“Inter-municipality has become more and more present in recent years and may well prove to be the best solution to respond to today’s new challenges. This is partly a response to growing financial pressure on municipalities that have to make more effective use of their limited means to meet increasing social demands,” stated Michalis Angelopoulos (Greece, EPP/CCE), Vice-President of the Congress, at the International Conference of Spanish Association of Municipalities, in Valencia, Spain, on 15 November 2016. He highlighted the benefits of inter-municipality projects which allow local governments to manage specific areas mentioning examples such as public transport and certain services in Denmark, or touristic and energy development in Poland. “Inter-municipality associates two values that are dear to us at the Congress: autonomous local self-governance and efficient governance. The sense of solidarity that this brings, together with the fact that decisions are taken by a group of elected municipal councils also reduces the levels of corruption, with lesser use of personal connections when putting in place a new project,” he added. 

Speech