0w2010 01 RESUM EJECUTIVO 03 DEFcarta ang
26/10/10
19:49
Página 46
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 46
United Cities and Local Governments
European Regional Policy Recommendations Based on recommendations presented by the representatives of CEMR members in the workshop of the City of Sceaux (Paris, March 2010): Europe’s local and regional governments will wish to respond to the major fiscal challenges and pressures which now confront them. In particular, they will need to consider how to engage effectively with central governments, with a view to maintaining the maximum scope for local and regional self-government for the coming decades. Some key points are likely to be: •
Local and sub-national governments should not take a disproportionate share of the fiscal reductions over the coming years, whether via reduced local revenue or through cuts in inter-governmental transfers;
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There should be recognition that local governments have generally less fiscal flexibility than national governments, and for the most part have not incurred high levels of indebtedness;
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Central governments should also recognize that local authorities generally have major social welfare obligations, which cannot be escaped while unemployment and other poverty indicators are high, that are pro-cyclical in impact, and over which they have little direct control;
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Central and sub-national governments should together recognize the need for good quality future-oriented capital investment, mainly financed by new debt, e.g. on greening the future economy and urban infrastructure;
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In most countries, the local government tax base should be broadened to give more fiscal room for maneuver and protection from excessive income losses from any one source;
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Local governments should have more freedom to raise fees and charges;
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Grants from central governments should be fewer (i.e. of a more general character), only ear-marked in exceptional cases, and provided without imposing undue administrative and regulatory burdens;
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The EU needs to make its internal market and public procurement rules less centralized and intrusive, with more scope for local choice on local services, and with less detailed prescription. The cohesion policies must to be preserved.
At the same time, local and regional governments will need to think very carefully about how to do the best for their citizens within the reduced resources available. This means that they may have a common interest in looking at new ways of delivering public services