COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN MUNICIPALITIES AND REGIONS
CEMR The European Section informed of the renewal of its leadership in December and emphasized the strict application of the gender rule to reach parity both in the CEMR Presidency and the Policy Committee. A consultation process was launched last year with surveys to LGAs and individual mayors and partners on “What we want for the future”. Among the work priorities, the strategic partnership with the European Commission remains important, as well as the Global Covenant of Mayors project, a merger between the Covenant of Mayors and the Compact of Mayors.
One of the main issues we have in Europe is a lack of confidence in the future, a certain lack of optimism among European members, fed by recent trends like Brexit. CEMR is working with UK colleagues to make sure that the voices of local governments are heard. Frédéric Vallier Secretary General of CEMR
UCLG MIDDLE EAST AND WEST ASIA
UCLG-MEWA The Middle East and West Asia Section is currently working on three main thematic areas: the first is localizing the SDGs, for which a partnership with the Turkish national government is being implemented. The Section also pursues its work of advocacy and outreach to see how to link local governments and implementation of citizens’ communities. The second priority focuses on resilience: the Syrian crisis is one of the main concerns in the region. And the third priority focuses on peer-to-peer learning, which is especially relevant in the framework of the New Urban Agenda.
Local governments only receive 1% of the resources allocated by the international community to deal with the Syrian crisis. That is why the MEWA section programmes focus on social inclusion, social cohesion, awareness raising and advocacy. Leyla Şen General Coordinator of UCLG-MEWA
25 UCLG RETREAT AND CAMPUS 2017