EDITOR
Pawel Zaboklicki
EDITORIAL BOARD
Risto Veivo
Ewa Kurjata
Juhan Janusson
Pawel Zaboklicki
Iwona Smigerska-Belczak
LAYOUT
Iwona Smigerska-Belczak
PROOF-READING
Ewa Kurjata
PUBLISHER
Union of the Baltic Cities
Secretariat
Waly Jagiellonskie 1
PL-80853 Gdansk
POLAND
tel. +48 58 3010917
tel. +48 58 3019123 fax +48 58 3017637
e-mail: info@ubc.net
www.ubc.net
ISSN 1506-6266
COVER PICTURE
City of Kolding
View of the city -
on the first plan
Koldinghus
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Dear UBC Friends,
Governance
is the new European Union Buzz-word. But it addresses
real and important problems that are facing leaders
in Europe at all levels, not least at the city government
level. The challenges and possibilities come from
two directions: Firstly, the demands from the citizens
on participation and information, and the need for
city leaders to communicate the policies are important
engines for the development of democracy. Secondly,
the technological evolution has given us tools and
working methods that can meet some of the demands
from the citizens and city leaders.
This
issue of the Baltic Cities Bulletin tries to mirror
the development in governance issues in our region.
The picture given in the stories from our members
is impressing. We are certainly on the move to a new
level of citizen's participation, information and
involvement, using all these new technologies. However,
we must not forget the value of our traditional methods,
and we must also not forget that all citizens or city
leaders cannot utilize the new methods - we are not
inventing something that can replace our traditional
democratic system, just improve it.
Also
UBC will develop its democracy and contacts with the
members. You will soon, I hope, notice an improved
UBC home-page with better accessible information and
communication. I also hope that the UBC Working Group
on the revised UBC Strategy will present some ideas
on UBC governance.
The
period since the last issue of BCB has been full of
activities for me as UBC President. Among other, I
had the opportunity this summer to lead a work-shop
on the EU enlargement at a conference in connection
with the start of the Danish EU Presidency. Recently
I visited the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Co-operation
meeting in St Petersburg, where UBC was able to influence
the final resolution in a couple of important issues.
UBC
has also raised the question on the EU White Paper
on Transportation, where the Baltic Sea Region hardly
is mentioned. It can result in that nothing of the
billions of future EU investments in transportation
infrastructure will come to our region, except perhaps
for a proposed bridge between Denmark and Germany.
We need also to enhance the special transportation
problems of the Baltic Sea Region, like remoteness
from central Europe and the dependence on ferry transportation.
It
has been a very long lasting, nice and warm summer,
which is now turning into autumn. Here in Denmark
there have been many signs of the unstable state of
the environment in the Baltic Sea. Among others there
has been a severe lack of oxygen in the water, causing
mass death among fishes and other animals in the sea.
So we must continue to improve our ways of treating
the environment. UBC is one of the necessary tools
in this work.
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Per Bodker Andersen
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UBC President
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Kolding, November
2002
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