20 years of NALAS and new President

The NALAS XIX General Assembly Statutory Session convened on 18 April 2024, in Bar (Montenegro), marking the 20th anniversary of NALAS and highlighting its enduring commitment to fostering effective local governance and sustainable development in Southeast Europe.

The inauguration of the new President and three Vice Presidents marked a transition in leadership, symbolizing continuity and fresh perspectives for NALAS’s future endeavors. Dusan Raicevic, Mayor of Bar, Montenegro, will assume the role of NALAS President for the term 2024-2025, embodying a commitment to advancing the organization’s mission.

Distinguished figures including Bernd Vöhringer, Congress Vice President, M. Ergun Turan, outgoing President of NALAS and Marash Dukaj, Minister of Public Administration of Montenegro, delivered opening addresses, setting the tone for the assembly.

Mr. Vöhringer stressed the reliability of NALAS as partner of the Congress and the fundamental role of the network to address current challenges affirming the determination of the Congress to further support local authorities and their associations, on the path to EU membership.

Outgoing NALAS President M. Ergun Turan, Mayor of Fatih, in Istanbul, Türkiye, highlighted the ever-increasing role of local governments in the EU integration process making the case for local governments and associations to be recognized by EU institutions as key strategic dialogue partners in our countries’ journey towards enlargement. There is already common policy in Montenegro as Mr. Marash Dukaj, Minister of Public Administration of Montenegro made clear. He seized the opportunity to make his point about decentralisation as structural governance reform by emphasising that the best and most effective way for quality and efficient decentralization, based on the responsibility and transparency of the work of local governments, lies in the solid cooperation of the central and local levels of government.