GOLD Report I - UCLG

161be made among four categories of associations.The first is that of the associationswhose activities are essentially to representthe collective interests of localgovernments to the central government, orto the regional authorities. These are foundparticularly in Austria, Belgium, France,Germany, Greece, Italy and Spain, as wellas most associations from the easterncountries. The second category is associationsthat have developed a role of representingthe local authorities as employers,and thus play a part in labour relationswith the local government’s staff; it is theseassociations that sign the collectiveagreements legally required for fixing theemployment terms of local personnel. Thisconcerns the countries where the employmentof local government staff is governedby private law, in particular Denmark, Norway,Sweden, the United Kingdom, andmore recently, Italy. This does not meanthat the other associations are not interestedin such matters; they just do not haveany legal responsibilities for the staff.Third, some associations have developed arole as agents for consultancy and otherservices to the local governments; these