Webinar: How Do EU Delegations in Partner Countries Function? An Insight from the Inside
Context:
The European Union just entered a new cycle, with a new Commission college, renewed priorities and updated facilities and instruments. For its external action, while the unique instrument – Neighbourhood, Development, International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) – is still discussed and negotiated at inter-institutional level, the pre-programming phase has started, and the programming of the instrument is about to be launched at EU Delegation level. This implies to enter a new phase of dialogue with national governments, to select priority areas for EU action, to map key players, to consult with key stakeholders such as NGOs, cooperatives, etc.
Local and Regional Governments and their representative national associations are key actors
too. The proposed legal framework - the upcoming new regulation on NDICI - stresses their essential role in the consultation process between the EU Delegations and the main stakeholders at partner country level. National associations are the voice of Local and Regional Governments, they represent them and should be involved in the policy dialogue on topics that are addressed at local and regional levels.
Very often, the EU Delegations and local and regional governments do not know each other well. PLATFORMA developed a few months ago a toolbox, which can provide the decision-makers with some keys on how to engage with local and regional governments.
Our partners - local and regional governments, national associations of local and regional
governments, European and international networks – are all active in decentralised cooperation. They are present in partner countries through solid cooperation with peers and various projects dealing with state reform, green infrastructures, local economic development, gender equality, public service provision, healthcare infrastructure, reconstruction, etc.
This webinar’s ambition is to create a space of discussion on the functioning of the EU
Delegations, for our partners to better know how to engage with the European commission and the European External Action Service on the ground, both for the programming phase and the implementation one. This will also be a great opportunity to hear about the way local and regional governments and their associations engage with the European Union in the field.