After a three-year hiatus, Partenalia members finally had the opportunity to meet in person on October, 13th in the European Capital for the first time in their new headquarters of 35 Square de Meeûs for the network’s annual Political Council.
The members also participated in the two European Week of Regions and Cities workshops organised by Partenalia and the European Confederation of Local Intermediate Authorities (CEPLI) on Proximity Tourism and Energy Resiliency.
Elections to the Managing Board took place as they do every couple of years. The members unanimously reelected President Manuel Baltar of the Deputación de Ourense and elected provincial councilor André Viola of the Département de l’Aude and provincial councilor Bartolomé Nofuentes of the Mancomunitat de L’Horta Sud as Vice-president.
The members thus unanimously voted in favour of the membership of the Provincia di Lucca, Judet (province) of Timiş and the Judet of Maramureş (Romania) to Partenalia.
The network is now present in five member States.
The next Conference of Partenalia will take place in the Province of Segovia during the first trimester of 2023 and will focus on the better access to EU funds for small municipalities and SMEs, especially with the aim of fighting rural depopulation.
Partenalia members decided to give their support to the Marseille Manifesto insisting on the significance of point n°5.
In the margins of the Political Council, a delegation of Partenalia of Partenalia political representatives headed by President Baltar met with President Alves Cordeiro of the European Committee of the Regions to convey the demand of Partenalia members consisting in including the word “province – NUTS III” in the eligibility criteria of those calls for European funding programs that are most relevant to this level of government.
Then Vice-President Carlos Bielsa of the Diputación de Valencia also met with the Vice-president of the European Parliament’s Committee on Regional Development, Mr. Krzysztof Hetman, to convey the same proposal which received his support.