Enlargement from Local and Regional Perspective

The Brussels offices of Danish sub-national authorities arranged July 5^th a conference in Brussels on the theme "Enlargement from a Local and Regional Perspective" as a part of the start of the Danish EU Presidency. It was organised in co-operation with the Committee of the Regions and DG Enlargement. A large number of mayors and other local and regional level politicians had the possibility to listen to key actors in the enlargement field.

The conference ended with workshops. The UBC President chaired the workshop on Urban policy - the role of the Cities in the enlargement process. The workshop adopted a resolution calling for increased support during the enlargement process at all levels and increased an increased awareness of the role of local authorities as a tool for a successful enlargement process.

The general impression of the conference was that the interest of the subject is very great. The attendance was large. Cities know that they have an important role to play to accomplish a successful enlargement, but the conference on the other hand gave very limited guidelines on what actually to do and how to do it.

The workshop was also interesting in the sense that UBC and Eurocities organised the event together as a token to the co-operation agreement between our organisations. There will probably be more such co-operation in the future.

juhan@janusson.net