- 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/
- Two Basque programs among the four European projects selected by the Inter-American Development Bank as good practices in gender equality.
- Implementing gender equality in public procurement by Basque public administrations and ‘Virginia Woolf Basqueskola’, the program for the empowerment of women politicians.
- A joint delegation from EUDEL and Emakunde presented both initiatives at a seminar in Washington DC on good practices in gender equality.
EUDEL, the Association of Basque Municipalities, and Emakunde, the Basque Women’s Institute, were invited by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to present two of their projects on April 27th at a seminar in Washington DC on good practices in gender equality.
After a pre-selection process (35 projects were initially preselected), four good practices in gender equality were selected from across Europe, two of which were developed in the Basque Country: the process of implementing equality public procurement by the Basque public administrations and “Virginia Woolf Basqueskola’, the program for the empowerment of women politicians.
The first will be presented by the Director of Emakunde, Izaskun Landaida, and the second by the Mayor of Elburgo, Natividad López de Munain, on behalf of EUDEL. This event and other working meetings during these days in Washington have been supported by the General Secretariat for External Action of the Basque Government and the Delegation of Euskadi in the United States.
Gender equality clauses in procurement contracts
The first of the good practices selected, the integration of the gender perspective in the public procurement processes, is a practice that began in the Basque administration after the approval of the Law for the Equality of Women and Men (2005). From that point on, a comprehensive and inter-institutional process was initiated aimed at making the inclusion of clauses for the equality of women and men a common and widespread practice in the Basque public administrations. Gender equality clauses in public procurement are provisions or conditions included in the contracts made by public institutions to carry out public works or purchase goods or services and aimed at eliminating gender inequalities and promoting equality of women and men. More information on gender equality clauses in contracts, subsidies and grants.
The second of the good practices selected was ‘Virginia Woolf Basqueskola’, an initiative by Emakunde and EUDEL that began in 2012 to create a “space of their own” for women elected officials, Mayors and Councilors, in Basque municipalities. The project’s main lines of action are information, training, skills development and individual and collective empowerment, as well as the creation of networks to foster pacts and alliances. Over the last years, Basqueskola has organized seminars, coaching for leadership and communication, workshops, and experience sharing. All the information, publications and materials are available on the website www.virginiawoolfbasqueskola.eus
Inter-American Development Bank
The IDB aims to improve quality of life in Latin America and the Caribbean. To this end, it promotes the improvement health, education and infrastructure through financial and technical support to countries working to reduce poverty and inequality. It is the main source of financing for the development of the region. The bank offers loans, donations and technical assistance as well as carrying out extensive research. In this case, the IDB surveyed and identified good practices in Europe regarding the equality of women and men in order to support their transfer to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In addition, the Basque delegation held several working meetings with the Organization of American States (OAS), the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) of the OAS, the leadership of the Women in Public Service Project (Global Women’s Leadership Initiative), the international NGO Promundo, and representatives of the Seton Hall Basque Studies group, among others.
“Women are under-represented in political decision making at municipal level and face specific difficulties in accessing and participating in local politics in equal opportunities”, according to the Report presented by Inger Linge[1] at the 31st Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe on women’s political participation and representation at local and regional levels, held on 20th October.
Balanced participation of men and women in decision making is a vital prior requirement for any democratic society. This is stated in the European Charter for Men and Women’s Equality in Local Life which encourages local governments to implement the necessary measures and strategies to promote balanced representation and participation of women and men in all local decision-making arenas.
Among these measures, article 23 of Law 4/2005 for the Equality of Men and Women enacted by the Basque Parliament also establishes that “all Basque public authorities must promote a balanced representation of duly qualified and skilled men and women in all appointments and recruitment processes of those who will become part of their management and public administration bodies. To achieve this, they will implement regulatory measures or any other measures as may be required.” The aforementioned Law also refers to a balanced presence of men and women in management bodies of associations and organisations of professional, corporate, social economy, trade union, political, cultural or any other nature, envisaging that Basque public administrations may adapt the corresponding aid to implement measures facilitating an increased presence of women in those management bodies where they are under-represented, while also preventing aid from being granted to associations and organisations which apply gender discrimination in their admission or operative processes.
Only 24.7% of municipal councils in the Basque Autonomous region are led by Mayoresses, who represent 18.82 % of the Basque population. In 2015, political parties opted to include women as lead candidates in only 32.58% of electoral lists. Regarding timing, women tend to be promoted at a slower pace and maintain leadership positions for shorter periods.
Only one of the leading Basque trade unions has a female General Secretary; while none of the four financial institutions based in the Basque Country has a female Chairperson and women’s representation accounts for just 22.6% in their main decision-making bodies.
Although no significant gender difference is found regarding the percentage of women and men participation in associations, women are the majority in associations related to traditional female roles, such as: education, religion, co-operation for development and social care associations; while their representation is less prevalent in sports, political, trade union, professional, art and residents’ associations.
On the other hand, women’s associations often operate with limited budgets and reduced influence capacity in municipal politics.
AWARE of this situation, the Council of ______________ undertaking the European Report recommendations, the commitments derived from the European Charter for Men and Women’s Equality in Local Life and the provisions set forth in Act 4/2005 for Women and Men Equality agrees to:
- ensure balanced representation of men and women in our consulting and decision-making bodies and in appointments for any local body positions so that both genders are represented by at least 40% (except for specific schemes aimed at promoting women’s participation);
- set up mechanisms to prevent elected female representatives being affected by stereotypes regarding competence or role assignation, as well as any other form of discrimination or harassment;
- implement measures aimed at reconciliating participation with personal and family life in terms of both working hours and methods, as well as care support systems;
- systematically collect, process and publish statistics broken down by gender to follow up the evolution of women’s participation at local level and develop corrective actions based on this analysis;
- reinforce spaces and networks to boost the participation of women such as Women’s Houses, Schools of Empowerment and/or Municipal Equality Councils; and facilitate access to programmes such as the school of empowerment for elected women ‘Virginia Woolf Basqueskola’;
- implement specific actions aimed at facilitating empowerment and promotion of socio-political participation for women in the municipality and in particular, including members of minority groups;
- ensure citizen participation processes carried out in the municipality take into account a gender perspective; and
- provide the necessary resources for equality areas as well as the other municipal areas to facilitate the implementation of these measures.
With the same aim of reinforcing social and political participation of women, we urge political parties to undertake these commitments and implement measures leading the way for other political and social actors.
[1] Inger Linge is the Gender Equality Rapporteur at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.
A conversation with Ibon Uribe. Mayor of Galdakao, EUDEL Equality representative and Chair of the Equality Committee of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR)
* Part of this interview was published in the January 2017 issue of the ‘Carta Local’ magazine (FEMP).
-What is the remit of the CEMR Equality area that you represent?
Its institutional mission is fundamental and its multi-level work encompasses three spheres:
- Fostering and facilitating equality policies in European municipalities
- Incorporating equality into the structure, culture and work of the CEMR as an organisation
- Lobbying the European Institutions to strengthen the role of the Municipalities in the implementation of European equality policy.
–In which aspects, and please be as specific as possible, do the general public feel the effect of the work you do and the agreements you adopt?
Our activity affects and impacts the daily life of women and men. The work of the CEMR is underpinned by a common standard for all municipalities, the European Charter for Equality of Women and Men in Local Life (2006). The signatory local governments of the Charter assume the political commitment to develop equality policies in different spheres. Since its launch, hundreds of projects have been implemented in such different areas as health, mobility, employment, climate, violence against women, etc, to achieve more equalitarian and inclusive municipalities.
I would highlight in my local realm, that of the Basque municipalities, the ‘Beldur Barik’ project to prevent gender-based violence among young people, to give a specific example of good practices. A second success story is that of the Swedish city of Västerås, where the gender perspective has been incorporated into the municipality’s urban planning and in the design of infrastructures that take the specific needs of women and men into account.
– What are the objectives for the term in office on which you are now embarking?
We embarked on the term in office as the Equality Chair in 2014 with these objectives:
(1) To influence equality policies within the European organisations by representing the municipalities, associations and the CEMR.
2) To raise political awareness for equality by increasing the number of signatories to the European Equality Charter.
(3) To reinforce the work of the municipal associations of the CEMR and to monitor the implementation of equality in the statutory structures of the CEMR.
The objective for the coming years is to maximise the transformative power of municipalities to make our society more equalitarian and to put equality at the centre of the political agenda locally and regionally.
-And can you tell us about any priority action?
In June 2018 (11-13), Bilbao will host the CEMR’s Conference under the theme ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion’. I would like the event to attract the largest possible number of signatories of the European Charter to showcase a European Network of Municipalities for Equality based on the experience of the Basque Berdinsarea Network and for the necessary resources to be available for it to carry out its work.
-What are the basic objectives in the medium-long term beyond this term of office?
The medium-long term priorities regarding equality were actually approved at Maastricht and comprise:
1. Political commitment. Gender equality must be at the centre of the political agenda and be included in all policies, legislation, services, activities and budgets.
2. Balanced participation of women and men. The balanced representation and equalitarian influence of women and men in political life, at all levels of government, is a prior requirement for a democratic society. Positive actions, such as the quota systems, are needed to achieve this objective.
3. Social commitment and awareness raising. Awareness-raising, commitment and the involvement of boys and men in the fight for equality are necessary at all levels of society.
4. Eradication of violence against women. Urgent action must be adopted at all levels of governance to prevent violence against women and girls, help victims and survivors, hold the policy makers to account and raise awareness about all forms of violence against women in order to change attitudes and behaviour.
5. Equal access and control of services and resources. Services and resources (for example: health, sport and recreation, social welfare) of the same quality must be accessible for women and men, girls and boys, and adapted to their different needs and preferences.
6. Consolidate the participation of women in the job market and economic empowerment. More measures are needed, in particular, to close the gender pension and pay gap and eliminate occupational segregation.
7. Work-life balance. Measures must be adopted to improve a between work-life balance for women and men, for example, by introducing job flexibility measures, non-transferrable paternity leave and providing affordable and high-quality care services. Unpaid care and domestic work must be shared fairly between women and men.
8. Equality as a core European value. Europe must integrate the fundamental value of equality between women in men in its global actions, such as trade policy, development cooperation and humanitarian work.
9. Gender perspective in migration and refugee policy. Europe must assume the specific needs faced by female and male migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.
10. European funding of local actions to foster equality.Appropriate funds and programmes are needed to support the endeavours to progress regarding gender equality. In particular, regarding the European Equality Charter and its online Observatory, along with regional and local initiatives in the field of equality.
–And what does achieving that depend on?
It depends on being able to put equality at the heart of the political agenda, on the necessary resources being earmarked, on coordinating work between the different levels of government and to the fundamental role being recognised that the European municipalities are playing and must play in this regard.
-The vast majority of the general public when asked does not know what the CEMR is. Can you explain the role of the CEMR in a straightforward and easy-to-understand way?
The Council of European Municipalities and Region (CEMR) is the voice of all the municipalities of Europe. It represents nearly 150,000 regional and local governments from 42 different countries.
The CEMR is widely unknown because it has a complex and essential mission that must be handled discretely: by lobbying to defend municipal interests before the common institutions of the EU.
Its work from its Brussels headquarters is twofold: That of influencing, on the one hand, to influence European legislation on behalf of the municipalities; while at the same time acting as a platform to exchange and showcase good practices and innovative projects at local level.
-What is or what should be the CEMR role in the future of the EU be?
The objectives of the CEMR include contributing to the development of the European spirit from the cities and regions, building a greater and better Europe from local level. The municipality, as the level of government closest to the public, is the base of European democracy, coexistence, and solidarity.
In the coming years, the objective is to progress towards Good Local Governance. Local institutions closer to the people; a new municipal policy with five transversal pillars: public ethics, transparency, citizen participation, innovation and, of course, equality.