Finnish towns and regions want decentralised approach to Lisbon Agenda 17-07-2006 The Association of Finnish local and regional authorities has published a
booklet outlining it’s view on EU policy. The publication presents the
objectives and practices of the Association’s EU policy and examines some
European issues from the perspective of local authorities. According to the
Association, the Lisbon Strategy has been put in practice the best in countries
where administration is decentralised. This makes the quality and reliability of
public institutions a significant factor in EU's competitiveness.
The Finnish association states that basic services belong under national
competence, though recently the EU has become more involved in a wide range of
types of services (social, health, education). Finnish local and regional
government call for EU's competence to be defined so that local and regional
administration systems are subject to the decision of each member state.
The Association of Finnish local and regional authorities criticizes recent
decisions by the European Court of Justice on the application of competition and
internal market regulations on the organisation of public utility services. It
calls the Finnish presidency to propose that internal and inter-municipal
acquisitions should be allowed to remain outside of the scope of application of
the Procurement directive.
Source: Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) LinksCouncil of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) back |


