- A EUDEL delegation led by EUDEL President, Imanol Landa, participated in the Policy Committee of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), today and yesterday.
- EUDEL President and Bilbao City Mayor, Juan Mari Aburto, invited their European counterparts through a video message to the next Policy Committee to be held on 11th June, the first day of the conference next year.
- Almost 200 representatives of local governments and municipality associations from 47 European countries attended the CEMR political assembly in Chios.
- Imanol Landa informed local representatives of the organisation work progress made of the CEMR Conference on ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion’, to be held in Bilbao from 11th to 13th June 2018, at the Euskalduna Conference Centre.
- At the Chios Forum, local leaders from the entire continent proposed possible solutions from municipalities to address several challenges. Their input and ideas will materialise in a position paper on ‘the future of Europe’ which will be presented before the European Commission in response to president Jean-Claude Juncker’s call to institutions to contribute to the debate on EU current status to take place in December.
- The Greek island Mayor put forward a debate focused on the migrants and refugees crisis where representatives from the European Commission, United Nations, OECD, UCLG, the European Council and EUDEL participated in. EUDEL conveyed the multi-level Basque strategy to reinforce refugee reception in Basque Country.
Chios, on 13th June 2017. EUDEL President, Imanol Landa, participated on 12th and 13th June, with Galdakao Mayor, Ibon Uribe, as European Equality Committee representative, at the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) which took place for the first time on the Greek island of Chios. The event coincided with the migrants and refugees crisis which is affecting Europe and amid the institutional and social debate on the EU’s future, addressing the need to renovate the EU project to legitimise it and regain citizens’ trust.
The CEMR political assembly attracted almost 200 members of local governments and municipality associations from 47 European countries.This body headquartered in Brussels has a dual mission: to influence European legislation on behalf of municipalities; and provide a platform to exchange experiences and good practices for their members and associates.
From 11th to 13th June 2018, elected representatives and technicians from all European municipalities, as well as expert professionals and individuals are invited to take part in the most important European meeting on local equality, diversity and inclusion policies at the Euskalduna Conference Centre (Bilbao). The agreement to host the CEMR Conference in Bilbao in 2018 was subscribed in December 2016 at the committee meeting prior to Maastricht by CEMR and EUDEL Presidents, as well as by Bilbao City Mayor.
Imanol Landa, on behalf of EUDEL, invited the different associations of municipalities to “actively participate in the Conference programme” because “this is the conference of all European municipalities” and is also “a unique opportunity to define new social policies based on the local sphere with a bottom-up approach, to place people at the center of municipal management as well as receivers of public services”. President Landa, invited all CEMR members to take part in the Policy Committee to be hosted within the Bilbao Conference framework on 11th June next year.
In addition, Bilbao City Mayor, Juan Mari Aburto, also sent a video from the city hosting the Conference to greet his CEMR counterparts. In his message, the Mayor called on members not to miss the next appointment in June 2018 and stated that Bilbao City Council is “working non-stop with EUDEL, to ensure this forum finds the best scenarios to share experiences and develop ideas in our city” and to “turn Bilbao into the European focus of the debate to build a better, fairer, more inclusive and humanitarian Europe ”.
Official Conference Website: www.cemrbilbao2018.eu#cemrbilbao2018
Common position on the future of Europe, refugees and reconciliation
At the Chios forum, local leaders from the entire continent contributed with possible solutions from municipalities to face the multiple challenges found in public, political, economic, social, labour realms and other scenarios. All insights and ideas will materialise in a position paper shared by local governments on the ‘future of Europe’ to be presented before the European Commission in response to the call made by President Jean-Claude Juncker, to all European institutions in October, to contribute to the debate on the EU state.
This debate will kick off in September with a speech by President Juncker, to present the first ideas before any conclusions from the European Council of December 2017 are drawn. This will contribute to defining an action line which may be implemented in time for the European Parliament elections of June 2019.
In addition to the ‘White Book on the Future of Europe’, drafted by the Commission, other concept papers such as those expected to be delivered by CEMR in forthcoming months, will put forward ideas, proposals, options or scenarios for Europe in 2025.
Chios Mayor, Manolis Vournous, and the Greek association of municipalities (KEDE), have put forward a debate focused on the migrants and refugees crisis where the highest representatives of the European Commission, European Council, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, OECD, (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) and UCLG (United Cities and Local Governments), among other official bodies have taken part. In the debate, EUDEL President, Imanol Landa, informed international and European representatives of the Basque multi-level strategy led by the Basque President and the Basque Government in collaboration with all social institutions and bodies to strengthen the reception of refugees in the Basque Country with the commitment and direct involvement of Basque town councils.
Other documents of political and institutional relevance in the European scope were presented at the Policy Committee in June, such as the ‘Position paper on work-life balance’ on reconciliation of work and family life measures in the scope of local public recruitment, which was explained by the current President of the CEMR Standing Committee for Equality, Ibon Uribe.
For further information on CEMR Policy Committee, visit http://www.ccre.org/