The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and the Committee for Home Affairs, Local and Regional Authorities, Housing and Urban Policy of the Moroccan Parliament held a colloquy in Rabat on 28 November 2017 on the theme of “Regionalisation in Morocco: opportunities and challenges of the consolidation of decentralised governance”.
The event brought together members of the Chamber of Representatives and the Chamber of Councillors of the Parliament of Morocco, members of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, representatives of the government, Moroccan associations of local and regional elected representatives and Moroccan and European experts.
The colloquy was opened by Xavier Cadoret, Vice-President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and mayor of Saint-Gérand-Le-Puy (France), Habib El Malki, Speaker of the Chamber of Representatives, and Hakim Benchamach, Speaker of the Chamber of Councillors.
The participants discussed European and Moroccan experiences of decentralisation reforms in various thematic sessions concerning, in particular, the framework for the decentralised system in Morocco and the European framework for local and regional democracy, administrative and fiscal decentralisation, access to public services in disadvantaged areas and the development of sustainable towns and cities.
On the sidelines of the colloquy, Mr Cadoret also met Khalid Safir, Wali and Director General of Local Authorities, Mohamed Boudra, Chair of the Moroccan Association of Chairs of Municipal Councils (AMPCC), and Brahim Hafidi, first Vice-Chair of the Association of Regions of Morocco (ARM).
The colloquy is part of the Congress’s programme of co-operation with Morocco aimed at supporting and strengthening the country’s current local and regional governance reforms.
