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You can find herewith outlined the discussions and suggestions made by the Committee of Experts during the meetings held in Athens on 31 August and 1 September 2006.

The Committee of Experts analyzed the current situation and structure of the Union of Central and South-Eastern European Capitals in two directions:

After analyzing the field of cooperation proposed by the member cities at the previous conferences and the related concrete actions, the Committee came to a conclusion on what should be done in the near future and on what should be postponed for now.

The Committee of Experts noted the fact that at the previous General Assembly Conferences a lot of issues were raised but in a general way and no progress was done and concrete actions were not taken. For that reason, the Committee analyzed the existing situation with the aim to prioritize issues of major common interest with better realistic possibilities for future realization and cooperation.

1. THE EXISTING ORGANIZATION AND STRUCTURE OF THE UNION – CONCRETE PROPOSALS:

After revising and analyzing the Statute, Regulation and the existing structure of the Union, the Committee of Experts came to the conclusion that the following proposals should be discussed at 10th Conference of the Mayors of the Central and South-Eastern European Capitals which will be held in Sarajevo from 5th to 7th October 2006:

· To define and develop in a better way the responsibilities and duties of the Union’s Bodies:

· The Secretariat should be developed into an active administrative structure of the Union to insure the day-to-day functioning of the Union and to promote development and exchange for the cities.
· The Union is lacking of policy documents, the conclusions of the conferences are not developed into follow up actions. For that reason, we propose the Union to develop and approve a Strategy – Policy Development Plan. The adding of a new topic of each conference does not mean that we have already developed and implemented the last ones. That is why we propose the final analyzes to be done by the General Assembly (based on the priorities issued by the Committee of Experts) and that to be further developed into a stable short and middle term strategy of the Union. Based on that Strategy, the other structures of the Union as the Standing Committee, Steering Committee (Committee of Experts) will develop detailed Action Plans, project deadlines etc.

· The Steering Committee (Committee of Experts) should report the work progress once a year at the General Assembly.

· The General Assembly should discuss on how the decisions of the Union may be implemented in practice. Up to now, the General Assembly has delivered mainly general political Declarations and Conclusions which have not been implemented in practice. For that reason the Assembly should review:

For the above-mentioned purposes, wider changes in the Statute and Regulation of the Union might be considered. A Work Group could be established to develop the Union’s basic documents.

2006 Current bodies

Proposal for 2007

2 A GENERAL REVIEW ON THE PREVIOUS CONFERENCES AND PROPOSALS

You can find herewith outlined the discussions and suggestions made by the Committee of Experts during the meetings held in Athens on 31 August and 1 September 2006.

The Committee reviewed the discussions, declarations and conclusions of the previous nine General Assembly Conferences.

No	Topics	Actions - Proposed at the Conferences	Notes	Proposals of the Committee of Experts
1	Conference
	1.1 Cultural Development		YES 2007	Cultural week – in different city every year.
	1.2 Social issues		LATER	Development of common projects.
2	Conference
	2.1 Tourism	Special municipal tourism agency	YES 2007	A meeting of tourism representatives and experts to discuss one of the following possibilities: Establishment of a Network of Tourism Agencies; A Regional Tourism Agency; Union Tourism Information Kiosk in every city; Development of common projects.
	2.2 Culture	South Eastern European Cultural Week	YES 2007	The Mayors should decide at the General Assembly which city will host the event and when; Financing – each participating city could cover its own costs for the event; EU funding.
3	Conference
	3.1 Information	News letter, Regular edition	NO
	3.2 Tourism	- South Eastern Europe Tourism Agency by the information kiosk. - Inter rail ticket, special price.	YES 2007 NO	*
	3.3 Inter- organizational relations	Development of relations with UCUE, EUROREGIONS, EURO CITIES etc.	YES 2006	Representatives of the EU Institutions and other International Organizations could be invited to participate in the General Assembly in October; A Union’s Delegation should go on an official visit to the EU Commission for lobbying and technical cooperation for EU funding and project development. (The delegation could consist of political representatives and the Committee of Experts.)
	3.4 Structure	Liaison offices	YES 2006	We should start by the immediate assignment of a Liaison person in each Municipality – in charge of International Relations and/or EU Integration.
	3.5 Financing	Annual financial contribution	? 2006	The Mayors must decide whether there should be an annual financial contribution and they should approve an annual budget (revenues and expenditures).
4	Conference
	4.1 Annual financial contribution		? 2006	*
	4.2 Culture	Cultural week	YES 2007	*
5	Conference
	5.1 Ecology	Development of a System of criteria for the evaluation of environmental standards in every city – an environmental technological project – funded by the EU.	LATER	We should look for common project development opportunities in the near future.
	5.2 Structure	Network of administrative experts.	YES 2007	Establishment of 4 Expert Groups to develop programs and projects in the prioritized issues: Culture experts; Tourism experts; Ecology experts; City Architects (illegal building, Historical preservation and urban center regeneration). When there is another additional common project opportunity, the relevant experts should meet.
6	Conference
	6.1 Safety and security	Joint research project and exchange of good practices.	NO
	6.2 Human rights	Joint research project and exchange of good practices	NO
	6.3 Problems of youth – unemployment, refugees, disabled, elderly people.	Civil society involvement.	YES 2007	We should start with youth development and education – concrete action: Student Exchange Programs between the member cities’ universities.
7	Conference
	7.1 Structure	Creation of an institution within the Union for the exploitation of international and European Programs.	YES 2006	Assignment of an International Relations and EU Funding expert in the Secretariat.
	7.2 Tourism	Tourist offices.	YES 2007	*
	7.3 Illegal construction		YES 2007	City Architects Expert Group – exchange of best practices.
8	Conference
	8.1 Minorities. Coexisting of ethnic groups	Introduction of anti-discriminatory legislation. Ethnic groups representatives meeting, (NGO, social partners, state authorities), development of concrete project. Congregation of ethnic groups- social inclusion, tolerance, diversity, multiculturalism. Finance of further study of this issues, exchange of best practices, and information on existing project.	LATER	Research on the minorities of the member countries.
	8.2 Information	Union’s Website - links to tourist information	YES 2006	1. Introduction of 5 new sections on the web site: News; Best practices; Thematic web pages (Tourism - links to national and local tourist information, Culture, Ecology etc.); Information on the EU programs and project possibilities; List of Liaison Experts and contact details. 2. Two-way links – Official Municipal Websites linking to the Union’s website and vice versa; 3. Regular Update by the Secretariat.
	8.3 Historical Center regeneration and preservation		YES 2007	City Architect Expert Group
	8.4 Structure	Expert meetings on specific topics of common interest -concrete tasks and measures.	YES 2007	*
	8.5 Illegal emigration		NO
	8.6 International programs	Use of the suggested list of programs: INTERREG 3 EU Structural funds Cultural programs	YES 2007	We should develop common projects.
	8.7 Historical urban centers	Exchange of best practices, information on existing project.	YES 2007	*
9	Conference

	9.1 Safety and security: Regional stability and peace		NO
	9.2 Human resources and capacity building	Training of local staff	YES 2007 and on	Local Civil servants – Exchange Programmes.
	9.3 Fiscal decentralization		NO
	9.4 Information	Website from Podgorica and Athens.	DONE
	9.5 Structure	Committee of experts, Tirana, Budapest, Belgrade, Sofia, Vienna.	DONE	The Committee should be permanent; consisting of representatives from 5 cities; rotating in 2 years; meeting 2 times per year: Before the Standing Committee Meeting – to make proposals for the General Assembly Agenda and Union’s further actions; Before the General Assembly Annual Meeting – to review the activities and to prepare a Report for the Assembly.

* Repeated Proposals

In addition, we are suggesting that the Union should encourage Economic and Business Development. For that reason, the General Assembly should discuss that issue as a prioritized one and outline the future possibilities and activities in that important area.

2006 Current bodies

Proposal for 2007

2 A GENERAL REVIEW ON THE PREVIOUS CONFERENCES AND PROPOSALS

Notes