To consolidate the LRAs official position in the post-2015 development debate and provide the basis for the EU position in the negotiations leading towards the UN summit in September 2015;
To reinforce the role of LRAs in defining and implementing actions and targets within the priority areas set by the European Commission, aiming to contribute to the overarching objective of poverty reduction and sustainable development;
To highlight and recall the CoR's actions and tools for promoting the European Year for Development 2015, e.g. Assises, fora such as ARLEM and CORLEAP, Portal.
Based on the 65th follow-up report issued by the European Commission in relation to the CoR opinions, it could be noted that:
"the Commission identified cities as a key priority for the new framework in its Communication (COM (2014) 335) of June 2014 and is pleased to see that the UN outcome document retains Goal 11 on cities and human settlements, as originally proposed by the UN General Assembly's Open Working Group."
Similarly, the EC underlines that if "the term decentralised cooperation is not specially mentioned in the two Communications of 2014 and 2015 […]it is definitely a means of implementation particularly used by the thematic Civil Society Organisations-Local Authorities 2014-2020 programme. Finally, the Commission welcomes the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, including paragraph 34 on local authorities and cities."
The rapporteur presented the CoR position in the UN third conference on financing for development from 13 to 16 July 2015, in Addis Ababa. On Tuesday 14 July 2015, he took part to a seminar on "Financing sustainable urban agenda development: a major challenge of the Post 2015 Agenda".
THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS
- believes that the agenda should be rights-based and that it is intrinsically linked to good governance, democracy and the rule of law;
- is keen to see a specific objective retained on inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities and human settlements;
- highlights the importance of taking a territorial approach to development;
- stresses that diversity does not provide carte blanche to evade commitments: the interdependence of the challenges we are facing makes that impossible; there is thus a need for genuine horizontal accountability between countries;
- points out that a comprehensive agenda requires a whole range of associated implementation means: financial and non-financial; legally binding or based purely on a firm voluntary commitment; initiated by government, by science and technology, by industry or by NGOs;
- considers it to be quite clear that local and regional authorities will need to play a significant role in implementing the transformative agenda and this requires legitimacy, clearly defined powers and responsibilities, provision of the necessary resources, technical assistance and capacity building.