The Institutional Committee of the Council of Europe in Kragujevac
The Institutional Committee of the Congress of the local and regional authorities of the Council of Europe held a meeting on July 2, 2010, in Kragujevac. For the first time this body met at the session held in South-Eastern Europe.
Addressing the present the Mayor of Kragujevac Veroljub Stevanovic said that he hoped that during their short stay in the city the Committee members would recognize that they were in Europe for Kragujevac and Serbia as well, belong to the European cultural and civilization circle. Also, he reminded that Kragujevac was the first capitol of modern Serbia, the city where the first modern state institutions were established and hometown of the Serbian parliament. “For more than 130 years we belong to the European family of nations. That filing of belonging, the city proves with its openness and numerous partnerships with cities all over Europe. Moreover, we pledge for decentralization and regionalization of our country in order to strengthen the role of local authorities, as well to foster regional development,” he stated. In addition, Mayor Stevanovic ask attendees to pass an invitation to businessman in their countries to invest in the city and to take advantages of all benefits Kragujevac and Serbia are offering.
The President of the Congress Ian Micallef expressed his gratitude to Kragujevac local authorities for the invitation for the Committee to meet on the Serbian soil in gorgeous setting of Kragujevac. Micallef declared that for the Congress it had always been important to take part in dialog with the local authorities and the citizens of the member states, and to have insight into the situation in the field. “Today’s meeting is held despite current reform and has extremely busy agenda. Priority in our work remains observing local and regional democracy in the member states”, said Micallef adding that the Congress had completed its first monitoring mission to Serbia. The President of the Congress said that the report will be presented in September remarking that Serbia is on good road.
On the occasion of the opening ceremony, the Secretary of the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities Djordje Stancic commented that economy crises, reduction of transferred assets, then lack of the law on property of cities and municipalities, as well as the issue of decentralization, are the biggest problems local authorities are facing in Serbia.
At Kragujevac session the Congress priorities in 2011 and 2012 were discussed, along with the reports on the state of democracy in Russian Federation, Turkey and Austria. Preliminary reports on the situation in Belarus, Italy, Romania, Estonia and Serbia, were submitted, too.
