Network of National Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe (NALAS) General Assembly Meeting

Bucharest, Romania, 13-15 December 2007

Speech by Ludmila Sfirloaga Vice-President of the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities

Mr Chairman,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

One year ago, as I conveyed to you, dear colleagues, our best wishes for 2007.

I stressed the willingness of the Council of Europe Congress to assist and contribute the the challenging implementation of the NALAS Action Plan in 2008.

With great pleasure, I can now congratulate NALAS, its Member Associations, its President and its Secretariat for the incredible results you achieved this year: the establishment of a Secretariat in Skopje, a strengthened relationship with international partners, the development of numerous projects and 3 Task Forces that have been officially launched.

Let me now address you first of all as representatives of associations of local authorities, as the Congress has made considerable progress over the past year in establishing good working relations with associations of local authorities and their networks, not in the least in South-East Europe.

Indeed, the Congress is moving towards a culture of dealing with national associations in our day-to-day activities.

We in the Congress see national associations as a vehicle in the relationship between central governments and territorial authorities, as an interface between the national and grassroots level.

In September this year, the then Serbian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers organised an international conference in Novi Sad on “Bringing regional and local authorities together for a greater democratic cohesion in Europe”, where the role of national associations and their networks, such as NALAS, was also discussed.

In fact, your Executive Director, Mr Kelmend Zajazi, whom I welcome here, also addressed the Conference.

Our cooperation with associations takes various forms, from consultations with associations and their participation in our meetings, to organising targeted meetings with representatives of associations and their participation in election observation missions of the Congress.

We also insist that associations be involved in the process of deciding on the composition of national delegations to the Congress, through consultations or direct participation in the decision-making.

Last but not least, we are currently working on arranging space for communication on the Congress’ website, which would offer associations an opportunity for exchanging views and communicating on their activities.

As I have just said, we attach particular importance to establishing a permanent dialogue with national associations, offering them the expertise and acquis of the Congress, and NALAS is no exception.

This is why I am delighted to welcome you today in the capital of my country, and address your General Assembly, fully aware that now, with the secured funding for the NALAS Action Plan, the Network can make substantial progress in implementing its projects.

For our part, we would like to link as much as possible the Congress’ objectives and activities with those of NALAS and visa versa.

It is only logical, because we see associations and their networks as relaying the Congress’ initiatives and projects, which are international in nature, at the national, regional and local level.

In fact, the themes chosen for the task forces are also on top of the agenda of the Congress. In particular for urban planning, as we have recently started work on a new ambitious project, Urban Charter II, which we call the “City Manifesto” and which will take account of today’s development in urban life and governance.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In 2007, NALAS has laid the foundations for a promising future.

For 2008, the Congress is looking forward to see the first results of the different projects and activities that NALAS will undertake in the coming year.

And I would like to wish, all of you that are involved, success in these challenges.