Nineteen municipalities from North Macedonia will sign the co-financing agreements for their projects as awarded under the "EU for Municipalities" grant scheme and the Cross-border cooperation programme between North Macedonia and Albania. Ms Jasna Gabrič (SI/RE), Co-Chair of the Joint Consultative Committee between the Committee of the Regions and North Macedonia (JCC), will give a welcome address, together with the Ambassadors of the European Union (main donor), Albania, and Switzerland (co-donor).
Two other CoR members will also participate: Ms Anna-Maria Magyar (HU/ECR), the CoR rapporteur on the European Commission's 2021 Enlargement Package, and Mr Alin-Adrian Nica (RO/EPP). Their interventions will deal with the, respectively, cross-border cooperation, and the digital transition for local and regional authorities.
The event will also be the launch of the Thematic Network on Municipal Digitalisation. This topic is of priority for administrative efficiency and transparency of local authorities. The EU has supported North Macedonia and the municipalities with several projects in the past and will continue and intensify the activities under this subject. The network will start with a high level panel discussion in which the Head of Cooperation of the EU Delegation, Steffen Hudolin, and two Ministers of the Government of North Macedonia, Goran Milevski, Minister of Local Self-Government, Admirim Aliti, Minister of Information Society and Administration, will participate.
The event will be streamed on Zoom and on Facebook.