Spring package: EUaction plan for achieving the millennium development goals
CIVEX-V/006
Spring package: EUaction plan for achieving the millennium development goals
THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,
- thinks that it is important to reiterate the crucial role which local and regional authorities (LRAs) play in the organisation and provision of basic services in accordance with democratic and effective governance aimed at improving people's well-being;
- without taking into account development needs at local level, for example by supporting small rural farms, emigration from the countryside will only exacerbate the misery in mega-cities that have become unmanageable or strengthen migration flows to other countries;
- calls on the European Commission to integrate the local approach to development when finalising regional (i.e. concerning several countries) and national strategy documents with partner countries; notes, in this regard, the need to involve LRAs in the drawing up and implementation of development programmes. Responding to the challenges of globalisation presupposes taking on board LRAs, who are responsible on the ground for democratic governance and local development;
- finds it all the more regrettable that LRAs, both in the EU and recipient countries, are not mentioned explicitly in the first Commission communication as being among the partners involved in the achievement of the MDGs;
- proposes that the possibility be considered that each of Europe's 100 000 LRAs might decide, in accordance with their national legislation, to voluntarily allocate at least one euro per inhabitant to development aid. LRAs which are not directly involved in decentralised cooperation could pay their contributions into a local authority development aid fund, as is currently done in Spain. Initiatives which contribute indirectly to development (for example, measures to raise public awareness of global poverty) could also be promoted in this context.
- thinks that it is important to reiterate the crucial role which local and regional authorities (LRAs) play in the organisation and provision of basic services in accordance with democratic and effective governance aimed at improving people's well-being;
- without taking into account development needs at local level, for example by supporting small rural farms, emigration from the countryside will only exacerbate the misery in mega-cities that have become unmanageable or strengthen migration flows to other countries;
- calls on the European Commission to integrate the local approach to development when finalising regional (i.e. concerning several countries) and national strategy documents with partner countries; notes, in this regard, the need to involve LRAs in the drawing up and implementation of development programmes. Responding to the challenges of globalisation presupposes taking on board LRAs, who are responsible on the ground for democratic governance and local development;
- finds it all the more regrettable that LRAs, both in the EU and recipient countries, are not mentioned explicitly in the first Commission communication as being among the partners involved in the achievement of the MDGs;
- proposes that the possibility be considered that each of Europe's 100 000 LRAs might decide, in accordance with their national legislation, to voluntarily allocate at least one euro per inhabitant to development aid. LRAs which are not directly involved in decentralised cooperation could pay their contributions into a local authority development aid fund, as is currently done in Spain. Initiatives which contribute indirectly to development (for example, measures to raise public awareness of global poverty) could also be promoted in this context.
