Representatives of local and regional authorities from the EU and Eastern Partnership countries have adopted political recommendations on 23 April 2015, ahead of the forthcoming Eastern Partnership Summit of Heads of State, to be held in May this year in Riga. At its annual meeting of the Conference of Regional and Local authorities for the Eastern Partnership (CORLEAP) in Brussels, it was agreed that the policies implemented in the framework of the Eastern Partnership must have benefits for citizens and local authorities need to become active partners in the Eastern Partnership strategy. In recent years, the Eastern Partnership has been exposed to very serious challenges, 2014 was marked in particular by very important milestones such as the signing of Association Agreements between the EU and Georgia, Moldova and the Ukraine, but also by Russian military intervention in the Ukraine, which has a completely different dimension in the Eastern Partnership.
At the meeting, EA Group Member Mr Dariusz Wrobel, Mayor of the city of Opole Lubelskie, Member of the CORLEAP Bureau, said that "The Eastern Partnership is a very important initiative which is of particular importance from the point of view of current events in the East. It requires solidarity and wide cooperation. There is a need for exchanges of experience and education between authorities and civil society of the partner countries on issues related to decentralisation and democratisation. Sharing good practices and models should form the basis of this initiative, emphasising the role of local democracy and citizen participation in pursuing the goals of the Eastern Partnership.”
“Poland is a good example for the Eastern partners. It works well in terms of our country’s municipalities and regions and the joint central and local government. Experience gained in local and regional and national authorities during the transition from centralised administration to the democratisation of societies could be positively used by our partners, taking into account each country’s specificity and local communities, tailored to the reality of society to change and maturity ", said the Mayor.
