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The Mayor of Palma, Aina Calvo, bet on the leadership of the CEMR as representative of the European cities and regions
The Mayor of Palma, Aina Calvo, has shown its commitment to the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) a new leadership in the European institutions and representative of Local and Regional Governments, in his speech today in Geneva 60th anniversary of this organization. Calvo, who took the Co-Chair of CEMR also proposed to make cohesion policy a permanent objective of the EU and recalled the celebration in their city of an upcoming meeting of the Council with the participation of local officials across Europe.
On January 28, 1951, a group of 60 mayors from France, Switzerland, Benelux and Italy, led by the spirit that "all States divided and all links to municipalities, gave the first step in creating a network of municipalities united under the common goal of preventing any new conflict and promote the ideal of a Europe based on local autonomy. That meeting was held in the City of Geneva and was the birth of the Council of European Municipalities, CME, which over the years also incorporate European regions and would be called RSMC.
Sixty years later, today, January 28, 2011, and in the same Swiss city, a larger number of local officials, representatives of CEMR covering the entire continent (53 national associations of local authorities, including FEMP from 39 countries) have made their future contributions to local and regional movement in Europe in the framework of the Meeting "The Europe we want, the Europe we need."
Aina Calvo, newly elected co-chair of this organization and member of the Executive of the FEMP, recalled the important role that RSMC played in the birth of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP), which since its formation in 1981, emerged as the Spanish Section of CEMR, getting to the Spanish municipality of incorporation to Europe even before the Spanish state itself. The Mayor acknowledged the work of CEMR in advocacy and implementation of local autonomy in Europe and stressed its role in the field of twinning and the implementation of the European Charter for Equality between Women and Men in Local Life, a feature which had an emotional remembrance for Vicenta Bosch, late Mayor of Bonrepos i Mirambell, thus promoting the development of this Charter within the CEMR.
Aina Calvo spoke at a panel discussion which addressed the future of European integration and expressed the proposal of settling the future of RSMC on four pillars: a new leadership for the organization between European institutions and representatives of Local Governments and Regional; make cohesion policy a permanent objective of the European Union, and not limited exclusively to the 2020 strategy, promote growth and sustainable futro and eventually convert the RSMC in center of knowledge and local and regional exchange: "This is becoming a benchmark of local knowledge to all our partners in the exchange of experiences and best practices, for which the networking and the use of new technologies is crucial."
In speaking officers at the Aina Calvo, entitled "Builders of Europe for 60 years ... and looking ahead", also attended by the Chairperson of the Committee of the Regions, Mercedes Bresso and former Vice President of RSMC and MEP, Jan Olbrycht. The President of RSMC and mayor of Stuttgart Wolfgang Schuster closed the meeting this afternoon.
