THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS
- shares the Commission's view that, despite the progress that has been made in some social spheres, much remains to be done to make a reality of the development proposals to which the international community committed itself over a decade ago, in the form of the Millennium Declaration;
- considers that closer attention should be paid to factors relating to the resources available for financing development, upholding aid commitments, supporting developing countries' mobilisation of domestic resources, strengthening their tax systems, combating corruption, taking forward the fight against tax evasion, capital flight and illegal financial flows, whilst also supporting the search for new financing sources;
- is disappointed that although the European Commission recognises the crucial role of local and regional authorities (LRAs) in the context of development aid and cooperation programmes, the Green Paper does not mention the increasingly prominent role played by LRAs in an EU cooperation policy that aims to be effective and have the support of society as a whole. Therefore calls for a more centralised approach to the role of LRAs in promoting development with a broad social basis, in establishing effective governance institutions in developing countries and in setting up an environmentally-sustainable energy model;
- considers that the review of EU development policy and the European consensus should follow the lines already set out in the Communication on Local authorities: actors for development, which emphasises the place, role and added value of these authorities in these areas and policies; in this connection, and in order to promote exchange and provide a platform for LRA political expression in the area of development cooperation, the CoR will continue working closely with the European Commission to organise the annual conference on decentralised cooperation.