Not only funds, but also good ideas. The challenge for Mercedes Bresso, President of the Committee of the Regions

L ocal and regional authorities are key actors for development, considering that they provide not only financial resources and expertise but also bring to the table new ideas which should be taken into account when defining the overarching EU development policy». This is the message that the president of the Committee of the Regions, Mercedes Bresso intends to get across at the Second Assises on Decentralised Cooperation co-organised by the CoR and the EU Commission. This message has the merit of clarifying the role that LRAs intend to cover in the European development policy. Mercedes Bresso was nominated president of the CoR in February 2010, becoming the first woman president in the history of the EU advisory political assembly with a long experience in European politics. As president of the Region of Piedmont (2005-2010), she strengthened the initiatives of the Italian regions in the field of development cooperation. In this interview, Bresso explains her ambitions to make decentralised cooperation an irreplaceable reality of EU development policy.
What are the reasons that determined the themes selected in this edition?
The five topics are the result of extensive consultation based on a series of preparatory meetings with interested local and regional authorities and their associations. Specifically, those five topics are a synthesis between the contents of a Green Paper entitled “EU development policy in support of inclusive growth and sustainable development – Increasing the impact of EU development policy” and some elements from the debate on the future financial perspectives and the main issues emerging from the European Commission’s Structured Dialogue. The debates taking place during the Assises will provide useful insights for the final preparation of a policy document which the European Commission intends to publish in the summer of 2011, putting forward ideas and proposals for a possible revision of EU development policy. I believe that local and regional authorities are key actors for development, considering that they provide not only financial resources and expertise but also bring to the table new ideas which should be taken into account when defining the overarching EU development policy. There are already some interesting proposals, such as the possibility of providing budget support channelled via local and regional authorities and the need for a new territorial approach, which breaks with the monopoly of central government-to-government debate, and uses one common needs assessment and one single set of procedures in line with national legislation, and which is based on a pact between central government and local and regional authorities in that specific territory.
A significant number of LRAs have been facing important budget cuts. How can these cuts influence decentralised cooperation?
There is no doubt that the global financial and economic crisis has had profound effects on the budgets of many countries, in the EU and beyond. The same applies at local and regional level with many authorities in the EU facing severe budget constraints and trying to cut back on their spending. Yet I expect that the total aid to developing countries in 2011 will continue to be substantial, although of course it will still be far short, in budgetary terms, of what is required to meet the Millennium Development Goals. While the global recession puts in danger the promised increase in aid, it also represents a great opportunity for all development actors, including local and regional authorities, to look at how to reform the ways in which aid is delivered. As such, promoting further aid effectiveness following the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action is becoming even more of a priority. It is therefore equally important to make sure that local and regional authorities are involved in the debate which, of course, includes the debate at EU level on the division of responsibilities and finding new methods and tools for financing and implementing aid.
Is decentralised cooperation an integral part of European Local and Regional Authorities’ public policy according to you?
In this difficult context, it is important to make sure that development cooperation remains a top political priority while, at the same time, showing how development cooperation can be a good example of added value for public spending. At the same time we should not forget that, while development cooperation is beneficial for our developing partners, it is even more so for our countries, for our regions and cities. Increasing our mutual knowledge, developing our relations with partners in the social, cultural, environmental and economic fields remains essential. This is the reason why many local and regional authorities have their own analysis and development cooperation strategies, which are the basis of a public policy for development cooperation.
In November 2011, the City of Busan (South Korea) will host the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, a hotspot in this period of economic crisis. In what measure can decentralised cooperation represent a value-added opportunity?
Local and regional authorities have so far been excluded from the aid effectiveness process. Yet the CoR has stressed, on several occasions, the importance of their full integration and participation in the aid effectiveness agenda. The CoR expects to participate actively in the process in order to ensure that the voice of regions and cities and their associations is heard and understood. The recognition of the role and contribution of regional and local authorities in development is generally accepted as part of the implementation of development cooperation, but more remains to be done to enable the full participation of regional and local authorities in the design and definition of strategies and development policies. In this context, the next high level meeting in South Korea should be devoted primarily, if not exclusively, to discussion of the priorities set by developing countries, not only as defined by central governments but also ensuring that local and regional authorities in these countries are, at the least, consulted. I believe that in order to encourage true ownership in the beneficiary countries, discussions should take place at and between all levels of government: this is what we call “multi-level governance”. At the same time, it is indisputable that regions and cities in the EU should also better coordinate their actions to avoid duplication, overlapping and fragmentation of aid. It was with this conviction of the need for further coordination that the Committee of Regions, in partnership with the European Commission, launched the Atlas of Decentralised cooperation. It will soon be part of a new Portal of Decentralised Cooperation, a website providing detailed information on decentralised cooperation within the EU, and which will allow for further information sharing, the exchange of funding opportunities and the search for partners as well as coordination with other actors both in the EU and in developing countries.
2011 will be marked by a fierce fight over EU 2014-2020 budget. What are the ambitions of the CoR in the field of development aid?
The CoR will continue to support the EU in its promise of 0.7% of GNI for ODA as soon as possible. To do so, EU central governments, in partnership with local and regional authorities, could explore together new ways of reaching the 0.7% objective. This could also entail the possibility of adopting national legislation for legally-binding ODA targets, based on experience in Belgium or the United Kingdom. At the same time, in the context of the reform of the instruments at EU level, the CoR will continue to support, through its activities, the need for further funds to be allocated to LRAs, not only under the existing specific programme “Non-State Actors and Local Authorities” but also as part of budget support targeted at a specific territory and channelled via local and regional authorities.