"You can trust me that local and regional authorities will be well represented in the European Commission communication on development cooperation due out this autumn, announced European commissioner for development, Andris Piebalgs, at the occasion of Platforma’s event "Two years of European action" held on 29 March 2011 in Brussels.
We wish to continue cooperating with the European Commission so as to ensure the full visibility and recognition of local and regional authorities in development cooperation. We are conscious that municipalities and regions, while increasingly important actors, are new to this field at the European level in comparison to NGOs. Thus, while NGOs and local and regional authorities have different roles, they are more than able to work together and create synergies in order to make a true impact on the ground. - Wolfgang Schuster, President of the European Section of UCLG (the Council of European Municipalities and Regions - CEMR), Vice-President of UCLG and Mayor of Stuttgart.
Full press release in English and French.