly advocated by the Commission however contradicts this approach of the ‘lowest price’ option, and means that the procurement reforms are not coherent with the 4th Altmark criterion. The approach to ‘lowest price’ from procurement law, and ‘least cost to the community’ from the Altmark package must remain and be made coher- ent with each other. 15. It must also be noted, that a service that complies with a public service obliga- tion can also meet the definition of a service concession. Service concessions are not regulated under the Directive 2004/18/EC on public contracts, but the key legal principles of the Treaty, such as the principles of openness and non- discrimination, are applied to them in accordance with case law. Therefore, it is important that the Commission makes sure that the rules pursuant to Procure- ment Directives and the EU State aid rules are coordinated and that it conducts a parallel review. Since there are also features of market exploitation associat- ed with the granting of public service obligations, for example, the SGEI ar- rangement should also be taken into account in connection with the preparation of the Concessions Directive.

Commission Decision on the application of Article 106(2) 16. To exempt certain levels of state aid from notification, the Commission reduces the annual compensation threshold for the service in question to EUR 15 million compared to the current EUR 30 million for undertakings with an average annu- al turnover of less than EUR 100 million during the two preceding financial years.

43 17. We are against this reduction and regret that there are no reasons provided for this halving of the thresholds which seems to go against the Commission’s stat- ed aim to focus only on larger aid cases. We believe that this, again, does not reflect the announced distinction between small-scale and large-scale services. 18. Equally we see the proposed maximum ten year entrustment term for most ser- vices as disproportionate. A longer term should be proposed. 19. CEMR welcomes the exemption of new categories of “services meeting essen- tial social needs” from the notification requirement irrespective of the amount of compensation (health services, childcare, access to the employment market, social housing, care and social inclusion of vulnerable groups of population). However we want to make sure that local and regional authorities remain the ones who are responsible for defining what is an SGEI meeting “an essential social need” and that the Commission won’t impose the very narrow interpreta- tion it developed concerning ‘social’ housing. We also ask for cultural services to be exempted. 20. We also welcome that the current passenger threshold for compensation to ports, maritime or aviation providers of lifeline services has been maintained at 300,000 inhabitants but we regret the decrease of the passenger threshold for compensation to airports allowing exemption from notification from 1 million to 200,000. This goes against the logic to distinguish between the small-scale and large scale services. 21. With respect to public education we do of course welcome that public national education is not considered as a service of general economic interest. However when drawing the distinction between these and those ‘private’ educational fa- cilities “financed predominantly by parents or pupils or commercial revenues” we fear that some schools or universities which as a result of the economic sit- uation are attempting to secure resources from private or student sources could be unfairly included in the definition. 22. As far as the excluded services are concerned, we would request consistency between the services excluded in the public procurement directives (so far enumerated in Annex II B of the Directive 2004/18/EC), and those excluded in the Decision.

Communication from the Commission: EU framework for State aid in the form of public service compensation 23. There should be no requirement to check ‘in-house’ contracts for aid every two years. When ‘in-house’ criteria are met, ‘in-house’ relations should not be con- cerned by state aid rules. The term ‘in-house agreement’ is preferable to ‘in- house contract’.

De minimis Regulation for aid granted to undertakings providing SGEIs 24. We welcome the introduction of a new and specific de minimis threshold for SGEI, as such amounts can be awarded without any further state aid consid- erations. However, we consider the threshold of €150 000 per annum (in place of €200,000 over three years) as being too low, and thus it does not really con- tribute to less administration, but probably an increase in particular for local and regional governments. 25. Within the logic of the Commission’s March 2011 Communication to distinguish between small scale and large scale services, we would like to suggest raising the threshold to at least € 450 000 over a period of three years. This would al-

44 low public authorities to award up to €450,000 in any one year provided the cumulative total does not exceed €450,000 in any three consecutive years. 26. The limit of 10,000 inhabitants does not really make sense, since the size of public authorities differs in the Member States and depends on their internal administrative structure. There are countries with a high number of small munic- ipalities, while others have reorganised their local authorities to increase their efficiency. The size of local authorities is a question of the internal administra- tive organisation of a Member State. Moreover, it will be difficult to apply the exact limit in practice. 27. Furthermore, the number of inhabitants does not at all reflect the amount of the state aid awarded by the local authority when providing compensation to ser- vice providers. The Commission should therefore take the purely local impact of the aid as decisive rather than the size of the authority awarding aid. This crite- rion of the “purely local nature” is already laid down in the jurisprudence of the ECJ and also the Communication of the Commission refers to it. 28. CEMR is concerned that the connection with a specific, and very low number of inhabitants in the State aid rules would have repercussions on the upcoming re- form of the public procurement directives and wishes to recall the CJEU deci- sion in the Coditel case: “a public authority has the possibility of performing the public interest tasks conferred on it by using its own resources, without being obliged to call on outside entities not forming part of its own departments, and that it may do so in cooperation with other public authorities” (C-324/07; Com- mission vs Germany C-480/06). The growing number of public-public co- operations in all member states because of the need to make efficiency savings and tackle demographic problems is therefore another essential reason to abandon the inhabitants-limit. These co-operations are indispensable in mem- ber states to provide public services for the citizens and should be stimulated rather than hindered. 29. In many countries, where there are rural or remote municipalities, for the local services theoretically subject to State Aid, there is in practice rarely a “market” as very often the publicly-supported private provider is the only one available to deliver the service effectively, and often the provider itself would not exist with- out the aid being provided. This is a very different situation compared to a sub- stantially commercial activity. There are occasions when public service obliga- tions need to be imposed to preserve the public interest. The EU legal regime needs to recognise and respect these profound differences in role and content. 30. We do recognise that defining what is “intrinsically local” could be difficult and if this not properly done, it could result in unfair or untransparent situations. How- ever rather than applying a broad criteria from the centre (population, fixed amount), the definition of what would be “intrinsically local” could be defined bottom up as to reflect the different economic circumstances and institutional settings. A €150,000 threshold would not necessarily affect more a municipality of 10,000 of a very developed country than one of 200,000 of a less developed Member State, in view of the different size of budgets, public service obligations and price levels. Ultimately the burden of proof should fall on the European Commission or other complainant, not on the local or regional government con- cerned, to prove if there has been any ‘manifest error’ in the award of aid. The EU should only intervene in cases of local or regional SGEIs of substantial scale, where the functioning of the internal market would be adversely affected to such a significant extent as to be contrary to the interests of the EU.

45 31. The raising of the general de minimis threshold to €500,000 as a temporary measure to support economic recovery should become a permanent feature of the state aid regime. 32. We want to invite the European Commission to explore further ways to define when the trade between Member States would be affected by the State aid in question.

* * *

46 5.2 COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN MUNICIPALITIES AND REGIONS EUROPEAN SECTION OF UNITED CITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

POLICY COMMITTEE  Brussels, 12-13 December 2011 

 for decision for information

EUROPEAN CONGRESS ON CITIZENSHIP AND TWINNING

Draft decision

The Policy Committee members are invited to:

 Ratify the Final Declaration of the European Congress on Citizenship and Twinning held in Rybnik.

1. The European Congress on Citizenship and Twinning was held in Rybnik from 29 September to 1st October 2011, at the invitation of the Association of Polish Cities and with the support of the European Commission, under the framework of the Polish Presidency of the EU. It brought together around 350 participants from 28 European countries to debate themes and challenges linked to European citizenship.

2. CEMR wishes to launch a White Paper on citizenship and twinning, drawing inspiration from the content of the Rybnik debates, in order to carry this message to the European Institutions, particularly in view of the upcoming 2014-2020 programming period and the place of citizenship in the future of the Union. Further information on this work will be presented during the meeting in Brussels.

3. A moment was taken during the Congress to focus on the role of memory in the process of European construction. A remembrance ceremony was held at Auschwitz.

4. The Final Declaration of Rybnik was adopted at the end of the Congress and widely disseminated, particularly amongst the European Institutions.



47

Final Declaration

In 1951, local elected representatives, mayors and councillors from six European countries launched the Council of European Municipalities with the aim of creating a Union of European peoples founded on autonomous local authorities dedicated to furthering peace, harmony and prosperity in Europe by bringing citizens from all countries closer together. This movement has resulted in a spectacular development of city and town twinnings – 40,000 links as of today – in Europe that has accompanied every step of the unification process of Europe. This has contributed in a fundamental way to the reconciliation between former enemies, particularly France and Germany after the Second World War, and to the reunification of Europe following the fall of the Berlin Wall. This twinning movement continues to be the best way of bringing Europeans together, enhancing the feeling of European citizenship.

In 2011, we are facing challenges brought on by the financial, economic, political and social crisis. Rising nationalism in Europe will give no answers, and bring no solutions. Europe once again seems to be the only possible response, through the necessary evolution of the European Union towards greater political and economic integration and solidarity. Will we be able, like the founders of the European Union, to seize the opportunity of the current crisis as a chance to advance Europe’s development toward greater solidarity, or will we let the European project wither away? Citizens have a decisive role to play in this debate. What responses can the European Union bring to address their doubts and expectations? How do we bring the citizens back to the heart of the European project?

We, women and men holding local office, dedicated actors of the twinning movement and European citizens, assembled together in Rybnik from 29 September to 1st October 2011 during the Polish Presidency of the European Union:

‐ Reaffirm our commitment to the European project and highlight the progress made in European construction and note with satisfaction that, since its creation, the European Union has had a fundamental impact on the lives of European citizens. We recall, however, that while the EU has been successful in many areas, there still remains much work to be done, particularly in political, social and economic terms;

‐ Call for a unified Europe, politically united and capable of responding to the challenges facing society today, such as social cohesion, youth employment, demographic change, climate change, energy supply... To respond to these challenges, we call for a new model of governance in Europe – Governing in Partnership, which will bring together all spheres of governance – local, regional, national and European – as well as the civil society, economic actors and the academic world;

48

‐ Emphasise that to overcome the crisis of confidence overtaking our societies, including with respect to political representatives, Europe must empower itself with the means to strengthen an active and participatory citizenship;

‐ Believe that the European Union of tomorrow will be stronger if it returns to the values which formed the basis for its construction and recall that an education in European citizenship and the transmission of memory must be at the heart of the European project;

‐ Call for a Europe that is tolerant, multicultural and respectful of diversity and call on the European Union to continue to strengthen policies and actions which fight all forms of discrimination, and to support all actions of integration and participation of non member-State citizens in Europe;

‐ Call for a Europe of dialogue and exchange with its neighbours and ask the European Union to extend its support for twinning to the neighbouring countries to the East and South of Europe in order to promote mutual awareness and understanding between peoples;

‐ Seek a Europe that is unified and open, conveying a strong message to the rest of the world, and recall that local and regional authorities play an important role in the struggle against poverty, for peace and justice and the construction of better democratic governance in the world;

‐ Underline the role that twinning and partnerships have played in strengthening dialogue and friendship between peoples as well as in raising awareness of other cultures, and invite the European Union to further promote this achievement;

‐ As we celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of its creation, CEMR, and its National Associations wish to recall that twinning, launched by its founders, played a fundamental role in restoring peace and dialogue between the peoples of Europe. We emphasise the impact of the community support for twinning launched by the European Union in 1989, particularly on the construction of an enlarged Europe after the fall of the totalitarian regimes in Central Europe, and ask that this programme be strengthened and given the financial means necessary to promote the emergence of a citizen’s Europe. In view of this, we suggest that the next programme be based on a symbolic budget of 1€ per European, or 495 million €;

‐ We commit to making our exchanges spaces for European learning, for dialogue and open conviviality for all our citizens in order that each one, in particular those of the younger generations, can exercise or develop their knowledge and competencies, be it in an educational or professional framework, or in their free time;

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‐ Welcome with interest the proposal to create a European Academy for local and regional governance, to share knowledge and help capacity-building for our elected representatives and civil servants to improve local and regional services and democratic development and better citizen participation;

‐ Observe that despite the significant progress that the European Union helped to bring about, substantial inequalities persist between women and men in European society today. Following the success of the European Charter for Equality of Women and Men in Local Life launched by CEMR, we call for the setting up of an Observatory, at European level, on the implementation of this Charter so as to support and to follow its application on the ground;

‐ Remain convinced that the intergenerational dialogue forms an essential tool in building an inclusive society mindful of the importance of transmitting values and knowledge, and hope that the European Year for Active Ageing and intergenerational solidarity proclaimed for 2012 will help to give more resonance to this message;

‐ Highlight the effectiveness of multi-lateral cooperation, involving multiple European local and regional authorities and request the European Union to encourage the mutualisation of cooperation conducted at local level;

‐ Call for better recognition by national authorities and the European Union of the role that twinning and partnerships play due to their proximity to the citizens, and suggest, in view of this, that the new European External Action Service include if not a full Unit, then at least a specific expert for local and regional authorities.

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6 COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN MUNICIPALITIES AND REGIONS EUROPEAN SECTION OF UNITED CITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

POLICY COMMITTEE

 BRUSSELS, 12-13 DECEMBER 2011 

 for decision for information CEMR’S 25th GENERAL ASSEMBLY 26-28 SEPTEMBER 2012, CADIZ

Draft decision

The members of the Policy Committee are invited to:

 Take note of the preparations for Innovating in 3D – Decentralisation – Democracy - Development – the 25th General Assembly of CEMR, 26-28 September 2012 in Cádiz.  Take note of and share views on the first proposals for the structure and themes for a dynamic, attractive congress programme, presented in the draft programme in annex.

1. Innovating in 3D: Decentralisation – Development – Democracy  The 25th General Assembly of CEMR will take place in Cádiz on 26, 27 and 28 September 2012, hosted by the city of Cádiz, in cooperation with CEMR’s Spanish member association, the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP). Preparations for the congress are well underway.

2. Over the course of exchanges with our members and the organisers, it has been agreed that innovation and a creative, forward-looking approach to the congress will be key.

3. With citizens looking for answers and solutions in these difficult times, they turn first to their closest spheres of government – local and regional authorities. The Cádiz Congress will be the opportunity to exchange experiences and best practices as we innovate together in partnership toward a better quality of life, for a better future. Under our central theme, the Congress will include sessions on local and regional governments acting not reacting: innovative and creative approaches for the successful development of our communities and in the best interest of the citizens.

4. Sessions will look at how Europe’s local and regional leaders are responding to the social crisis as they find themselves in the hot seat, with cutbacks, financing crises, and the consequently growing needs and expectations of their citizens. We will also take a broader approach as we consider local Europe as global partners, and the importance of decentralised partnerships and exchanges on the international stage.

5. Our innovating in 3D approach will be broken down into specific themes of primary interest for towns, provinces and regions, e.g. Governing in Partnership to build a sustainable future for Europe; migration and how we can innovate for better inclusion; decentralisation as an on-going process across the continent and in the world; our action for enhancing active and participatory citizenship. In the particular context of Cádiz and its geographic location, a special session will be dedicated to the various transitions in the Mediterranean region, and the specific decentralized links between Europe and Latin America, and how very intertwined the 3Ds are in such contexts.

51 6. Small and dynamic interactive round-tables will allow for elected representatives and experts to exchange together directly on best practices in a number of specific fields – i.e. on reshaping public services to tackle challenges related to the environment, climate, energy, transport, territorial planning, financing, etc.. These round-tables are designed so that leaders from across Europe gather some new ideas to take back home.

7. Sustainability and innovation will take centre-stage in both thematic and practical terms. New electronic methods will provide for informative and interactive exchange, including with the speakers and panels, so as to bring a new dynamic to the debates. Online tools will provide updated information and news on the various outcomes throughout the Congress events.

8. The pre-draft programme presenting the thematic ideas and structure has now been drawn up (the specific titles of sessions will be worked upon further). Promotions will kick off, and members are invited to block the important date already in their agendas. CEMR calls upon the national associations to contribute actively to the success, for a fruitful event for the entire membership, by promoting this to all their members in the coming year, and working to ensure the participation of significant national delegations. Registrations are due to open early 2012. It can be underlined that the hosts have taken particular efforts given the current difficult context, to propose registration fees at the same level as CEMR’s previous General Assembly, with no inflation whatsoever.

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2.12.11 25th General Assembly – the Congress of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions  CÁDIZ, 26, 27 AND 28 SEPTEMBER 2012 

INNOVATING IN 3D Decentralisation – Development – Democracy

WEDNESDAY 26TH SEPTEMBER

9.30 - 15.30 CEMR Policy Committee meeting (reserved for members)

17.00 Opening presentation and addresses by Spanish authorities

- Teófila Martínez Saiz, Mayor of Cádiz - Ilmar Reepalu, Mayor of Malmö, host of the previous General Assembly

17.45 Intermission (cultural display/film)

18.15 Opening Panel: ACTING NOT REACTING! – local and regional leaders showing the way toward a new model of development for Europe

- Wolfgang Schuster, President of CEMR - Juan Ignacio Zoido Álvarez, Mayor of Sevilla, President of the FEMP - + speakers to be determined

20.00 Reception

THURSDAY 27TH SEPTEMBER

8.30 Meetings of national delegations

9.30 Special session in plenary – (Hans Rosling, Gapminder – for building a fact- based world view promoting sustainable global development (tbc))

10.45 Pause

11.00 - Parallel sessions and interactive tables: 18.15 A series of thematic panel debates on the key issues facing local and regional government today will be organised over the course of the day.

At the same time, an “interactive room” will hold smaller sessions made up of “interactive tables”. These restricted round-tables, working at the same time to tackle a common issue, will be designed so that leaders from across Europe gather some new ideas to take back home. One animator will launch the exchanges, raising specific questions, each table tasked with drawing up specific responses and proposals to present in conclusion. The themes proposed are presented below.

53 Parallel Session – Series A Parallel Session – Series B Interactive tables

Reshaping public services - 11.00- A.1 Migration, inclusion, integration B.1: The state of decentralisation in for quality, development & 11.00- 13.00 – focus on our changing the world sustainability 11.50 demographics On modernising public services, Across Europe, increasingly new trends improving performance, making Examples on from across Europe as can be noticed, particularly in such times them more citizen & service- demographic change inextricably links to of crisis – recentralising trends, territorial oriented. Innovative solutions to migration and issues of successful reorganisation, etc. What impact, what meet the challenges related to the inclusion and solidarity. The session will message from the ground? environment, climate, energy, include the inter-generational solidarity The session will also include a broader transport, planning, financing… aspect, as well as a look at the impact on perspective, with comparisons proposed Local and Regional public services and with the situation in Latin America. New models of sustainable 12.00- finances development 13.00

Local approaches for resource efficiency, sustainable employment, creating jobs … 13.00- Lunch 13.00- 14.30 14.30 14.45- Integrating the use of new 16.15 A.2 Crisis exit strategies B.2 The Europe – Latin America technologies in public 14.45- connection administrations 15.30 How local and regional authorities and their representative national associations The specificities of the exchanges and 15.30- are making it through in partnership with cooperation between these two continents Project fair – best practices on 18.30 local partners, civil society… the table ssdf

16.45- Technical representatives of the 18.15 A.3 Local development for better B.3 Equality and the Mediterranean - European Commission, experts from growth, better life what participation in local life in national associations and authorities times of transition? will be invited to present the most relevant programmes to local and With contributions invited from the With particular focus on the role of regional actors, who, in this more European Investment Bank and local women, new possibilities, new challenges interactive format, get some tips on development agencies to participating in local life as transition putting projects together. A time also for exchange with their counterparts, goes ahead around the Mediterranean coming away with new ideas and new basin partners!

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18.30- Outside event in link with the European Local Democracy Week 19.00 (to be determined/confirmed)

18.30 Resolution committee (for nominated members’ representatives) – 19.30

20.30 Gala evening

FRIDAY 28TH SEPTEMBER

9.30-11.00 Final set of parallel sessions:

A.4 Social services, pensions, employment – local and regional government and the social perspective

B.4 Town twinning – a tool to strengthen Citizenship in Europe

11.00 Pause

11.30 Plenary panel: Which Europe to take on the challenges of tomorrow? – 13.00 New treaties? One Europe, or several Europes at ‘different speeds’? The fate of the €uro? Can the concept of citizenship apply at European level? The final plenary will invite local and regional leaders to exchange on the latest political developments in the European construction, how this engages local and regional governments and what model we need to pursue for a better life for our municipalities, regions – for Europe and our citizens!

13.15 Innovating for a brighter tomorrow – the contribution of the 25th General Assembly of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions

 The Cadiz Declaration for Decentralization, Democracy, Development

13.30 Lunch

SATURDAY 29TH SEPTEMBER

Post-congress visits

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56 7 COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN MUNICIPALITIES AND REGIONS EUROPEAN SECTION OF UNITED CITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

POLICY COMMITTEE

 BRUSSELS, 12-13 DECEMBER 2011 

 for decision for information CEMR STRATEGIC PLAN AND 2012 WORK PROGRAMME

Draft decision

The members of the Policy Committee are invited to:

 Take note of the information in the report hereafter;  Debate and approve the strategy paper on the future of CEMR (document 7A);  Debate and approve the draft 2012 work programme (document 7B);  Debate and approve the proposed working approaches and structures coming out of the reflections (document 7C)

Background 1. Members can recall that the future priorities and strategy for CEMR have been widely debated, after being subject to an intense ‘reflection process’ over the course of 2010, pursued thereafter. At the Policy Committee of Mondorf-les-Bains, a first document was debated. In accordance with the Policy Committee’s decision, the Steering Group constituted in this context pursued its work in the first half of 2011, with the aim of bringing forward a more complete document, based on the work carried out over 2010 and the document presented in Mondorf-les-Bains.

2. It is recalled that the aim of this work has not been to rewrite the principles presented in CEMR’s statutes, but rather to translate these more abstract points into a more concrete vision adapted to the changing context CEMR works in.

3. At their meeting in Belgrade, the Secretaries General and Directors engaged in an in- depth discussion on this subject. There was broad agreement that the focus at this stage should be on advancing with prioritisation in CEMR’s work. They pursued this work during their meeting in Cádiz, where the members’ exchange showed clearly where the draft strategic document came from: the different interests of the members in their diversity, some favoring a more or less balanced approach to the two “pillars” underpinning CEMR’s work: a) to influence European policies and promote shared positions, in all the domains concerning local and regional authorities (Lobbying strategy), and b) to enhance the role of CEMR as the forum of debate and cooperation between European local and regional authorities through their national representative associations (Knowledge strategy).

4. It was agreed that the reflection on working approaches should go ahead based on the following key ideas: a) strengthening the work of the Policy Committee meetings, enriching the political content of those meetings, thus enabling this as the competent CEMR body for fixing clear priorities for CEMR; b) increasing the direct involvement of elected representatives in lobbying work; c) continuing the policy work according to the proposed thematic groupings, in the form of more flexible working structures on agreed areas of political priority, with clear and fixed mandates, stronger involvement of members’ experts and representatives.

57 The latest texts

5. As underlined by the Executive Bureau in Warsaw, the aim now is that the Policy Committee can approve the final text in Brussels, with the primary purpose being to achieve a tool to guide CEMR’s future work; the work program 2012 is drawn up so as to propose a concrete application; the proposed working approaches aims to offer a more flexible approach and inter-activity between members at political and expert levels.

6. The proposed structures for a first mandate are set out in document 7C. We propose to work within these structures for the next two years. An evaluation of these structures shall take place in 2013, based on criteria to be developed and discussed at a further stage. Subject to the Policy Committee’s approval, calls for expression of interest by the membership will be pursued, which the Executive Bureau could approve at their next meeting, due to be in March.

7. Finally, it can be recalled that the strategic text, 7A, is to be seen as the outcome of the reflection process led by CEMR in 2010 and throughout the year 2011. It is not intended to serve as a publication towards external partners but rather as an internal plan to support the work of the organisation and affirm its profile. Further to the debates and views of the Executive Bureau, a specific publication could be produced to further present our mission in a professional and comprehensive way at a later stage.

8. Both the Strategic text and the work programme package (including the working structures) are open to amendments from members. Members are asked to send their proposed amendments in writing, in English or French, before Monday 12 December at 14:00 to the Secretary General’s email address [email protected], with copy to [email protected] ) or at the latest to hand them at the registration desk of the Policy Committee.

58 7 A

The Future of CEMR

We, elected representatives of local and regional authorities of Europe, united through our national associations in the Council of European Municipalities and Regions hereby declare our renewed commitment – as held by the founders of the CEMR in 1951 – to work together for the building of a Europe based on strong and committed local and regional governments and to unite our forces to strengthen local democracy and safeguard the autonomy of local and regional authorities in Europe.

60 years after the emergence of the European project, Europe is at a cross roads, facing one of worst crisis of its history – a financial and economic crisis, and even more so, a political crisis in identity and confidence. But this crisis is also an opportunity for all of us, towns, cities, regions and their representative associations – an opportunity to move forward and to call for a new era of the European integration built on a more sustainable basis of true partnership between all levels of governance: European, national, regional and local, involving as well as civil society, the economic and social actors and the citizens.

Throughout the first sixty years of its history, the CEMR has been a partner and a front runner of the European project, by participating in the shaping of European policies and by bringing the strong, consolidated voice of local and regional government into the European decision processes. As CEMR brings forward the common positions of Europe’s local and regional level, so too must we commit to developing the European spirit among the local and regional authorities with our national representative associations.

We believe in the European project as the only way forward to live in peace and sustain the social market economy. We believe that to sustain this model, and to be open to its neighbours and the world, Europe needs the full involvement and participation of its municipalities and regions – and the citizens! In this spirit, CEMR intends to move forward toward 2020 and beyond, ensuring the best representation of local and regional interests whilst promoting exchange and mutual learning amongst our membership – working to achieve a better Europe for our communities, for our citizens.

CEMR’s mission

CEMR, as it gathers the national associations of European municipalities and regions, is the European voice for local and regional authorities, defending their interests and ensuring that their priorities are taken into account in European policies.

As the only organisation representing the national associations of local and regional authorities, covering all levels - local, intermediate and regional - and working in all fields of relevance for local and regional governments, CEMR offers the clear added-value of contributing on behalf of its members to the creation of shared positions defended by all national associations, as well as to the promotion of a dialogue between them. To consolidate this unique capacity and mission of coordination, CEMR shall undertake the increased cooperation with and integration of different networks aiming to represent specific spheres of governance.

CEMR’s mission is set on two pillars:

1. To influence European policies and promote shared positions, in all the domains concerning local and regional authorities (Lobbying strategy) 2. To enhance the role of CEMR as the forum of debate and cooperation between European local and regional authorities through their national representative associations (Knowledge strategy)

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Prioritising CEMR’s action to reach its objectives

1. CEMR’s 1st priority: influence European policies and promote shared positions, in all the domains concerning local and regional authorities (Lobbying strategy)

With the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon and the implementation of the EU 2020 Strategy, a new stage in European integration is underway - the occasion during which CEMR and its member associations engage in even greater influence on European policies whenever local and regional policies are concerned.

CEMR’s key role is as the lobbying body for the united local, intermediate and regional authorities and their associations, based on their priorities. In this way, CEMR aims to pursue its active participation in the construction of European policies and the implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy. As CEMR consolidates its position as a strong and recognized partner, together with, and on behalf of the members, CEMR will pursue an innovative model of governing in partnership, ensuring the link with citizens. The member associations’ closer involvement in CEMR’s political work under the focused thematic approach will ensure CEMR’s influential role at the European level, while providing material to support the member associations in their own work lobbying at their national level; in this way, we will increase the recognition of local and regional authorities and their representative associations as fully involved actors in European governance.

2. CEMR’s 2nd priority: enhance the role of CEMR as the forum of debate and cooperation between European local and regional authorities through their national representative associations (Knowledge strategy)

CEMR’s strength is CEMR’s membership, given its particularity as the representative organisation of national associations. One of its most acknowledged added values for members is the opportunity to participate in a wide forum of exchange and political and technical debate on the state of Europe’s local and regional government. CEMR has worked to strengthen cooperation and to contribute to develop the idea of Europe with projects around key themes of citizenship, including the gender issue and the elaboration of tools for the advancement of local democracy, whilst promoting international cooperation through collaborative platforms.

In this role, CEMR reaffirms its commitment to support the development of local democracy with its members in all European countries, further supporting the integration process of candidate countries acceding to the European Union, and those who may do so in future, particularly in South-East Europe with the national association members.

As the forum of debate and cooperation of the national associations and their members, CEMR will keep focus on examining concrete and timely issues, conducting high-quality technical and political tools, in-depth comparative studies, based on the priorities of the member associations, and with the strong contributions of their experts.

It will continue to promote European Citizenship and the town twinning movement, promoting this not only as means of exchange between citizens, but primarily as a tool for exchanging best practices and expertise between local elected representatives and experts across Europe.

As European section of United Cities and Local Governments, CEMR is committed to promoting UCLG’s aims and ensuring effective European participation in their activities. CEMR will pursue its work ensuring good coordination between all UCLG members in Europe.

60 7 B 2012 Work Programme Sixty years after its creation, over the course of 2011, the Council of European Municipalities and Regions, has worked to redefine its priorities and ambitions. This reflection, conducted in the difficult context of global crisis, notably marked by economic, financial, social and political crisis in Europe, has lead CEMR to define its action around two pillars: the first consists of affirming the organisation’s role of influencing policy and legislation, as the foremost association representing local and regional authorities in Europe through its network of over 50 associations representing local, intermediate and regional authorities from some 40 European countries. The second pillar completes these activities by reinforcing the exchange of expertise and best practice between its members, facilitating networking and encouraging cooperation as a European platform of local and regional authorities and their representative associations. It is therefore around these two pillars that the 2012 work programme has been designed, taking into account that they are linked and interdependent. The programme aims to meet the objectives fixed by the members over the course of the different exchanges organised in 2011, whilst remaining an organisation in tune with the times: an organisation able to prioritise its actions and optimise its resources in order to better serve European local and regional authorities and their associations in a rapidly evolving Europe, keeping in mind the values inscribed in our founding objectives. In 2012, the crisis will lead to a redefinition of the European project – this will involve “Europe” in the largest sense, that is the Member States of the European Union, the neighbouring countries, candidates or not for accession, the European Institutions and of course and not least the role of local and regional authorities in the European Governance and their capacity to support economic development, job creation, sustainable growth and inclusiveness… Across Europe, new perspectives are needed for our continent now. For an organisation such as ours, this is an opportunity to be seized: to place local and regional authorities and their representative associations as key actors on the front line of Europe’s development. Following a year of turmoil, marked by the Arab spring and the call for democracy and access to wealth in many parts of the world, we believe that Europe has a particular role to play, CEMR will continue to encourage European local and regional authorities to cooperate with their counterparts of the neighborhood countries and of the rest of the world and bring a strong voice of the European section into the world organisation, United Cities and Local governments. The General Assembly taking place in Cádiz on 26-28 September 2012 will offer the ideal tribune for debate, action and the consolidation of our role as primary European organisation representing local and regional authorities, through their national associations, by drawing out our priorities for the foundation of a better future for Europe: Decentralisation, local and regional Development, and local Democracy. Europe in 3D, this is the path we propose so as to take Europe out of crisis, through strengthened partnership with its territories, the mobilization of civil society, economic and social actors, and the citizens!

First Pillar: to influence European policies and legislation, promote shared positions, in all domains concerning local and regional authorities

1. Contributing to a successful implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy and further relevant European policy priorities, by advocating a comprehensive involvement of Local and Regional Authorities In most European countries, the year will be dominated by finding appropriate measures to solve the economic and financial crisis. As a joint European effort, the European Commission puts emphasis in its Work Programme 2012 on the implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy and the objectives to achieve smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Member States will have to take measures to implement their stability and convergence programmes in relation to public finances and fiscal policy, accompanied by the national reform programmes, explaining how they will contribute to achieve the common goals. 61 The European Union will focus on the further development of its proposals concerning the Europe 2020 strategy and how its objectives will be translated in the relevant policies. Its priorities are on sustainable growth (in relation to the single market), solidarity (inclusive society), sustainable future (resource efficiency, climate, Rio+20), an open Europe for citizens and an effective voice of the EU in the wider world (support of a vibrant civil society and strong political actors).

2. Governance and Citizenship CEMR is convinced that local and regional governments need to be involved at all stages of policies that have an impact on the territories (their preparation, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation) to ensure that the objectives will be reached. Shared ownership, mobilised citizens, an active civil society and other relevant actors at local and regional level are crucial to achieve positive results. Our priority in this context will be to translate the relevant provisions of the Lisbon Treaty in concrete actions: respect of local and regional self-government, the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, the dialogue with representative associations, the protocols on Services of General Interest. In the context of new possible negotiations about a new treaty submitted by European Member states, CEMR will make sure the above dispositions are respected and sustained in the future. In particular, we will promote the model of governing in partnership in the debate on the implementation of multi-level governance and continue contributing the inter-governmental activities in relation to policies with a territorial dimension or an impact on the territories. A crucial question will be the ‘code of conduct’ that the European Commission will prepare to provide guidance on how the ‘partnership approach’ should be put into practice in the future cohesion policy. In order to support the work of our member associations and their members, CEMR will continue a strong lobbying on citizenship notably in preparation of the “European year of the Citizen 2013” by mobilizing the network of twinning officers, by promoting and explaining the conclusions of the Rybnik Congress included in the White Paper on Citizenship in preparation and by calling for adequate resources for the programme “Citizens for Europe” of the European Commission.

3. Smart growth CEMR will contribute to smart growth in particular in the further negotiations on the EU cohesion policy and how the structural funds should be used to stimulate innovative and sustainable development at regional and local level. In the current of the year, the European Commission’s regulations on the future cohesion policy (published in October 2011) will be negotiated in the Council and the European Parliament and further relevant accompanying documents (e.g. the ‘Common Strategic Framework’, the ‘code of conduct’ on the partnership principle, etc.) will be prepared and an open consultation will be launched on these. CEMR will engage in the debate and continue influencing the decision-making process. Linked to the activities in relation to the future EU cohesion policy CEMR will contribute to the debate about sustainable development in Europe, and other aspects of territorial cohesion (Territorial Agenda 2020). This part also includes our activities in relation to the provision of local and regional public services in the context of the single market: the organisation and provision of public services in the further completion of the Single Market will remain on the agenda; complementing our lobbying activities towards the European institutions in relation to upcoming legislative proposals on public procurement, service concessions and the preparation of new State Aid rules (e.g. broadband networks), the CEMR will further participate in the reflections, debate and exchange of experience on trends and changes in the different countries. Further activities may be carried out in the area of e-Government and relevant initiatives of the ‘digital agenda for Europe’, such as the proposal for the new ‘public sector information’ directive, a pan-European framework for electronic identification, authentication and signature, and the discussion about the next steps of the Digital Agenda, including actions in the transport area. 62 Subject to the interest of CEMR members, the legislative proposal on a European label in the tourism sector and the European Accessibility Act could be addressed. CEMR will also stimulate the exchange of experience on a number of cross-cutting issues in relation to local and regional authorities as service providers of public services which are related to the above-mentioned issues: modernisation of public services by intelligent use of ICT, increasing efficiency; adapting to the changing working conditions.

4. Sustainable growth Within the ‘resource efficient Europe’ objective, CEMR will continue its work on the relevant legislative initiatives such as the directive on energy efficiency, water efficiency in buildings and the revision of the air quality directive. New initiatives of the European Commission, such as the review of the environmental impact assessments, need to be examined on its relevance for local and regional government. Next to the lobbying on these legislative proposals, we want to address the issue of a ‘resource efficient Europe’ in a holistic and transversal way, and contribute to the reflections on how to increase awareness and use our resources in a more efficient way. This activity aims to be inclusive and to combine different sectors such as energy, water and waste management, climate, transport, etc. These reflections will contribute to the implementation of the energy roadmap 2050 and the renewable energy strategy. Further discussions can contribute to identify the priorities of the 7th Environmental Action Programme and ways to strengthen the knowledge base on adaptation to climate change and the development of an EU adaptation policy framework. As support structure of the Covenant of Mayors, CEMR will continue to play an active role in the consortium and mobilise members who are also supporting the Covenant.

5. Inclusive growth CEMR proposes to engage in two relevant areas: the dialogue between generations in the context of the “European Year for active ageing and intergenerational dialogue – 2012” and on integration and diversity, to contribute to the implementation of the “European Agenda for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals”. Bearing this aim in mind, CEMR will put in place two thematic networks, in cooperation with the relevant national associations, gathering local and regional authorities active in these two fields in order to facilitate exchanges of practices and contribute to develop the European legislation on these two topics. Furthermore, and in the area of ‘employment and skills’ CEMR will address relevant issues for local and regional government as employers, such as adapting the work environment to the changing needs and requirements, the reconciliation between work, family and private life, the working time directive, flexicurity policies and the issue of sustainable pensions. These issues will be partly addressed in the context of the Social Dialogue Committee. Here, CEMR will lead a project on ‘the future of the workplace’ and address issues such as finding alternative funding mechanisms for local and regional government; recruitment and retention; lifelong learning, training and skills development; equality and diversity; migration and mobility within local and regional government administration. New initiatives may need to be examined whether CEMR members want to work on them, such as recommendations to tackle child poverty.

63 6. Bringing the voice of LRAs in Cooperation Development Since 2009, CEMR hosts the secretariat of PLATFORMA: the platform of local and regional authorities for development, gathering the main representative associations active in this field at different levels (world, European, national), and co-financed by the European Commission. As a lobbying tool for associations representing local and regional authorities in cooperation and development aid policy, PLATFORMA seeks to influence European development policy in terms of the priorities of the European agenda, including seeking to enhance the dialogue with the European External Action Service. For 2012, CEMR will bring its contribution to PLATFORMA’s work in the following fixed objectives:  To represent the voice of local and regional authorities and influence the future of European development policy, in particular in the framework of the 2014-2020 financial programming. The Commission will publish the communication on “Civil Society and local authorities for development cooperation” with the aim to create an update framework of reference for the EU support and define the nature of partnership between these development actors. The contribution to this debate will be our main task for 2012. To influence the programming of the EU seeking to accompany the transition in Southern Mediterranean countries. A communication on supporting sustainable changes in transition society will be published together with the European Neighbourhood Policy Package and the Eastern Partnership. It will be our task to bring the voice of European LRA in this context and give an added value to their role and particularly that of their national associations after the EP report from Mario David which has recognised the importance of LRA for transition towards democracy.  To influence the European and international debate on aid effectiveness

Second Pillar: To enhance the role of CEMR as the forum of debate and cooperation between European local and regional authorities through their national representative associations

1. Observing the impact of the financial crisis and its consequences on local and regional authorities, legislation at national levels and policy making at European level The crisis has deep consequences on both the financial perspectives and the implementation of new regulations throughout Europe. New legislation is being implemented which might reduce the capacities of local and regional authorities to respond to the needs of their citizens and contribute to the economic recovery of Europe. These perspectives need to be considered and analysed in order to prepare an efficient lobbying at European level as well as serve the lobbying our members are conducting in their own countries. In the past months, CEMR has already conducted surveys and studies together with partners (i.e. Dexia and OSI). This work will be continued and enhanced in 2012 as a means to support decentralisation processes and the respect of the principle of subsidiarity. This work will be organised in the framework of an observatory and could lead to the organisation of a specific seminar during the year and to the realisation of a report to be published at the end of the year Policy Committee.

2. Preparing European Union enlargement Croatia, Iceland, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro and Turkey are now official candidate countries for EU accession. In addition, Serbia was recommended by the European Commission to be granted an official candidate status, Albania has applied for membership, Bosnia and Herzegovina has concluded an association agreement and is preparing an application while others are beginning negotiations for specific agreements. In the past, CEMR has been supporting the integration of candidate countries by enhancing the cooperation between national associations of local and regional authorities of those candidate countries and associations of member states of the European Union. 64 In this context, CEMR will ask the opening of the twinning programme of the EU for neighbouring countries in order to facilitate the exchanges of experiences and know how, preparing the accession of the candidates countries and build peaceful and stable relations at the borders of the EU. This has been an important demand from the Congress held in Rybnik on citizenship and democracy. CEMR and its national associations will have to use this tool to lead a strong lobbying action to achieve it.

It is proposed to establish a platform on EU enlargement to:  Identify common issues related to EU-membership candidacy and preparations  Provide a platform for exchange of experience and/or impact management  Coordinate action with our sister association NALAS, active in South-eastern Europe  React and draft a CEMR position paper in response to the latest relevant Commission document: Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2011-2012 [COM(2011) 666 final] published on 12/10/2011

3. Action for equality between women and men in local and regional life

CEMR will continue its action in this domain through its standing Committee whose priority will be the introduction of an Observatory of the European Charter for equality of women and men in local life. The Committee will compose the steering committee of the Observatory which will include partners of the Observatory.

The foremost mission of the Observatory is to help European local and regional authorities develop local policies for the equality of women and men, in particular through the realisation of the objectives outlined in CEMR’s Charter. The Observatory thus aims to encourage European local and regional authorities to introduce policies promoting equality, as well as to accompany local/regional authorities in this process through support in drafting action plans, monitoring the implementation, evaluating the impact on the field.

4. European Section of UCLG and world affairs

CEMR ensures the coordination and secretariat of the European section of UCLG. For 2012, the priority will be to reinforce the European coordination within and contribution to the work of the world organisation, in particular through the organisation of a European coordination meeting on the occasion of, or in preparation of, UCLG meetings. In the same way as CEMR ensures the representation of local and regional authorities and their national associations toward the European institutions, UCLG should ensure representation on a worldwide level toward the United Nations and its agencies: CEMR will undertake to ensure that work towards this aim can be taken forward in 2012. At the request of the European members, the role of the regions within UCLG will also be reviewed and reinforced. The European section will contribute directly or through its members, to the follow up of the thematic work of the world organisation, in particular on sustainable development (Rio+20), gender issues, decentralised cooperation, etc. CEMR is further associated in the preparation of the GOLD III report on public services.

In order to better coordinate the voice of our members in Platforma and the work and experience of those active in international cooperation, CEMR will propose the creation of a focus group gathering the managers of the specialised agencies and those in charge of international cooperation in the national associations. The exchange of experiences and know-how of this group will feed the reflection and contribution of the lobbying work done through Platforma with the aim to see the role of local and regional authorities and their national associations be better taken into account in the initiatives and programmes of the EU on development cooperation, neighborhood policies and external actions.

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Strengthening CEMR as an effective organisation on behalf of its member associations

Following the reflection process, and with the support of interested members, CEMR will continue to adapt its communication tools and strategy as well as to develop CEMR’s graphic identity. A new brochure will be produced accordingly to include a presentation of CEMR’s streamlined strategy and priorities. CEMR also intends to update its website in order to facilitate the dialogue and communication with and between its member associations. The website will include a public section and a private section, and integrate web 2.0. and open source technologies to notably facilitate the participation of experts and members to the policy work. We will furthermore explore and develop the possibility of ICT facilitated communication, allowing representatives from the member associations to participate virtually in meetings, thus preventing travelling and saving costs and reducing the carbon footprint. CEMR will continue to play a constructive role in the cooperation with the European institutions and take an active part in the structured dialogue, with the intention to review the framework of this dialogue, participate in relevant activities organised by the Danish and Cypriote Presidencies of the European Union and the European Commission, and participate with members in the activities organized by the Committee of the Region and the Congress of the Council of Europe.

NB: This work programme is subject to adaptation or modifications to respond to priorities of the European Institutions as these are fixed over the course of the year.

66 7C COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN MUNICIPALITIES AND REGIONS EUROPEAN SECTION OF UNITED CITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

POLICY COMMITTEE

 BRUSSELS, 12–13 DECEMBER 2011 

 for decision for information

PROPOSED WORKING APPROACHES AND STRUCTURES

Draft decision

The members of the Policy Committee are invited to:

 Debate and agree the proposed working approaches as a means of delivering our mission ;  Debate and agree the list of proposed structures (see Annex) in relation to the proposed work programme for the coming year.

Achieving a stronger political voice – CEMR’s Policy Committee

1. As the highest political body governing the Organisation, CEMR’s Policy Committee is CEMR’s main forum for political debate and decision-making. In this period of crisis for Europe’s local and regional authorities and their representative associations, a strong voice becomes more essential than ever. Not only must CEMR consolidate and enhance its position as a strong and recognized partner toward the European institutions in particular, it will moreover aim for a more proactive role, taking the lead to identify future key issues to introduce them in the European agenda and anticipate positions for Europe’s local and regional authorities and their associations.

2. Meeting twice per year, the Policy Committee ensures sound continuity in CEMR initiatives and a smooth decision-making process. To enable the Committee to exercise an ever stronger influence, this body will seek to invite high-level representatives of the European Union for a direct dialogue in key areas. As appropriate, these may moreover be opened to a wider participation, depending on the chosen theme (with purely statutory matters being taken up, i.e. by the Executive Bureau, in a separate session).

3. The Policy Committee will debate and agree the priority subjects to be pursued by the member associations’ experts and decide on mandating the different working structures – Committees, Focus Groups, Thematic Networks and Platforms and Observatories – whose mission will be to prepare relevant CEMR policy positions. These new working structures will continue or replace the current committees and working groups.

4. A general consensus came out of the consultation and discussions with the members around the following thematic areas as priorities for CEMR members: 1) Environment, energy, sustainable development; 2) cohesion, sustainable development, 3) public services, single market, 4) democracy, citizenship, enlargement; 5) partnership, cooperation, world affairs.

67 In this way, the political work will be streamlined, with the Policy Committee approaching debates organised around these thematic areas. These will be approached in relation to the relevant European policy domains, with prioritization differing from one year to the next depending on the policy agenda.

Yearly priorities, to be fixed by the Policy Committee, will be primarily related to the annual work programme of the European Commission and other key European initiatives.

5. The Policy Committee, or by delegation the Executive Bureau, approves all political positions which then become formal CEMR documents.

6. The Policy Committee or by delegation the Executive Bureau, designates, from amongst the membership, one or more elected representatives to follow the work of each working structure, report to the Policy Committee, and represent CEMR toward EU institutions.

Organisation of the work of the different working structures

Answering the large demand from our membership, we propose structures that will provide both flexibility and inter-activity between members at political and expert levels. Each of the working structure will benefit from the support of CEMR secretariat with a dedicated director or policy officer. The proposed structures are meant to continue or replace the current Committees and Working Groups. The following principles guided our reflection that led the present proposal:

1. The organisation of the work must be better adapted to the requirements and the development of the debates on relevant policy issues and legislation. It is no longer appropriate to organise meetings in a rigid order and setting; we must be more flexible and work in a dynamic way. 2. We also propose to members to engage actively in our activities, to share ownership and to create synergies between their activities, other associations and their European umbrella organisation. 3. Participation must be voluntary or supported by the associations of the participating members. The member associations choose which activities they wish to participate in based on their own policy priorities and capacity. The working structures must have an adequate number of participants/experts and at least 3 national associations participating.

4. One member association takes the role of lead partner/chair/coordinator for each working structure and one as the role of support partner (vice-chair).

5. Although there is no obligation, it would seem useful if Political Chairs would be members of the leading association. Each nomination to participate in or Chair the different structures should be approved by the relevant Member Association. Following the decision of the Policy Committee, a call for candidature will be circulated and the next Executive Bureau will approve the nominations of Chairs and Vice-chairs.

6. The “lifespan” of groups will differ. Some can be relatively short lived, while others may exist over some years, depending on the policy issue and mandate. The mandate will be set by the Policy Committee every year. Following the consultation and debate by the Executive Bureau, it has been proposed that the Committee on Equality of women and men in local life should be installed as a standing committee.

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7. Each working structure should develop a work plan with timeline/milestones, working method, the type of document to be produced, deadline for final draft, etc. A first meeting of the structures may be a physical meeting (in Brussels) for the participants to familiarise themselves with each other and the task ahead, but subsequent work is to be organised in a flexible way, using new technologies (internet, video-conferences etc.) avoiding travel and enabling a broader participation from experts in their associations. It is stated that the new working structures should not be attended by Brussels-based officers only.

8. The CEMR secretariat will support the work of all working structures and ensure the organisation’s spirit which finds its expression in well-balanced working methods on a transparent basis, thus ensuring good coordination and avoiding any overlapping. A CEMR policy officer will be tasked with following the work of each structure.

9. In addition to these structures, ad-hoc meetings can be organised on relevant issues and their follow-up can be organised in a flexible way.

10. The ELAN meetings, organised in Brussels on a regular basis by CEMR member associations, also provide a good opportunity to coordinate joint activities and should be further used for that purpose.

11. In the Annex, the proposed structures for a first mandate are set out; we propose to work within these structures for the next two years. An evaluation of these structures shall take place in 2013, based on criteria to be developed and discussed at a further stage.

Each denomination of structure has a meaning; please take note of the definition:

1. Committees: The Committees are composed primarily by active elected representatives who wish to contribute to the political debate of CEMR in a specific field of activities. Committees serve both the influence role of CEMR towards the institutions and the political work of CEMR as the voice of the European Local and Regional Authorities and their national associations.

2. Focus groups: The new focus groups are on limited duration and charged with a specific task; they serve the active lobbying work of CEMR. Composed of a limited number of active experts and politicians, they can meet in Brussels and via Internet to prepare positions and lobby around these towards relevant Institutional partners.

3. Observatories: Observatories are composed by internal and external experts to CEMR’s membership who wish to provide CEMR with facts and analysis by conducting studies and surveys within CEMR network or with the support of CEMR members in the field of Local and Regional interest to provide support and figures that will help the drafting of positions and give arguments when lobbying the European institutions.

4. Thematic Networks and platforms: Complementing the work of the Focus groups by a horizontal and transversal approach, the thematic networks and platforms are open to a larger number of Experts and Elected representatives who wish to contribute to the reflection and exchange on key issues for CEMR with key actors of the broader European scene. Those thematic networks and platforms can be organized in the context of the Policy Committee or other pre-set meetings and may use virtual tools of communication to exchange views, opinions and experience.

Political rapporteurs

In the context of the proposed new structures, future political rapporteurs should be designated amongst the participants in the relevant structures at a later stage, with the current political rapporteurs invited to join the proposed new structures.

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Pillar I: Influencing European policies and promoting shared positions, in all the domains concerning local and regional authorities

1 Thematic platform 2012 - 2013 Sustainable territorial and local development

CEMR correspondent: Alessandro Proia Objective: Contribute to the debate and reflections on the future European cohesion policy; exchange experience on how to achieve sustainable development in Europe with actions at the regional and local level; provide input to the implementation of the Territorial Agenda 2020, the Reference Framework for Sustainable Cities and the preparation of Rio +20

Associated Focus Group:

1.1 Cohesion Policy (2011 -2013)

Objective: Lobby the European institutions during the negotiation and decision-making process of the new regulations for the structural funds, local development (including rural) and other relevant accompanying documents (guidelines, etc.)

2 Thematic platform 2012 - 2013 Resource efficiency

CEMR correspondent: Marie Bullet Objective: Stimulate reflections on how to achieve a resource efficient society by measures of regional and local government; Contribute to the preparation of policies and legislation in the relevant areas (energy, water, waste, air, land, soil).

Associated Focus Groups:

2.2 Energy efficiency (2011-2012)

Objective: Lobby the European legislator during the negotiation and decision- making process of the energy efficiency directive

2.3 Air quality (2011-2014)

Objective: Prepare CEMR's position in relation to the revision of the air quality directive; coordinate joint initiatives with member associations in lobbying the European institutions during the negotiation and decision-making process.

2.4 Waste (2012-2014)

Objective: Prepare CEMR's position in relation to the revision of the waste framework directive; coordinate joint initiatives with member associations in lobbying the European institutions during the negotiation and decision-making process.

3 Thematic platform 2012 – 2013 Local & regional government as employers & service providers

CEMR Correspondent: Christina Dziewanska-Stringer

71 Objective: Contribute to the debate and reflections on the political, legal and economic framework for regional and local authorities and the way how they organise and provide their services. Stimulate the exchange of experience on a number of cross-cutting issues: modernisation of public services: adapting to the changing conditions; increasing efficiency; intelligent use of ICT; financing; etc.

Associated Focus Group:

3.1 Local and regional government as employers (2012-2013)

Objective: Concentrate on the preparation of CEMR's input to the Social Dialogue Committee at European level; address relevant issues in relation to local and regional authorities’ role as employers, such as the reconciliation between work, family and private life, the working time directive, flexicurity policies and the issue of sustainable pensions

3.2 Public Procurement (2012-2013)

Objective: Prepare CEMR's position on the Commission's proposal for a new directive on public procurement/ lobby the European institutions on the reform of the public procurement directives.

3.3 Service Concessions (2012-2013)

Objective: Prepare CEMR's position on the Commission's proposal for a directive on service concessions/ lobby the European institutions during the decision-making process.

4 Committee 2012 – 2014 Governance & citizenship

CEMR Correspondent: Boris Tonhauser / Sandra Ceciarini Objective: Follow and influence the debate on Governing in partnership and European citizenship. In 2012, the Committee should prepare recommendation for the next financial period in the field of citizenship and governance and draft a position on the future program « Europe for citizens » in cooperation with NGOs participating in the structured dialogue. Follow and prepare the European years for Active Ageing and intergenerational dialogue (2012) and Citizenship (2013).

Associated Focus Group:

4.1 Twinning (2012 and beyond - Manuella Portier)

Objective: This network will gather the association’s coordinators and experts to prepare recommendations to the European Commission and participate in the Commission’s consultations on the program “Europe for Citizen”, and in particular on the implementation of the twinning programme in different countries across Europe.

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Pillar II: Enhancing the role of CEMR as the forum of debate and cooperation between European local and regional authorities through their national representative associations

1 Thematic network 2012 - 2013 Inter-generational Dialogue

CEMR Correspondent: Christina Dziewanska-Stringer Objective: Facilitate exchanges between elected representatives and experts in the field of intergenerational dialogue and solidarity through a project which will be proposed under the Europe for Citizens program. This network will be made up of municipalities with particular experience in the field as identified by CEMR’s national associations.. Further, the network will follow the activities of the European year 2012 and prepare a position paper and organize a specific action on April 29th (European day of solidarity between generations)

2. Thematic network 2012 - 2014 Diversity and integration

CEMR Correspondent: Manuella Portier Objective: Create a network of experts and elected representatives from local/regional authorities with particular experience in the field of integration and diversity, as identified by the national associations. This network will operate thanks to a project to be proposed as a thematic network under the Europe for Citizens programme. Its aim will be to produce exchange based expertise and positions papers and to lobby for a coherent European policy in this area, in particular concerning local and regional authorities.

3. Standing Committee Equality between women and men in local life

CEMR Correspondent: Sandra Ceciarini Objective: The Executive Bureau of CEMR requested unanimously that the Committee on equality became a Standing Committee. The committee will follow the creation of an observatory on the implementation of the European Charter on Equality between women and men in local life and serve as a platform of exchange of best practice in the field of equality.

Associated Observatory:

3.1 Charter on Equality between women and men in local life

CEMR Correspondent: Sandra Ceciarini Objective: With over 1000 signatories, the European Charter on Equality between women and men in local life is a great success. However, signatories are willing to complete their action by sharing their best practices and get some advice to follow their action plans and monitor their actions. The observatory will work under the supervision of the standing committee on equality and be self-supported by signatories of the charter and interested members of CEMR.

4. UCLG Europe Coordination platform

CEMR Correspondent: Sandra Ceciarini

73 Objective: This coordination will replace the WAC and is intended to bring together European Members of UCLG to coordinate their positions in the context of the World organization UCLG

Associated focus group:

4.1 International Cooperation and partnership (2012-2014)

Objective: This focus group will gather experts from national associations of CEMR and agencies in charge of international cooperation to exchange and organize the lobbying of CEMR towards the European institutions, notably through the work of PLATFORMA and the program “non-state actors / local authorities”. The aim is to bring the voice of our members who are active in this area into European development policy as well as the Union’s foreign policy.

5 Platform 2012-2015 European Union Enlargement

CEMR Correspondent: Boris Tonhauser Objective: Platform for exchange of experience and/or impact management / Identify common issues related to EU-membership candidacy and preparations / coordinate action with our sister association NALAS, active in South-eastern Europe / react and draft a CEMR position paper in response to the latest relevant Commission document: Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2011-2012 [COM(2011) 666 final] published on 12/10/2011

6 Observatory 2012 2013 Impact of the Crisis on Local & Regional Authorities and Decentralization

CEMR Correspondent: Boris Tonhauser Objective: Observing the impact of the financial crisis and its consequences on local and regional authorities, legislation at national levels and policy making at European level. Produce with the support of national associations’ experts and external partners relevant studies on the subject of local finances and legislation. Organise a seminar in the course of the year and report to the policy committee in December 2012.

74 8.1 COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN MUNICIPALITIES AND REGIONS EUROPEAN SECTION OF UNITED CITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

CEMR POLICY COMMITTEE

 BRUSSELS, 12-13 DECEMBER 2011 

 for decision for information

REPORT ON THE WORK OF THE FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE AND THE EXECUTIVE BUREAU ON CEMR FINANCIAL ISSUES

The Executive Bureau studied in Warsaw the report from the Financial Management Committee, and decided to draw the following information to the attention of the Policy Committee for debate.

The members of the Policy committee are invited to:

 Take note of and debate this document;

 Approve the provisional measure towards members who do not settle their membership in full, as recommended by the CEMR Executive Bureau.

1. Membership fee obligations

The Financial Management Committee reported that resources from membership fees were, in mid-September 2011, behind by more than 110,000 € compared to last year, and that the number of members not respecting their membership fee obligations without prior agreement of the Policy Committee was increasing. The committee furthermore requested that the Policy Committee be informed of which members were in arrears with their fees.

In addition, the Executive Bureau recommended that measures be taken towards members who do not settle, in full, the fees agreed upon and asked the secretariat to propose – as a provisional measure – a limitation of voting rights for the members concerned.

The CEMR Statutes (Article VII: Resignation and Dismissal) stipulate that “Members shall be liable to temporary suspension or to dismissal (…) if, without the specific agreement of the Policy Committee, they have not paid their membership fees for two consecutive years.”

In the difficult context of the current economic crisis, some members do settle some fees, but do not cover the full year obligations, it is proposed to the Policy Committee to consider adopting the following provisional measure:

• for a delegation of 3 or 4 seats:

- if less than 50% of the fees are settled, 2 seats are suspended - if more than 50% but less than 100% are settled, 1 seat is suspended

75

• for a delegation of 5 or 6 seats:

- if less than 50% of the fees are settled, 3 seats are suspended - if more than 50% but less than 100% are settled, 2 seats are suspended

• for a delegation of 7 or 8 seats:

- if less than 50% of the fees are settled, 4 seats are suspended - if more than 50% but less than 100% are settled, 3 seats are suspended

In line with CEMR’s Rules of Procedure relating to this issue, it is proposed to continue to suspend all seats of a delegation in cases where 0% of the fees are settled.

Upon receipt of the member association’s late fees, their full number of seats would be restored with immediate effect.

The members of the Policy Committee are invited to debate the above proposal, and agree a provisional approach to this matter which could be in place for the next two years.

The associations which have not regularly settled their membership fees over the past two years are the following:

2009 2010

FEES TO CEMR TOTAL TOTAL OUT- TOTAL TOTAL OUT- ONLY CALLED RECEIVED STANDING CALLED RECEIVED STANDING Albanian Assoc. of AL 628 402 226 628 372 256 Municipalities A. Municip. / Towns BA 541 541 1 082 542 540 Rep. of Srpska Association suisse CH 28 319 14 107 14 212 28 319 17 090 11 229 du CCRE – ASCCRE Union of Local IL 7 290 7 290 7 290 4 860 2 430 Authorities in Israel Maltese Assoc. of MT 1 787 1 787 1 787 1 787 Local Councils Assoc.of Polish PL 15 174 15 174 15 174 5 058 10 116 Counties

ANMP PT 45 362 45 362 45 362 43 736 1 626

IPA (Ireland) IE 2 135 2 135 2 135 2 135

AICCRE IT 209 410 209 410 209 410 138 671 70 739

Union of Municip. of MO 452 452 452 452 Montenegro Assoc. of Romanian RO 4 959 4 959 4 959 2 500 2 459 Communes (ACOR) Assoc. of Romanian RO 4 959 4 959 4 959 4 959 Towns (AOR) Association of UA 18 745 18 745 18 745 6 246 12 499 Ukrainian cities

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2. Income from membership fees

The Financial Management Committee drew the attention of the Executive Bureau to the fact that after three years of freeze, distortions have appeared in the calculation of the fees. The Executive Bureau proposed to keep the current scale, whilst seeking to ensure greater fairness.

In this aim, the Executive Bureau proposed that countries whose fees were on the way up before the recent freezes, once again begin to move up in order to catch up. Calculations would be made on the basis of updated GDP/population data, and possible increases would be, as previously agreed, limited to 15% per year, and could not exceed 5,000 € per year. However, increases would not apply to countries with GDP below 20% of EU-27 average.

The fees of countries that were calculated on the basis of actual GDP data before the recent freezes would provisionally remain unchanged.

In addition, the Financial Management Committee and the Executive Bureau recommended that the CEMR governing bodies consider applying a cap for the largest countries set as follows:

- 240,000 € for countries above 65 million inhabitants; - 200,000 € for countries below 65 million and above 50 million inhabitants; and - 150,000 € for countries below 50 million inhabitants.

As concerns the costs of following-up and coordinating UCLG activities in Europe, the Executive Bureau observed that the costs related to the coordination have been, until now, met by CEMR own budget only, unlike the practice in other UCLG Regions. It was proposed that an amount of 60 000 € would be retained from the CEMR transfers to UCLG on behalf of its members.

3. Budget of CEMR for 2012

The Executive Bureau recommended presenting for the approval of CEMR’s Policy Committee a draft budget based on the calculation of fees as described above.

A draft budget prepared on this basis is attached under item 8.2 below.

In addition, the Financial Management Committee asked the secretariat to prepare, for the members of the Policy Committee, a record of membership fees received in 2011. The updated document will be circulated in Brussels.

***

77

78 8.2 COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN MUNICIPALITIES AND REGIONS EUROPEAN SECTION OF UNITED CITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

CEMR POLICY COMMITTEE

 BRUSSELS, 12-13 DECEMBER 2011 

 for decision for information

DRAFT BUDGET FOR 2012

During its meeting in Warsaw on 28 September 2011, the Executive Bureau considered that, after three years of freeze of CEMR membership fees, significant distortions have appeared in the calculation of the fees.

In the interest of achieving a better fairness, the Executive Bureau decided to recommend to the policy Committee the adoption of a budget established on the basis of an evolution of membership fees based on the following:

- Fees of countries with GDP lower than 20% of EU-27 average would remain frozen; - Fees of countries which were on the way up with their fees before the recent freezes would start to move up again in order to catch up. Calculations would be made on the basis of updated GDP/population data, and possible increases would be, as previously agreed, limited to 15% per year, and could not exceed 5,000 € per year; - Fees of countries which were calculated on the basis of actual GDP data before the recent freezes would provisionally remain frozen; - A cap set as follows for 2012 would apply for the largest countries: 240,000 € for countries above 65 million inhabitants; 200,000 € for countries below 65 million and above 50 million inhabitants; and 150,000 € for countries below 50 million inhabitants. The proposed caps within the 2012 draft budget could be revised on a yearly basis, as the budget is put for approval every year to the Policy Committee.

The draft budget presented in the following pages is set up under these bases. The subsequent reduction in fees would be compensated in particular by a slight decrease of meeting costs, bringing the budget line at the level of the actual expenditure in recent years (51 317 € in 2010 and a similar amount anticipated for 2011), which allows the financing of all meetings listed below.

The other budget items largely show amounts brought forward from previous years.

The members of the Policy committee are invited to:

 Take note of and debate this document;

 Approve the calculation of membership fees and the draft budget for 2012.

79

DRAFT BUDGET FOR 2012

2011 2012 € (VOTED)

CEMR OWN SUB-TOTAL CEMR GRANT UCLGE PROJECTS TOTAL BUDGET CEMR

WORKING INCOME

Affiliation fees CEMR 1 892 000 1 846 000 1 846 000 1 846 000 (1) Fees uncertain to recover CEMR -122 000 -150 000 -150 000 -150 000 Affiliation fees UCLG 385 000 388 000 388 000 388 000 (2) Fees uncertain to recover UCLG -85 000 -88 000 -88 000 -88 000 Transfers to UCLG -300 000 -240 000 -240 000 -240 000 (2) Transfers to UCLGE -60 000 60 000 (2) Net affiliation fees 1 770 000 1 696 000 60 000 1 756 000 1 756 000 EC grant 236 000 240 000 240 000 240 000 (3) Observatory Equality 130 000 130 000 (10) EC contracts 635 000 635 000 (12) Contracts co-financing - CEMR 30 000 30 000 Contracts co-financing - Partners 20 000 20 000 Other contracts 10 000 Dexia 10 000 20 000 20 000 20 000 (4) General Assembly 16 000 10 000 10 000 10 000 (5) Other working income 10 000 TOTAL 2 052 000 1 726 000 240 000 60 000 2 026 000 815 000 2 841 000

WORKING EXPENDITURE Salaries + social charges 1 355 000 1 117 000 142 000 46 000 1 305 000 280 000 1 585 000 (7) Rent and service charges 204 000 164 000 36 000 200 000 200 000 (8) Other office costs 224 000 190 000 29 000 5 000 224 000 224 000 (9) Interpretation and meeting costs 69 000 44 000 10 000 3 000 57 000 57 000 (9) Travel costs 80 000 72 000 7 000 6 000 85 000 85 000 (9) Publications/communication 49 000 49 000 49 000 49 000 (9) Websites maintaining, internet costs 25 000 25 000 25 000 25 000 (9) Observatory Equality 70 000 70 000 (10) Projects CEMR cofinancing 15 000 30 000 30 000 30 000 (11) Depreciation 27 000 23 000 4 000 27 000 27 000 Unforecast 7 000 7 000 10 000 17 000 17 000 Projects 465 000 465 000 TOTAL 2 055 000 1 721 000 238 000 60 000 2 019 000 815 000 2 834 000

WORKING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE -3 000 5 000 2 000 7 000 7 000

FINANCIAL INCOME Exchange rate earnings Income from short-term investment 10 000 5 000 5 000 5 000 (6) TOTAL 10 000 5 000 5 000 5 000

FINANCIAL CHARGES Exchange rate losses Banking and financial charges 7 000 10 000 2 000 12 000 12 000 TOTAL 7 000 10 000 2 000 12 000 12 000

FINANCIAL RESULT 3 000 -5 000 -2 000 -7 000 -7 000

TOTAL INCOME 2 062 000 1 731 000 240 000 60 000 2 031 000 815 000 2 846 000 TOTAL EXPENDITURE 2 062 000 1 731 000 240 000 60 000 2 031 000 815 000 2 846 000

TOTAL 0 0 0 0 0 00

80 DRAFT BUDGET FOR 2012

The draft budget on the opposite page is presented under four main sources of financing:

- CEMR own budget, mostly financed through membership fees, covering policy work, statutory work, communication (including websites) and part of the general services; - EC grant, allocated to CEMR in the framework of the ‘Europe for citizens’ programme, covering democracy and citizenship activities; - UCLG Europe;

In addition, some specific projects will also be funded by some members and by the European Union such as the Observatory on Equality, the Covenant of Mayors, PLATFORMA and Social Dialogue (see below).

 RESOURCES

(1) Membership fees – CEMR The fees to be called from each country would be the following:

FEES / COTIS. FEES / COTIS. + / - 2009-2011 2012

Albania 628 628 Austria 60 932 60 932 Belgium 72 388 72 388 Bosnia and Herz. 2 164 2 164 Bulgaria 14 112 16 229 2 117 Croatia 6 582 7 569 987 Cyprus 3 972 3 972 Czech Rep. 28 223 32 457 4 234 Denmark 39 468 39 468 Estonia 2 822 3 246 423 Finland 36 028 36 028 France 211 000 200 000 -11 000 Germany 245 384 240 000 -5 384 Greece 55 410 55 410 Hungary 28 223 31 981 3 757 Iceland 2 276 2 045 -231 Ireland 4 270 4 270 Israel 7 290 7 290 Italy 209 410 200 000 -9 410 Latvia 5 645 6 491 847 Lithuania 8 467 9 737 1 270 Luxembourg 6 408 6 408 Macedonia, FYR 1 675 1 926 251 Malta 1 787 1 787 Montenegro 452 452 Netherlands 107 913 107 913 Norw ay 48 963 48 963 Poland 49 316 54 316 5 000 Portugal 45 362 45 362 Romania 19 838 22 813 2 976 Serbia 2 201 2 201 Slovakia 14 112 16 229 2 117 Slovenia 2 822 3 246 423 Spain 160 705 150 000 -10 705 Sw eden 62 343 62 343 Sw itzerland 28 319 28 319 Turkey 43 523 47 867 4 344 Ukraine 18 745 11 900 -6 845 United Kingdom 232 800 200 000 -32 800

1 891 978 1 844 348 -47 630

Details of the calculation are attached below.

(2) Membership fees – UCLG Until now, the costs of following-up and coordinating UCLG activities in Europe has been met by CEMR own budget only, unlike the practice in other Regions. It is proposed to seek financing shared by members of UCLG in Europe: of the amount to be transferred to the World organisation, 60 000 € would be retained in the Europe Region to cover the world affairs coordination.

81 (3) EC grant The amount proposed corresponds to the maximum contribution which would be granted by the European Commission for our work on citizenship.

(4) Sponsorship Under the renewed agreement with DEXIA, CEMR will receive 20 000 € for a 12-month period. It is anticipated that a new agreement will follow in 2012.

(5) General assembly Under the agreement concluded with Cadiz in February 2011, CEMR will receive in 2012 16€ per fully paying delegate registered for the congress (including early and low GDP rates).

The amount proposed supposes that the Assembly will gather more than 600 paying delegates and relies on a strong mobilisation of our members, in particular in Spain and neighbouring countries (Portugal, France, Italy).

(6) Financial income CEMR operating cash is invested in securities guaranteed by European states only, implying a low remuneration.

 EXPENDITURE

(7) Salaries Under this draft budget, the current number of staff employed under CEMR own budget remains the same. The proposed allocation of personnel (excluding personnel working exclusively on contracts) is as follows:

SALARIES AND CHARGES 2012 PILLAR 1 PILLAR 2 Secretary General SECRETARY GENERAL 50% 50% Personal Assistant to SG

Director of Policy Policy Officer - Cohesion/IS POLICY - mainly financed by Policy Officer - Employment 80% 20% membership fees Policy Officer - Environment Policy Officer - Governance Assistant Director Citizenship CITIZENSHIP - mainly financed by Project officer - Citizenship 30% 70% EC grant Assistant - World affairs

Executive officer STATUTORY 50% 50% Assistant 574 000 406 000 SUBTOTAL 59% 41% Communication officer Press Officer COMMON SERVICES Director of Finance 59% 41% Accountant Assistant administration Bxl 764 000 541 000 GRAND TOTAL 59% 41%

As shown above, on a total of 1 305 000 € (excluding contracts), - 1 117 000 € are financed under CEMR own budget, and - 188 000 € are financed under the EC grant and world affairs. 82 (8) Office rent The amount indicated is in line with the current costs in Paris and Brussels.

The City of Paris, owner of the CEMR's Paris office, has asked the CEMR to leave its office as part of the City's plans to convert the building into assisted housing. The CEMR has not been told when it will have to vacate its office. Discussions are being held with the City of Paris as to whether the City can offer alternative accommodation to the CEMR. Different possibilities are being explored for proposal to CEMR governing bodies, including the transfer of CEMR head office from Paris to Brussels in order to reinforce the Brussels office while a smaller subsidiary would be maintained in Paris. Possibilities to develop teleworking are also being explored.

(9) Overheads, Meeting costs, Travel costs and Communication The amounts under each budget line are split into different sources of revenue. The totals do not show significant variations, compared to the budget voted for 2011.

(10) Observatory on Equality Financial support is envisaged – in particular thanks to SALAR commitment and the City of Paris – in the framework of the Observatory on Equality. For the year 2012, the support, including additional sources, is budgeted at 130 000 €.

Pending confirmation of this financing, corresponding expenditure – equally budgeted at 130 000 € – is allocated as follows: - 60 000 € on salaries - 70 000 € on a specific expenditure budget line, which will be reallocated on the activities budget lines when actions are secured.

(11) Projects CEMR co financing This budget corresponds to the amount committed in the framework of the PLATFORMA (10 000 €) and Social Dialogue (20 000 €) agreements.

It is recalled that, in return, these agreements cover working time of CEMR personnel, on the basis of time spent on the different actions.

(12) Projects The income anticipated on projects – which will be readjusted according to the actual expenditure incurred on existing agreements, and according to the outcome of the current discussions held with partners and the European Commission – is the following:

- PLATFORMA 400 000 € - Social Dialogue 160 000 € - Covenant of Mayors 75 000 €

The amounts budgeted under “partners co financing” concern the PLATFORMA agreement.

83 CALCULATION OF 2012 MEMBERSHIP FEES CALCUL DES COTISATIONS 2012

Popul. millions GDP/PIB per capita in NOMINAL FEE coefficient applied / CALL / APPEL EUROSTAT 2010 / PPS: EUROSTAT 2010 COTISATION DIFFERENCE 2012 CALL / APPEL 2012 € appliqué 2009-2010-2011 WORLD BANK / WORLD BANK NOMINALE EU-27 average 100,00% Albania 3,10 10,00% 10,00% 1 801 628 1 173 187% Albania FROZEN/GEL 628 0% Austria 8,38 126,00% 126,00% 61 347 60 932 415 1% Austria FROZEN/GEL 60 932 0% Belgium 10,84 118,00% 118,00% 73 165 72 388 777 1% Belgium FROZEN/GEL 72 388 0% Bosnia and Herz. 3,80 12,00% 12,00% 2 719 2 164 555 26% Bosnia and Herz. FROZEN/GEL 2 164 0% Bulgaria 7,56 44,00% 40,00% 17 569 14 112 3 458 25% Bulgaria CEILING 15% 2 117 16 229 15% Croatia 4,43 62,00% 62,00% 15 958 6 582 9 376 142% Croatia CEILING 15% 987 7 569 15% Cyprus 0,80 98,00% 98,00% 4 555 3 972 583 15% Cyprus FROZEN/GEL 3 972 0% Czech Rep. 10,51 80,00% 55,00% 33 259 28 223 5 035 18% Czech Rep. CEILING 15% 4 234 32 457 15% Denmark 5,53 125,00% 125,00% 40 162 39 468 693 2% Denmark FROZEN/GEL 39 468 0% Estonia 1,34 64,00% 55,00% 4 282 2 822 1 460 52% Estonia CEILING 15% 423 3 246 15% Finland 5,35 116,00% 116,00% 36 057 36 028 29 0% Finland FROZEN/GEL 36 028 0% France 64,72 107,00% 107,00% 228 203 211 000 17 203 8% France CAP/PLAFOND -11 000 200 000 -5% Germany 81,80 118,00% 118,00% 269 227 245 384 23 843 10% Germany CAP/PLAFOND -5 384 240 000 -2% Greece 11,31 89,00% 89,00% 57 128 55 410 1 719 3% Greece FROZEN/GEL 55 410 0% Hungary 10,01 64,00% 55,00% 31 981 28 223 3 757 13% Hungary 100,00% 3 757 31 981 13% Iceland 0,32 110,00% 110,00% 2 045 2 276 -231 -10% Iceland 100,00% -231 2 045 -10% Ireland 4,47 ASSOCIATE 4 270 4 270 0 0% Ireland 4 270 0% Israel 7,30 SPECIAL AGREEMENT 7 290 7 290 0 0% Israel 7 290 0% Italy 60,34 100,00% 100,00% 209 555 209 410 145 0% Italy CAP/PLAFOND -9 410 200 000 -4% Latvia 2,25 52,00% 52,00% 6 798 5 645 1 153 20% Latvia CEILING 15% 847 6 491 15% Lithuania 3,33 58,00% 55,00% 10 641 8 467 2 174 26% Lithuania CEILING 15% 12701 270 9 737 15% Luxembourg 0,50 283,00% 283,00% 8 221 6 408 1 813 28% Luxembourg FROZEN/GEL 6 408 0% Macedonia, FYR 2,05 35,00% 25,00% 2 978 1 675 1 302 78% Macedonia, FYR CEILING 15% 251 1 926 15% Malta 0,41 83,00% 83,00% 1 977 1 787 190 11% Malta FROZEN/GEL 1 787 0% Montenegro 0,63 17,00% 17,00% 622 452 170 38% Montenegro FROZEN/GEL 452 0% Netherlands 16,57 133,00% 133,00% 117 888 107 913 9 975 9% Netherlands FROZEN/GEL 107 913 0% Norway 4,86 179,00% 179,00% 50 544 48 963 1 581 3% Norway FROZEN/GEL 48 963 0% Poland 38,17 62,00% 55,00% 92 312 49 316 42 996 87% Poland CEILING 5000 € 5 000 54 316 10% Portugal 10,64 81,00% 81,00% 49 471 45 362 4 108 9% Portugal FROZEN/GEL 45 362 0% Romania 21,46 45,00% 35,00% 38 384 19 838 18 547 93% Romania CEILING 15% 2 976 22 813 15% Serbia 7,30 15,00% 15,00% 6 362 2 201 4 160 189% Serbia FROZEN/GEL 2 201 0% Slovakia 5,42 74,00% 55,00% 17 320 14 112 3 208 23% Slovakia CEILING 15% 2 117 16 229 15% Slovenia 2,05 86,00% 55,00% 6 551 2 822 3 728 132% Slovenia CEILING 15% 423 3 246 15% Spain 45,99 101,00% 101,00% 190 103 160 705 29 398 18% Spain CAP/PLAFOND -10 705 150 000 -7% Sweden 9,34 123,00% 123,00% 66 746 62 343 4 404 7% Sweden FROZEN/GEL 62 343 0% Switzerland 7,79 SPECIAL AGREEMENT 28 319 28 319 0 0% Switzerland 28 319 0% Turkey 72,56 48,00% 25,00% 47 867 43 523 4 344 10% Turkey 100,00% 4 344 47 867 10% Ukraine 46,30 7,00% 7,00% 11 900 18 745 -6 845 -37% Ukraine 100,00% -6 845 11 900 -37% United Kingdom 62,03 114,00% 114,00% 241 132 232 800 8 331 4% United Kingdom CAP/PLAFOND -32 800 200 000 -14%

2 096 706 1 891 978 204 727 10,8% SUB-TOTAL 1 844 348

NEW MEMBER Georgia 4,40 5,46% 5,46% 1 396 1 396 Georgia 1 396

TOTAL 1 845 744 (1) A CAP APPLIES FOR THE LARGEST COUNTRIES, SET AT 150,000 € FOR COUNTRIES WITH POPULATION > 25M < 50M; 200,000 € FOR COUNTRIES > 50M < 65M; 240,000 € FOR COUNTRIES > 65M UNE COTISATION MAXIMUM S'APPLIQUE POUR LES PLUS GRANDS PAYS, FIXEE A 150,000 € POUR LES PAYS DONT LA POPULATION EST > 25M < 50M; 200,000 € POUR LES PAYS > 50M < 65M; 240,000 € POUR LES PAYS > 65M (2) ALL COUNTRIES WHICH WERE ON THE WAY UP BEFORE 2009 CATCH UP PROGRESSIVELY, INCREASES ARE LIMITED TO 15% (OR 5,000 € IF MORE FAVOURABLE) PER YEAR LES COTISATIONS DE TOUS LES PAYS QUI SE METTAIENT PROGRESSIVEMENT A NIVEAU AVANT 2009 REPRENNENT LEUR MISE A NIVEAU, LES AUGMENTATIONS SONT LIMITEES A 15% (OU 5.000 € SI PLUS FAVORABLE) PAR AN (3) FEES OF COUNTRIES WHICH WERE NOT ON THE WAY UP BEFORE 2009 ARE FROZEN / LES COTISATIONS DE TOUS LES PAYS QUI ETAIENT A NIVEAU AVANT 2009 SONT GELEES (4) INCREASES FOR COUNTRIES WITH GDP BELOW 20% ARE FROZEN / LES AUGMENTATIONS SONT GELEES POUR LES 84PAYS DONT LE PIB EST INFERIEUR A 20%

\\par-server\usershares\Dominique Arrestat\2012\budget post bex warsaw\cotis base actualisee - 12/10/2011 UCLG MEMBERSHIP FEES COTISATIONS CGLU 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2 012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 AL Albanian Association of Municipalities 171 179 187 195 203 211 218 226 234 242 250 AT Österreichischer Städtebund 5 800 5 800 5 800 5 800 5 800 5 800 5 800 5 800 5 800 5 800 5 800 Österreichischer Gemeindebund 5 800 5 800 5 800 5 800 5 800 5 800 5 800 5 800 5 800 5 800 5 800 BA A. Mun./Cities Federation Bosnia Herzegovina 276 276 276 276 276 276 276 276 276 A. Municipalities/Towns Republic of Srpska 276 276 276 276 276 276 276 276 276 BE Union des Villes et Communes Belges 15 900 15 900 15 900 15 900 15 900 15 900 15 900 15 900 15 900 15 900 15 900 BG NAMRB 700 704 708 712 716 719 723 727 731 735 739 CH Association Suisse du CCRE 7 700 8 115 8 531 8 946 9 361 9 777 10 192 10 607 11 023 11 438 11 853 CY Union of Cyprus Municipalities 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 CZ Union of Towns and Communities of the Czech Republic 2 500 2 561 2 621 2 682 2 742 2 803 2 864 2 924 2 985 3 045 3 106 DE Deutscher Landkreistag 6 000 6 000 6 000 Deutscher Städtetag 14 300 14 300 14 300 Städte und Gemeindebund 7 100 7 100 7 100 Rat der Gemeinden und Regionen Europas 30 400 30 400 30 400 57 800 57 800 57 800 57 800 57 800 57 800 57 800 57 800 DK Local Government Denmark 4 400 4 400 4 400 4 400 4 400 4 400 4 400 4 400 4 400 4 400 4 400 Danish Regions 4 400 4 400 4 400 4 400 4 400 4 400 4 400 4 400 4 400 4 400 4 400 EE Association of Estonian Cities 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 Association of Municipalities of Estonia 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 ES Federación Española de Municipios y Provincias 31 900 31 900 31 900 31 900 31 900 31 900 31 900 31 900 31 900 31 900 31 900 FI Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities 7 600 7 600 7 600 7 600 7 600 7 600 7 600 7 600 7 600 7 600 7 600 FR Association Française pour le CCRE * 50 798 50 856 50 913 50 971 51 028 51 086 51 143 51 201 51 258 51 316 51 373 GR Central Union of Greek Municipalities and Communities 7 300 7 300 7 300 7 300 7 300 7 300 7 300 7 300 7 300 7 300 7 300 HR Croatian County Association 514 514 514 514 514 514 514 514 HU Hungarian Associations 2 500 2 541 2 582 2 623 2 663 2 704 2 745 2 786 2 827 2 868 2 909 IL Union of Local Authorities in Israel 6 900 6 900 6 900 6 900 6 900 6 900 6 900 6 900 6 900 6 900 6 900 IS Association of Local Authorities in Iceland 400 400 400 401 401 401 401 402 402 402 402 IT AICCRE 47 866 47 866 47 866 47 866 47 866 47 866 47 866 47 866 47 866 47 866 47 866 LT Association of local authorities in Lithuania 800 800 800 800 800 800 800 800 800 800 800 LU Association des Villes et Communes Luxemb. 700 720 741 761 781 801 822 842 862 883 903 LV Union of local and Regional Governmnts of Latvia 400 405 409 414 418 423 428 432 437 441 446 MK Ass. of units of local self -gov. of Macedonia (ZELS) 187 193 200 206 212 219 225 231 237 244 250 MO Union of Municipalities of Montenegro 60 79 98 117 136 155 174 193 212 231 250 MT Maltese Association of Local Councils 200 205 210 215 220 225 230 235 240 245 250 NL VNG / IPO 20 700 20 700 20 700 20 700 20 700 20 700 20 700 20 700 20 700 20 700 20 700 NO Kommunenes Sentralforbund 7 100 7 254 7 408 7 562 7 716 7 870 8 024 8 178 8 332 8 486 8 641 PL Assoc. of Polish Cities 3 240 3 458 3 677 3 895 4 114 4 332 4 551 4 769 4 988 5 206 5 424 Assoc.of Polish Counties 1 440 1 537 1 634 1 731 1 828 1 925 2 023 2 120 2 217 2 314 2 411 PT Associaçao Nacional de Municipios Portugueses 8 700 8 700 8 700 8 700 8 700 8 700 8 700 8 700 8 700 8 700 8 700 RO Association of Romanian Communes (ACOR) 675 748 820 893 966 1 039 1 111 1 184 1 257 1 329 1 402 Association of Romanian Towns (AOR) 675 748 820 893 966 1 039 1 111 1 184 1 257 1 329 1 402 National Union of County Councils of Romania 675 748 820 893 966 1 039 1 111 1 184 1 257 1 329 1 402 Romanian Municipalities Association (AMR) 675 748 820 893 966 1 039 1 111 1 184 1 257 1 329 1 402 RS Standing conference of towns & municip. of Serbia 346 387 429 470 512 553 595 636 678 719 761 SI Assoc. of Municipalities and Towns of Slovenia 300 321 341 362 382 403 423 444 465 485 506 SE Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions 13 000 13 000 13 000 13 000 13 000 13 000 13 000 13 000 13 000 13 000 13 000 SK Assoc. of Towns and Communities of Slovakia 1 400 1 400 1 400 1 400 1 400 1 400 1 400 1 400 1 400 1 400 1 400 UA Association of Ukrainian cities ** 2 959 2 959 2 959 2 959 2 959 2 959 2 959 2 959 2 959 2 959 2 959 UK Local Government Association 47 200 48 477 49 754 51 032 52 309 53 586 54 863 56 140 57 418 58 695 59 972 TOTAL 372 967 375 708 379 000 382 257 384 998 387 739 390 480 393 221 395 963 398 704 401 445

* Due to the French contributions to UCLG from Cités Unies France, AFCCRE settles 50 % of the nominal amount 85/ En raison des cotisations françaises versées par CUF, l'AFCCRE règle 50% de la cotisation nominale ** Calls to Ukraine and Georgia to be confirmed with UCLG / Les appels de cotisations en Ukraine et Géorgie doivent être confirmés avec CGLU Eurostat - Tables, Graphs and Maps Interface (TGM) table print preview Page 1 sur 1

Total population

At 1 January

geo time 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 European 497686229 499705496 501120688 502489143 Union (27 482767512 483797028 484635119 486646114 488797929 491134938 493210397 495291925 (p) (p) (p) (p) countries) Euro area 328487272 329991881 330931820 331965504 (17 314097369 315413267 316972081 318909529 320931192 323030150 324813716 326560819 (p) (p) (p) (p) countries) Euro area 327146337 328651466 329591693 330625310 (16 312725298 314046308 315610839 317553484 319580123 321682640 323469032 325218410 (p) (p) (p) (p) countries) 10918405 Belgium 10239085 10263414 10309725 10355844 10396421 10445852 10511382 10584534 10666866 10753080 10839905 (p) Bulgaria 8190876 8149468 7891095 7845841 7801273 7761049 7718750 7679290 7640238 7606551 7563710 7504868 Czech Republic 10278098 10266546 10206436 10203269 10211455 10220577 10251079 10287189 10381130 10467542 10506813 10532770 Denmark 5330020 5349212 5368354 5383507 5397640 5411405 5427459 5447084 5475791 5511451 5529449 5560628 Germany (including 81751602 82163475 82259540 82440309 82536680 82531671 82500849 82437995 82314906 82217837 82002356 81802257 former GDR (p) from 1991) Estonia 1372071 1366959 1361242 1356045 1351069 1347510 1344684 1342409 1340935 1340415 1340127 1340194 4450030 4467854 4480176 Ireland 3777565 3832783 3899702 3964191 4028851 4111672 4208156 4312526 4401335 (p) (p) (p) 11305118 11329618 Greece 10903757 10931206 10968708 11006377 11040650 11082751 11125179 11171740 11213785 11260402 (p) (p) Spain 40049708 40476723 40964244 41663702 42345342 43038035 43758250 44474631 45283259 45828172 45989016 46152926 64007290 64369147 64716310 65075310 France 60545022 60979315 61424036 61864088 62292241 62772870 63229635 63645065 (p) (p) (p) (p) 60626442 Italy 56923524 56960692 56993742 57321070 57888245 58462375 58751711 59131287 59619290 60045068 60340328 (p) Cyprus 690497 697549 705539 715137 730367 749175 766414 778684 789269 796875 803147 (p) 804435 (p) Latvia 2381715 2364254 2345768 2331480 2319203 2306434 2294590 2281305 2270894 2261294 2248374 2229641 Lithuania 3512074 3486998 3475586 3462553 3445857 3425324 3403284 3384879 3366357 3349872 3329039 3244601 Luxembourg 433600 439000 444050 448300 454960 461230 469086 476187 483799 493500 502066 511840 9986000 Hungary 10221644 10200298 10174853 10142362 10116742 10097549 10076581 10066158 10045401 10030975 10014324 (p)

391415 (p) Malta 380201 (bi) 394641 397296 399867 402668 405006 407810 410290 413609 414372 417608 16654979 Netherlands 15863950 15987075 16105285 16192572 16258032 16305526 16334210 16357992 16405399 16485787 16574989 (p) Austria 8002186 8020946 8063640 8100273 8142573 8201359 8254298 8282984 8318592 8355260 8375290 8404252 Poland 38653559 38253955 38242197 38218531 38190608 38173835 38157055 38125479 38115641 38135876 38167329 38200037 10637713 10636979 Portugal 10195014 10256658 10329340 10407465 10474685 10529255 10569592 10599095 10617575 10627250 (p) (p) 21413815 Romania 22455485 22430457 21833483 21772774 21711252 21658528 21610213 21565119 21528627 21498616 21462186 (p) 2010269 Slovenia 1987755 1990094 1994026 1995033 1996433 1997590 2003358 2010377 (b) 2032362 2046976 2050189 Slovakia 5398657 5378783 5378951 5379161 5380053 5384822 5389180 5393637 5400998 5412254 5424925 5435273 Finland 5171302 5181115 5194901 5206295 5219732 5236611 5255580 5276955 5300484 5326314 5351427 5375276 Sweden 8861426 8882792 8909128 8940788 8975670 9011392 9047752 9113257 9182927 9256347 9340682 9415570 United 59216138 59435480 59697037 60038695 61595091 62026962 62435709 Kingdom 58785246 58999781 (p) (p) (p) (p) 60409918 60781346 61191951 (p) (p) (p) Iceland 279049 283361 286575 288471 290570 293577 299891 307672 315459 319368 317630 318452 Liechtenstein 32426 32863 33525 33863 34294 34600 34905 35168 35356 35589 35894 36152 (p) Norway 4478497 4503436 4524066 4552252 4577457 4606363 4640219 4681134 4737171 4799252 4858199 4920305 7785806 7866500 Switzerland 7164444 7204055 7255653 7313853 7364148 7415102 7459128 7508739 7593494 7701856 (p) (p) Montenegro 612496 614791 617085 619300 621258 622978 623576 624896 627508 630142 632922 : 4497735 4438868 Croatia (s) (s) 4444608 4442744 4441733 4443901 4442884 4441238 4436401 4435056 4425747 4412137 Former Yugoslav 2057284 Republic of 2021578 2031112 2038651 2023654 2029892 2035196 2038514 2041941 2045177 2048619 2052722 (p) Macedonia, the 69689256 Turkey 66889425 67895581 68838069 69770026 70692009 71610009 72519974 (b) 70586256 71517100 72561312 73722988

:=Not available p=Provisional value b=Break in series i=See explanatory text s=Eurostat estimate

Source of Data: Eurostat Last update: 21.09.2011 Date of extraction: 22 sept. 2011 09:44:25 CEST Hyperlink to the table: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/tgm/table.do?tab=table&init=1&plugin=1&language=en&pcode=tps00001 General Disclaimer of the EC: http://europa.eu/geninfo/legal_notices_en.htm Short Description: The inhabitants of a given area on 1 January of the year in question (or, in some cases, on 31 December of the previous year). The population is based on data from the most recent census adjusted by the components of population change produced since the last census, or based on population registers. Code: tps00001

86 http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/tgm/printTable.do?tab=table&plugin=1&language=en&pcode=tps00001&printPreview=true 22/09/2011 Eurostat - Tables, Graphs and Maps Interface (TGM) table print preview Page 1 sur 2

GDP per capita in PPS

GDP per capita in Purchasing Power Standards (PPS) (EU-27 = 100)

geo time 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

European 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 Union (27 (b) countries) European 104 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 104 104 104 104 103 103 103 Union (25 (b) countries) European 113 116 116 115 115 115 115 115 114 114 113 112 112 111 110 110 Union (15 (b) countries) Euro area 109 114 113 113 113 113 112 112 111 110 109 109 109 108 108 108 (17 (b) countries) Euro area 109 114 114 113 113 113 112 112 111 110 109 109 109 109 109 108 (16 (b) countries) 129 120 126 126 123 123 126 124 125 123 121 118 116 115 116 118 Belgium (b) (b) Bulgaria 32 28 26 27 28 28 30 32 34 35 37 (b) 38 40 43 44 44 Czech 81 82 80 73 75 73 70 70 69 70 70 73 75 76 (b) 77 80 Republic (s) (s) (s) 124 132 132 133 132 131 132 128 128 124 126 124 123 123 121 125 Denmark (b) Germany 116 (including 129 127 124 122 121 118 116 115 116 116 116 116 116 115 118 former GDR (b) from 1991) Estonia 36 38 42 42 43 45 46 50 55 57 62 (b) 66 70 69 64 64 145 104 109 116 122 127 132 134 139 142 143 146 148 133 128 127 Ireland (b) 84 85 83 83 84 94 93 92 94 94 89 (p) 87 90 93 (p) Greece 84 (p) (p) (p) (p) (p) (p) 92 (p) (p) (p) (p) (p) 102 92 92 93 95 96 97 98 101 101 101 105 105 103 103 101 Spain (b) 110 116 115 114 115 115 115 116 116 111 110 108 108 106 107 107 France (b) 105 121 120 119 120 118 117 118 112 111 107 104 104 104 104 100 Italy (b) Cyprus 88 87 86 87 87 89 91 89 89 90 91 (b) 91 93 97 99 98 Latvia 31 32 35 36 36 36 38 41 43 46 48 (b) 51 56 56 52 52 Lithuania 36 37 39 40 39 39 41 44 49 50 53 (b) 55 59 61 55 58 255 223 222 215 218 238 245 234 240 248 253 271 275 280 272 283 Luxembourg (b) Hungary 52 52 53 55 55 55 59 62 63 64 63 (b) 63 62 65 65 64 Malta 86 79 80 81 81 85 79 81 80 78 78 (b) 77 76 78 81 83 131 123 125 127 129 131 134 134 133 129 129 131 132 133 131 133 Netherlands (b) 125 135 134 132 132 132 132 126 127 128 128 126 124 124 125 126 Austria (b) Poland 43 45 47 48 49 48 48 48 49 51 51 (b) 52 55 56 61 62 Portugal 77 77 78 79 81 81 80 80 79 77 79 (b) 79 79 78 80 81 Romania : 33 29 27 26 26 28 29 31 34 35 (b) 38 42 47 46 45 91 88 86 75 76 78 79 81 80 80 83 84 87 (b) 88 89 Slovenia 87 (b) (b) (b) Slovakia 48 50 51 52 51 50 52 54 56 57 60 (b) 63 68 72 73 74 114 108 106 110 114 115 117 115 115 113 116 114 118 119 114 116 Finland (b) 122 125 125 124 123 126 128 123 122 124 127 123 125 123 119 123 Sweden (b) 122

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(b) United 113 115 118 118 118 119 120 121 122 124 120 116 115 113 114 Kingdom 130 133 133 137 140 139 132 132 130 126 131 123 121 122 118 110 Iceland (b) Liechtenstein : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 176 135 143 147 138 145 165 161 155 156 164 184 179 189 175 179 Norway (b) 132 152 150 150 149 146 144 139 139 136 134 134 139 142 144 148 Switzerland (b) Montenegro : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 64 64 62 46 50 51 51 48 50 51 53 55 56 (b) 58 61 Croatia 57 (p) (p) (p) Former Yugoslav Republic of : : 27 27 27 27 25 25 26 27 29 (b) 30 31 34 36 35 Macedonia, the Turkey 30 31 33 43 40 42 37 36 36 40 42 (b) 44 45 47 46 48 159 United 159 160 161 161 163 161 157 154 156 157 154 151 146 145 149 States (b) 113 129 130 128 121 118 117 114 112 112 113 110 109 105 103 107 Japan (b)

:=Not available b=Break in series s=Eurostat estimate p=Provisional value

Source of Data: Eurostat Last update: 21.09.2011 Date of extraction: 22 sept. 2011 08:53:06 CEST Hyperlink to the table: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/tgm/table.do?tab=table&init=1&plugin=1&language=en&pcode=tsieb010 General Disclaimer of the EC: http://europa.eu/geninfo/legal_notices_en.htm Short Description:

Please be aware that this indicator has been rescaled, i.e. data is expressed in relation to EU-27 = 100. Thus, they are not comparable with previous releases based on EU-25 = 100.

Gross domestic product (GDP) is a measure for the economic activity. It is defined as the value of all goods and services produced less the value of any goods or services used in their creation. The volume index of GDP per capita in Purchasing Power Standards (PPS) is expressed in relation to the European Union (EU-27) average set to equal 100. If the index of a country is higher than 100, this country's level of GDP per head is higher than the EU average and vice versa. Basic figures are expressed in PPS, i.e. a common currency that eliminates the differences in price levels between countries allowing meaningful volume comparisons of GDP between countries. Please note that the index, calculated from PPS figures and expressed with respect to EU27 = 100, is intended for cross-country comparisons rather than for temporal comparisons. Code: tsieb010

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9 COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN MUNICIPALITIES AND REGIONS EUROPEAN SECTION OF UNITED CITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

POLICY COMMITTEE

 BRUSSELS, 12-13 DECEMBER 2011 

for decision  for information UNITED CITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

Draft decision The Policy Committee members are invited to:  Take note of the latest information concerning our world organisation, United Cities and Local Governments.

1. Kadir Topbaş, Mayor of Istanbul, was elected President of UCLG at the World Council in Mexico in November 2010, succeeding Bertrand Delanoë, Mayor of Paris. He is backed by Co-Presidents Antonio Costa (Lisbon, Portugal), Johnny Araya (San Jose, Costa Rica), Zhang Guangning (Guangzhou, China), Muchadeyi Masunda (Harare, Zimbabwe), and Ilsur Metsin (Kazan, Russian Federation). Ted Ellis (Bluffton, Indiana, USA) was appointed Treasurer.

2. Following the departure at the end of 2010 of the Secretary General, Elisabeth Gateau, procedures to recruit a new Secretary General were initiated. During the interim period, Clarence Anthony served as acting manager. Last June in Rabat, the Executive Bureau appointed Josep Roig, former Secretary General of Metropolis, as Secretary General of UCLG. Mr Roig officially took up his duties on 1st September 2011.

3. The UCLG World Council is to meet in Florence (Italy) on 9-11 December 2011, at the invitation of its Mayor, Matteo Renzi. Given the close proximity in meeting dates, an oral report will be given at the Policy Committee meeting.

4. At the Executive Bureau meeting in Rabat, President Topbaş stressed that, henceforth, his primary objective would be to obtain observer status for UCLG in the United Nations. The European Section has provided support to President Topbaş in this respect, and we are currently co-operating on ways which will best help us attain this objective.

5. Another issue raised in particular by the European members in Rabat was the place of the regions within UCLG. After having emphasised the importance of recognising the place of the regions in our organisation, we asked President Topbaş to have this item included on the Florence work agenda, a request which seems to have been granted based on the latest information at our disposal.

6. The Executive Bureau in Rabat also approved the creation of a standing committee on gender equality within UCLG in order notably to increase the presence of women on its governing bodies. Anne Hidalgo, first Deputy Mayor of Paris, should be chairing this committee.

7. Lastly, the European members of UCLG held their own meeting as part of the Rabat Council activities. In light of Europe’s standing within the world organisation – particularly from a 89 financial point of view – and recent changes, including in the decision-making process of UCLG’s governance, the participants underlined the importance of stepping up CEMR’s co- ordination between the European members of UCLG.

90 10.1 COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN MUNICIPALITIES AND REGIONS EUROPEAN SECTION OF UNITED CITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

POLICY COMMITTEE

 BRUSSELS, 12-13 DECEMBER 2011 

 for decision for information REQUEST FOR CEMR MEMBERSHIP OF THE ALBANIAN ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNES

Draft decision

The members of the Policy Committee are invited to:  Decide on the request for CEMR membership, as a full member, of the Albanian Association of Communes (AAC).

1. In June 2011, the CEMR secretariat was contacted by the Executive Director of the Albanian Association of Communes with a request to join CEMR.

2. The following report presents the information submitted by the leadership of AAC.

3. The AAC was founded in 1997.

Members

4. Membership of the Association is open to all local authorities, communes of Albania. Every Albanian commune is eligible to be a member. A commune is an administrative-territorial entity, communities usually in rural areas, but in certain cases in urban areas as well. The Association represents 308 communes, corresponding to 75% of the total number of local authorities in Albania, and about 53% of the population of the country.

5. The association has provided CEMR with information confirming their respect for democratic principles:  The representative and executive organs in communes are elected through general, direct elections, with secret voting, in the manner set forth in the Election Code of the Republic of Albania;  The association is open to all local authorities concerned;  The AAC’s Statutes provide for a full respect for pluralism (with no distinctions on the basis of religious, ethnic, political differences, etc.). The political, gender and geographical balances are taken into consideration in the election of members of governing bodies, in accordance with their Statutes.

Goals and Activities

6. AAC indicated the following types of activities carried out by the Association: - Meetings, lobbying and advocacy activities to defend the interests and fulfil needs of members; - Studies, information and exchange activities for the membership; - Publication of the periodical “Communes Newspaper”; - Organisation of round tables and seminars to discuss key issues for local authorities, intergovernmental relations and legislation;

91 - Training seminars, workshops with politicians and employees of communal administration; - Consultation and other services for membership; - Surveys on matters of common interest for AAC members; - Public awareness, through mass media, on communes’ issues and interests; - Active participation in meetings and events of national and international bodies, where invited or members.

The Association’s current annual budget is of 50 000 €.

The AAC is recognised as a partner by the national government, and has representatives in different governmental committees and inter-ministerial working groups. The Association receives on a regular basis draft legislation or national strategies for opinion and takes active part in consultation processes on drafting and preparing national legislation.

The Association does not take part in the national secretariat for the Albanian delegation to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, but has its members in the national delegation.

Statutory Bodies

7. The Chair is elected by secret vote, the candidate taking the simple majority of valid votes of members present in the General Assembly. The Steering Committee has 31 members, voted en block by the General Assembly, by secret vote, each region for its representatives.

The current President of the association is Sabri SOLLAKU, Mayor of Bradashesh. The Executive Director is Agron HAXHIMALI, who is also the person responsible for communication with CEMR.

CEMR membership in Albania

8. Following CEMR’s first contacts with the AAC, in accordance with CEMR’s Rules of Procedures (article I.1.3.), the secretariat consulted CEMR’s existing member in Albania, the Albanian Association of Municipalities. It was underlined that in accordance with CEMR’s statutory stipulations on membership, if the request is accepted, this would imply that this new member association would work together with the Albanian Association of Municipalities to jointly ensure the contribution of Albanian local government in CEMR’s work. This would further imply that the two associations would collaborate to agree their political representation in CEMR’s governing bodies (Albania has currently 3 seats on the Policy Committee), and likewise, the two associations would determine jointly the respective apportioning of the CEMR membership fee for Albania.

In response, the Albanian Association of Municipalities expressed full approval of the request for CEMR membership from the AAC. Indeed, the Director of the AAM provided a letter of support for the AAC’s application (additional dossier), in which they underline the close working collaboration between the two Albanian associations.

9. At their meeting in Cádiz in October 2011, the Secretaries General and Directors expressed a positive view toward this application and unanimously recommended that the Policy Committee agree full CEMR membership for the AAC.

92 10.2 COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN MUNICIPALITIES AND REGIONS EUROPEAN SECTION OF UNITED CITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

POLICY COMMITTEE

 BRUSSELS, 12-13 DECEMBER 2011 

 for decision for information

FOLLOW-UP TO REQUEST FROM THE FAROESE MUNICIPAL ORGANISATION

Draft decision

The members of the Policy Committee are invited to:

 Hear the presentation from the President of the Faroese Municipal Organisation (KSF), and agree the participation of the KSF as observers to the work of CEMR.

1. Following first contacts late autumn 2010, during which the Faroese Municipal Organisation (KSF) expressed keen interest in working with CEMR, the association formalised this request, transmitted to the secretariat in April 2011.

2. The following report presents the information submitted by the President of KSF.

3. KSF was founded in 1999.

Members

4. Membership of the association is open to all municipalities in the Faroe Island. The association represents 7 municipalities, corresponding to 23.3% of the total number of municipalities in the Faroe Islands, and about 69.5% of the population.

5. The association has provided CEMR with information confirming their respect for democratic principles:  All members of the organisation are democratically elected local authorities;  The association is open to all local authorities concerned;  The association’s governing bodies are set up with respect for pluralism (political, ethnic, gender, religious...).

Goals and Activities

6. The aim of KSF is to work for common goals and greater local self-government and local democracy. The main goal is to organise the Faroe Islands into sustainable and productive municipalities, which would address all issues directly pertinent to the citizens. KSF believes that solutions to individual needs are to be found in local democracy.

KSF works for clear division between the State and municipalities regarding tasks and responsibilities, and for the strengthening of municipal authorities as a whole.

93 KSF arranges meetings and seminars, produces information materials, advises and enables the municipalities.

On behalf of the member municipalities, KSF is also a member of Municipal Employers of the Faroe Islands (KAF), whose goal is to defend the interests of the members with all that concerns earnings and employee regulations.

KSF is involved in running Faroese Children Protection Services (BVS), which is a municipal organisation. The goal of BVS is to advise and assist municipalities in connection with child protection issues.

The association’s current annual budget is of 400 000 € (for 2011).

KSF represents the municipalities with regard to all legal hearings, lawmaking and interpretation of laws. KSF communicates and cooperates with the State administration on behalf of the municipalities.

Statutory Bodies

7. The seven municipalities are lead by committees, which are elected democratically every fourth year. The highest administrative leader is the mayor, who is elected by the committee members. In KSF the Mayors represent the member municipalities on the board. The board then elects the President/Chair for a period of two years.

The current President of the association is Ms Gunvá VIÐ KELDU, Mayor of Klaksvík. The current Director is Mr Eyðun CHRISTIANSEN, who is also the person responsible for communication with CEMR.

The Faroe Islands’ request to CEMR

8. Following CEMR’s first contacts with the KSF, the secretariat consulted CEMR’s member associations in Denmark, given that the Faroe Islands, whilst enjoying home rule, constitute a part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

CEMR’s two full Danish member associations confirmed that they would support accepting the KSF taking part in the work of CEMR, provided that this would have no consequences for the representation of the two existing members’ in the CEMR bodies.

9. During the meeting of the Secretaries General and Directors in Belgrade, the members took note of the request for associate membership of the Faroese Municipal Organisation, received formally just prior to the meeting. Broad debate followed on the statutory points relating to the Faroe Islands’ status.

It was generally agreed that some form of partnership would in principle be welcomed given that the Danish associations currently in membership of CEMR do not represent the interest of the Faroese municipalities. However, in the context of CEMR’s statutory stipulations, different members indicated that any formal membership arrangement would not be possible, and that the matter needed further study. At the Secretaries General and Directors debate in Cádiz on the matter, it was agreed that given the complexity of the statutory provisions and legal status in question, and the membership’s broadly positive view to establishing some links with the Association, CEMR should go ahead and seek a less formal working arrangement with the KSF.

10. In this context, the Secretaries General and Directors recommended that the Policy Committee be invited to approve the participation of the KSF as observers to the work of CEMR, allowing their representatives to participate in technical meetings of interest, and in political meetings, with no voting rights.

94 11 COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN MUNICIPALITIES AND REGIONS EUROPEAN SECTION OF UNITED CITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

2.12.2011/cg

PROVISIONAL CALENDAR OF CEMR EVENTS

2 0 1 1

December

9-11 FLORENCE UCLG World Council

12-13 BRUSSELS Policy Committee, high level event, and final celebration of 60th anniversary

14 BRUSSELS Employers’ Platform

15 BRUSSELS Plenary of the sectoral social dialogue Committee (CEMR-EPSU)

2 0 1 2

March

21 COPENHAGEN Executive Bureau (at the occasion of the Danish EU Presidency) [tbc]

22-23 COPENHAGEN 5th Summit of Europe’s Regions and Cities of the Committee of the Regions

April

2-4 FLORENCE PLATFORMA Annual Conference [tbc]

May

21-22 VILNIUS Secretaries General and Directors

June

4-6 RIO DE JANEIRO RIO+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development UCLG Executive Bureau (tbc)

September

26 CÁDIZ Policy Committee

26-28 CÁDIZ 25th General Assembly

95

November

15-16 BRUSSELS Secretaries General and Directors [tbc]

December

10-11 [def.] Policy Committee [tbc]

NB: [def.] = to be defined - [tbc] = to be confirmed

96