GOLD Report I - UCLG

EUROPE162United Cities and Local GovernmentsToday, the Councilof EuropeanMunicipalities andRegions (CEMR)is anon-governmentalumbrellaorganization for thenationalassociations oflocal and regionalauthorities of 35European Statesare often the same ones that appear in thesecond category, though with the additionof associations in Austria, Germany, theNetherlands, Ireland, Finland, and most ofthe Central and Eastern European countries.In the latter countries the associationsreceive support for this from theircounterparts in the Western Europeancountries. The fourth category is characterizedby the difficulty of distinguishing theassociations that represent specific interestsfrom those that are legal tools forfacilitating cooperation between separatelocal councils in jointly carrying out sharedwork on specific tasks (Bulgaria, Estonia,Lithuania). This last category reflects someconfusion, at the same time obscuring distinctionsthat absolutely must be clear ifinter-municipal cooperation is to developon a stable foundation.We can expect that the growing interdependenceof different tiers of government–financial as well as functional– will lead tothe development of the role of localgovernment associations in all the countries.Moreover, local government associationshave been developing cooperation at theEuropean level since the 1950s. Today, theCouncil of European Municipalities andRegions (CEMR) is a non-governmentalumbrella organization for the nationalassociations of local and regional authoritiesof 35 European States. The mission ofthe CEMR is to promote a European Unionfounded on local self-government, and itlobbies to be permitted input on EuropeanCommunity legislation and EU policies. Itregularly publishes documents describingits position on EU initiatives or projects inprogress, for example on the Commission’sGreen Paper on energy efficiency (February15, 2006), on the urban contributionto growth and jobs in the regions(March 10, 2006), on the proposal for aregulation of the European Parliament onpublic passenger transport services by railand by road (April 2, 2006), on the role oflocal and regional governments in relationto migration (October 23, 2006), and onthe directive proposal establishing a frameworkfor the protection of soil (April 14,2007). The CEMR is also the Europeanbranch of United Cities and Local Governments.There are other European-levellocal authority associations, in particularEurocities, a network of 130 big Europeancities in 30 countries that has existed since1986, and whose aims and forms of actionare similar, though more from the point ofview of the big cities. These organizationscan find a support and a relay for their proposalsin the Committee of the Regions ofthe European Union, though this institutionis not their only channel for making representations.