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Eastern Partnership: Luc Van den Brande calls on foreign affairs ministers to introduce a "territorial" approach and proposes mechanisms for cooperation
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Eastern Partnership: Luc Van den Brande calls on foreign affairs ministers to introduce a "territorial" approach and proposes mechanisms for cooperation
8 Dec 2009
Committee of the Regions
CoR president Luc Van den Brande attended the meeting of foreign affairs ministers of the Eastern Partnership partner countries on 8 December in Brussels to explain the need to add a "territorial" approach and involve local and regional authorities by providing specific mechanisms.
The Swedish presidency of the EU had asked him to give this presentation, as part of his attendance at the inaugural summit on 7 May and the ensuing four consultation platforms.
"The CoR proposes to develop a truly 'territorial' dimension to the Eastern Partnership," said Luc Van den Brande, "and so I urge the 27 Member States and six partner countries to reach a multilateral agreement enabling the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) to be used in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine as it is in the EU. The EGTC can help develop relations between national, regional and local authorities, thereby strengthening the commitment of all tiers of governance to the Eastern Partnership."
The CoR is also considering several other avenues for cooperation, such as involving partner countries in projects underway in EU countries and funded by the structural funds; this could help enhance their administrative capacity as well as promote good governance. The European institutions could also develop and support new practices, such as EU-partner country exchanges of local and regional level civil servants.
In conclusion, Luc Van den Brande emphasised that the CoR fully agreed with the goal of encouraging mutual commitments to the rule of law, good governance, respect for and protection of minorities, market economy principles and sustainable development.
The CoR will therefore organise a second forum on the local and regional dimension of the Eastern Partnership in autumn 2010, following the forum in June and the opinion adopted in April. This will lay the groundwork for the local and regional assembly of Eastern Europe and the Southern Caucasus, the next link in the chain of forging regional and local relations between the EU and the Eastern Partnership countries.
Reference: www.cor.europa.eu
