The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) celebrated its 70th anniversary on 28 January 2021 with an event titled “Horizon 2051: Local Futures for Europe”. Speaking at the event, Congress Vice-President Gunn Marit Helgesen, who is also Co-President of the CEMR, congratulated the Council on its success and achievements over the seven decades.

“The Congress and CEMR have maintained a close and fruitful co-operation. A relationship based on common principles and values such as the principle of subsidiarity, local self-government, citizen participation in order to achieve a specific goal, that of guaranteeing a quality of life for European citizens,” stated Ms Helgesen. She also pointed out that the CEMR Charter of Municipal Liberties which was adopted in 1953 paved the way for the development of the European Charter of Local Self-Government.

“Over the past seventy years, the association has grown steadily, speaking out on behalf of local and regional elected representatives and constantly working on new themes such as gender equality, climate change, digitalisation and many others that refer to the sustainable development goals of Agenda 2030 and which are also on the Congress list of priorities,” said the Congress Vice-President.

She underlined that the trend towards recentralisation and less financial autonomy of local and regional authorities as a result of the health crisis makes the common work of the Congress and the CEMR even more important. “We will continue working side by side to strengthen local democracy and decentralisation,” stressed Ms Helgesen.

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