Cluster meeting | Associations’ representative exchange with Romanian MEP Head of Office
The PLATFORMA secretariat organised the Eastern Partnership (EaP) cluster meeting on 25 November in Brussels with an external speaker, Laurenţiu Diaconu-Colintineanu, the Head of Office of Romanian MEP Dan Barna. He exchanged with representatives from our partner associations in Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, France, Latvia, and the Netherlands. The agenda included conversations about the future Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and brainstorming future priorities for the Eastern Partnership (EaP).
Laurenţiu Diaconu-Colintineanu acknowledged the political situation’s challenges both in accessing countries and in the EU, but encouraged collaboration with national governments and EU institutions to improve local involvement in funding and policy-making, particularly through the upcoming MFF negotiations.
He emphasised the importance of direct communication with European institution offices and leveraging media channels.
Our partners also stressed the need for better involvement of local governments in EU integration processes:
Tatiana Bokuchava from Georgia (NALAG) emphasised the importance of allocating resources in the next multi-annual financial framework to support municipalities in EU candidate countries, focusing on peer exchange, capacity building, and aligning with EU norms.
On behalf of the Congress of Local Authorities of Moldova (CALM), Viorel Furdui highlighted the lack of local government involvement in Moldova’s EU integration process, noting that despite their role in implementing 70% of legislation, they were not included in recent discussions. Alexander Osadci raised concerns about the lack of funding for local authorities in Moldova’s growth plan, despite their significant role in key community efforts.
Natalia Lazarenko from Ukraine (AUC) supported involving national associations of local governments in EU-level processes, suggesting funds for EU municipalities to engage pre-accession country partners.
Agita Kaupuza from Latvia (LALRG) shared an example of collaboration between Latvian and Ukrainian local authorities through a seminar on design thinking and artificial intelligence, illustrating the potential for local and regional authorities to drive sustainable development.
Mayor Mayor Violeta Crudu (Moldova) highlighting the need for better communication strategies to counter Russian propaganda.
As an outcome of the discussions, the PLATFORMA secretariat will prepare a one-pager of recommendations to be communicated with EU institutions next year.