Gathering the delegations of 11 national associations of local intermediate authorities and associated networks, this conference marked an important step towards the formal institutionalization of the Confederation.
The political representatives adopted the ASBL statute (document attached) allowing CEPLI to acquire a legal personality and enabling it to act in a more efficient way at European level.
The Political Conference reconfirmed its elected Bureau, namely:
- the President – Mr. Giuseppe CASTIGLIONE, President of the Province of Catania and President of the Union of Italian Provinces (UPI);
- the Vice-President – Mr. Paul-Emile MOTTARD, President of the Association of Walloon Provinces, Belgium, representative of the Province of Liege;
- the Secretary-General – Mr. Claudy LEBRETON, President of the Assembly of French Departments (ADF), President of the Department of Côtes d’Armor; and
- the Treasurer – Mr. Helmut JAHN, member of the presidency of DLT (Deutscher Landkreistag, Germany), President of Hohenlohekreis.
The statutory part of the Political Conference was followed by a political debate with the following title: “The local intermediate authorities facing the new challenges of the European Union after 2013: the new cohesion policy, the financial perspectives and the institutional reforms in Europe”. This debate allowed the political representatives of CEPLI to exchange views on the role that local intermediate authorities may have and need to have in Europe. In fact, the presence and actions of the closest levels of government to the citizens at European level are even more fundamental in this particular moment, before the publication of the EU budgetary perspectives and the adoption of the new European legislation on cohesion policy.
«Go local» was the motto used not only by the CEPLI members in their interventions, but also by others speakers, including the Director Raoul Prado, representing the EU DG Regio at the Conference.
In fact, to overcome the failure of the Lisbon strategy and reach the ambitious results of the new strategy Europe 2020, there’s the need to restart from the territories, involving the local authorities in the designing and implementation processes of EU policies, in line with the principle of multi-level governance.
The European Provinces want to play a key role in the governance process of the new 2014-2020 planning of the cohesion policy. In this context, CEPLI can be fundamental in building a unitary project at European level, able to ensure a stronger role to the local communities.
The CEPLI members have welcomed the suggestion of Mr. Prado who, in view of a strengthening of the partnership of the Commission with the Provinces of Europe, officially invited CEPLI to join the next round table of the Commission on the future of the cohesion policy that will take place at the end of 2011.
The political debate focused also on the future of the Local Intermediate Authorities in relation with the institutional reforms currently under review in some European member countries, reforms that are questioning the role of Provinces in the institutional architecture of the Member States.
In this context, the participants discussed the proposal presented by CEPLI to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, namely a resolution proposal on the role of Provinces in Europe to be approved next year (document attached). This debate will continue during the next months with Mr. Marino Fiasella, President of the Province of La Spezia and Member of the Congress.