1st Forum of local goverments from the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean
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Launched by the French, Italian and Spanish Ministries of Foreign Affairs and within the framework of the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union, the first European Union, Latin American and Caribbean Local Governments Forum took place in Paris on 29th and 30th November 2007.
The Forum brought together more than 200 participants, notably mayors and councillors from local governments of 17 Latin American and 10 European countries.
During the three plenary sessions and two parallel workshops, some 30 speakers addressed the Forum on the two central subjects, namely social cohesion and decentralised cooperation. In addition, local officials and representatives present in the audience also marked the debates with many speeches. Thanks to the many meetings and informal discussions, the Forum enabled new contacts to be made, certain cooperation projects to be strengthened, and numerous experiences in local public policy to be exchanged.
The speeches and discussions which marked the Forum revealed three strategic pillars:
1. the confirmation of the international role of local governments and the need to ensure a place for them in the bi-regional dialogue between the European Union, Latin American and Caribbean states;
2. the importance of decentralised cooperation in facilitating both this dialogue and a more balanced co-development;
3. the need to guarantee social justice, access to jobs and a sense of collective belonging to successfully build social cohesion. States as well as local authorities have a key role to play in meeting these challenges.
Introducing the Forum, Jean-Marie BOCKEL, Secretary of State responsible for Cooperation and the French-Speaking World, said, ‘For the first time, four EU states – Italy, Spain, Portugal and France – are proposing to integrate an additional level in the dialogue which has existed between the two continents and their member states for many years. Aware that the two regions and their states have everything to gain from the deeper involvement of local authorities in cooperation policies, this additional level concerns the on-the-ground proximity and local responsibility embodied by local councillors.’
Among the many solid conclusions and proposals at the end of the Forum, the following should be highlighted:
- Establishing this Forum as a permanent venue and instrument for dialogue and meeting between European and Latin American local governments;
- Obtaining recognition of this Forum within the system of Summits of Heads of State and Government of the EU, Latin America and the Caribbean;
- In agreement with the associations and networks of local governments, designating a European and Latin American delegation of local councillors responsible for presenting this Forum’s conclusions at the Fifth Summit of EU-LAC Heads of State and Government which will take place in Lima, Peru, in May 2008;
- Holding the two continents’ second Local Governments Forum in Latin America in 2009 and the third in Europe in 2011.
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