Recent examples of sub-national reform projects in Council of Europe member states were presented at a conference organised by the Congress on 5 May 2017 in Eupen, the capital city of the German-speaking Community in Belgium. Against the backdrop of four important generators of territorial reform (the economic crisis, the aim for better governance, the existence of strong regional identities in some countries and the desire to consolidate power), academic experts, practitioners and local and regional politicians discussed success stories and current challenges to territorial reform, notably with regard to amalgamations of municipalities. According to researchers, in general, a decrease of regional autonomy has been observed in recent years while, at the same time, there has been a trend towards more autonomy with regard to the local tier of government. “Overall, we can say that there is an increasing asymmetry of powers in regional governance”, stated Mr Francesco PALERMO, the Head of the Institute for Studies on Federalism and Regionalism in Bolzano (Italy) in his keynote speech. In his statement, Congress Vice-President Mr Karl-Heinz LAMBERTZ, Senator of the German-speaking Community of Belgium, underlined the importance of balancing the interests of different tiers of government. Photo: Photo: Karl-Heinz LAMBERTZ, Congress Vice-President and Senator of the German-speaking Community
Full text of the news
Conference Agenda
Presentation by Francesco PALERMO
Presentation by Jens WOELK
Presentation by Eva Maria BELSER
Conference Web File
Photo Gallery - Flickr