News 2019

Indietro Decentralised co-operation between the Northern and Southern Mediterranean

The “Partner for local democracy” status granted to Morocco on 2 April 2019 is the successful upshot of the co-operation with this country that was launched in 2007 and will help to strengthen political dialogue and decentralised co-operation between the two shores of the Mediterranean. The two Congress spokespersons on the South Mediterranean Partnership, Piero FASSINO (Italy, SOC) and Constance DE PELICHY (France, EPP/CCE), described both the immediate and the more long-term prospects opened up by the granting of this status to Morocco.

Morocco will benefit in particular from the Congress’s expertise in decentralisation, elections, capacity-building for elected representatives and the development of participatory democracy. In addition to joint projects, the partnership will now also take tangible form in the appointment of a six-member Moroccan delegation to the Congress.

Mohand LAENSER, President of the Fes-Meknes Region and Chair of the Association of Moroccan Regions (ARM), pointed out that relations between Morocco and Europe were long-established but considered that decentralised co-operation would enable this to be taken a step further. The Congress’s vote was an acknowledgment of Morocco’s efforts in the area of regionalisation and local democracy.

The progress in decentralisation in the Southern Mediterranean countries

In Piero FASSINO’s view, this partnership also illustrated the general progress that had been made on local democracy in North Africa and the Middle East. Other countries such as Tunisia were also working closely with the Congress, and decentralisation and regionalisation projects were currently being set up in other parts of the region, particularly in Egypt and Jordan.

Mohand LAENSER also pointed out that Morocco was currently involved in promoting decentralisation in Sub-Saharan Africa, as reflected in the recent foundation, in Marrakesh, of a Forum of African Regions. He believed therefore that the Partnership would also help to enhance political co-operation at local level between Europe and Africa as a whole.

In Morocco, regions now lie at the core of the country’s organisation

Mr Abdelouahhab EL JABRI, Governor and government representative, outlined the progress made by Morocco since 2011, when it had incorporated the principle of advanced regionalisation into its Constitution. In 2015, several organic laws had assigned a “pre-eminent role” to the country’s regions in relation to other authorities, granting them new powers, particularly in the spheres of the economy and spatial planning. These laws had also dealt with the relations between regions, provinces and municipalities in areas including financing and citizen participation in public life. They illustrated the changes that the country had undergone and contributed to the “modernisation of the state”.

The role of women and young people in local democracy

Following these presentations, several Congress members asked for more details about the increased participation of women in local political assemblies. Currently, 38% of municipal councillors were women and a similar proportion applied to regional assemblies. Mohand LAENSER wanted to “take things further” however, and pointed out that quotas had been established to help women get into politics. Local authorities were now legally required to set up youth councils and gender equality boards. Constance DE PELICHY welcomed the substantial progress that had been made in Morocco with regard to the participation of women in public life, and hoped that exchanges of experience would help both Morocco and Europe to make improvements in this area, not forgetting that in France for instance, only 16% of mayors were women.