The Governing Board of ALDA, which took place in Strasbourg, on the 17th of October, decided to dedicated an annual Scholarship remembering our Honorary President Gianfranco Martini. This action will give the possibility to those who are committed in their life to support the intercultural dialogue and peace, with local and concrete actions, to be further supported. His memory will be kept in our daily life and we hope that his commitment will guide and inspire the beneficiaries of the Scholarship.

The Governing Board of ALDA remembered with a minute of silence the Honorary President.
The initiative, which will be further defined, will be launched in 2013.

In the photo: Gianfranco Martini, Lucien Sergent, Lucien Martin and Valéry Giscard d’Estaing

The President of ALDA, Oriano Otočan, met the newly elected (on Tuesday 16 October) President of the Congress, Herwig Van Staa. The meeting took place in the framework of the Governing Board of ALDA on the 17th of October, in Strasbourg.

During these days, the Autumn Congress Session also took place and it was a good occasion for the ALDA Governing Board members to meet with other important stakeholders for our work.
President Van Staa expressed its full support for the activities of ALDA and the Local Democracy Agencies. The issues discussed were also the future of ALDA activities in Armenia and in Azerbaijan. The issue of strengthening ALDA work in South Eastern Europe was also highlighted. The two Presidents discussed about the new Strategic Views 2012-2016 discussed by the ALDA Governing Board. The document will have its final version during the Governing Board in January 2013.
At the meeting took part also Mrs. Antonella Valmrobida, Director of ALDA, and Andreas Kiefer, Secretary General of the Congress.

ALDA Honorary President, Gianfranco Martini, passed away on 10 October 2012.
“It is a great sorrow not only for ALDA this news” stated ALDA Director, Antonella Valmorbida. “Gianfranco was our friend and our mentor” she wrote in a message of condolence.
Gianfranco Martini was remembered on 18 October during “Passaggio a Sud Est”, a transmission of Radio Radicale, an Italian national radio, and on the Blog of Roberto Spagnoli, Italian journalist.

“As ALDA and LDAs, we all owe him a lot. He was the one who inspired the programme and he supported us from the deep of his heart and with all his strengths. He has always been committed to the cause of Europe as an instrument for peace and common growth. Till the very end, we exchanged views about the future, which seemed to him not so promising because losing the true sense of being together. He always showed us the example of personal commitment to the cause and he never preached us what to do but rather did it! Being both real Europeans, we felt particular close one to each other, since he was from my land, Veneto, and we both shared a lot for common stories, a particular dialect and many common cultural references…
Gianfranco endured the difficulties of the Second World War. He was from Rovigo area, a very poor region of the Veneto Region (Italy). He studied Law in Venice and became a promising Lawyer in his home town, Lendinara. He was elected Mayor of this town for many mandates. He has been a European Activist since after the end of the War and contributed to the development of the Congress (earlier Standing Conference) of the Council of Europe. Making a difficult decision at that time, he moved to Rome with his family (four small children) and he spent all his life at AICCRE and contributed to the strength of the CEMR. In the ’90, he started to work on the project of the LDAs and then with ALDA and was our President till 2008.
Like many us are doing, Gianfranco spent his life traveling around Europe and the globe for the cause of local democracy and human rights. He met and was friends with VIPs and with many “ordinary” citizens. Everybody that met him remembered him. He was able to listen to all of us with attention and care. The communication with him was inspiring and stimulating. I have thousands of images in my head. He was a real gentleman, so elegant and deeply educated.
Gianfranco made the difference for us all and certainly for a part of Europe.
We are just so grateful that we had the chance to be among his friends and those who benefitted from his knowledge and experience. We will all miss him”.

“For those who have been active for many years and all their strength to promote the role of Europe as an instrument for Peace and Democracy, as the Local Democracy Agencies and ALDA, this is a great achievement and recognition. I therefore welcome the Nobel price to the European Union!” said ALDA President, Oriano Otočan, in a statement ,commenting on the award of the Nobel to EU.

“As President of an organisation of Local authorities and civil society, we expect this Nobel Price will be given not to the States and Institutions composing the European Union but rather to all the European Citizens, which are truly contributing every day – and in their life – to make the dream come true” said also ALDA President.
ALDA, as stressed Mr. Oriano Otočan, also expect that the Nobel Price, such a symbolic and strong message, could put further energy and relaunch the accession process to Western Balkans. The word of peace and unity must be spread in this part of Europe too.
In view of the Year 2013, Year of Citizen, the Price would be delivered for an idea – our Europe – and for every citizen belonging to it!
“I believe strongly in Europe and participate actively and relentlessly to its strengthening, its ideas, for citizens and with” said ALDA Director, Antonella Valmorbida.
In her statement she said also: “I value also the power of attraction of our values of peace and democracy that the EU also expresses, towards the countries near us. If the Nobel Prize is intended to European Citizens, I agree, otherwise, I struggle to understand it”.

A conference on „EU integration, a dialogue for the future“, launch event for the one year long project: The European and Our Affairs“ took place in Zavidovici, Town Hall, on 10 October 2012.
The Conference gathered forty representatives of local governments, local/regional development agencies, NGO-s and youth groups.
ALDA, in cooperation with LDA Zavidovici, last September started the implementation of this project, funded by the European Union, as a part of IPA 2011 – Information and Communication Programme.

The project will be implemented in Zenica region, and local communities Zavidovici and Zepce aimed to help raise citizens’ awareness on EU enlargement and pre-accession assistance with particular emphasis on the role of local self-goverments and civil society in the reform process.
The overall project activities and objectives were presented by Stanka Parac Damjanovic, ALDA Regional Programme Coordinator and Sladjan Ilic, Delegate of LDA Zavidovici who were jointly moderating the sessions.
The conference participants were greeted by the mayors of Zavidovici and Zepce, Mr. Hakija Osmic and Mr. Mato Zovko, while the guest speakers were the representatives of the EU Integration Office Bosnia and Herzegovina: Ms. Sandra Memisevic, Project Coordinator in the Unit for EU integration strategy and Ms. Nermina Saracevic, Project Coordinator in the Unit for EU Assistance coordination. They presented the key activities of the EU Integration Office and its role in EU integration strategy planning in different public policy areas. Ms. Saracevic emphasised the need for improved co-operation and co-ordination between different tiers of government in BH with particular focus on local government units lacking both information and adequate administrative capacity for collaborative and partnership based EU project development. Lack of knowledge of advantages of EU accession among the policy and decision makers as well as insufficient general public awareness in local communities about the benefits of EU membership still and to large extent hampers the pace of embracing of the EU standards and values.
Experiences of good practice in local partnership building for collaborative project development were presented by Ms. Branka Janko from Development Agency and Ms. Mira Jovic, from the Association of entrepreneurs in Zepce. They both reiterated the need for more proactive approach of the local stakeholders in public policy development and implementation so as to contribute more effectively to greater involvement of different sections of local community. Developing the administrative capacity of both civil society and public sector at this stage is more than relevant for any foreseeable progress that BH would make on the way to furthering the EU integration.
Ms. Slavica Draskovic, TACSO Resident Advisor in Bosnia and Herzegovina presented the technical assistance programme aimed to help strengthen CSO capacities with specific view to local NGO-s and their issue based networks. She also invited the representatives of local NGO-s to approach TACSO for any support they might need in implementing their activities since the range of capacity building and training seminars offered suit their needs.
During the debate, a number of participants expressed their doubts as regards the progress of BH on the way to further EU integration considering the criteria that have not been fulfilled so far. There were also remarks and comments that there are no guarantees that some new criteria for EU integration will be imposed. However, most of the participants expressed their concern that the complex government structure in the country often leaves (out) the local tier of government without adequate knowledge, competencies and skills for engaging more actively in the European integration affairs. This is why, CSO initiatives may become a valuable tool for promoting both the European and local affairs thus contributing to reduce the gap between them.

The next activity in Zavidovici is scheduled for mid November 2012– The training seminar for cross-sectoral partnership building and EU project cycle management skills.
The project activities include capacity building, public promotion campaigns, knowledge share involving diverse sections of local society, while the local policy/decision makers, business sector, NGO-s, local media and young people are among our priority target groups. The proposed contents and expertise engaged serve both as a learning opportunity for the actors involved, but also to help bust some myths and stereotypes related with the EU integration.

“In Southeast Europe regionalism and decentralisation are not sufficiently developed” said in his speech ALDA President, Oriano Otočan, tooking part in the debate “Regionalisation and Democracy” organised by the Alsace Regional Council (10 October) in the framework of the Strasbourg World Forum for Democracy.
In partnership with the Assembly of European Regions (AER) and the Congress for Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, the event gave the opportunity to discuss how regions can contribute to the democracy.
Talking about the experiences of European regionalism and the different models of state organisation in Europe, Otočan also highlighted that this situation applies even to Croatia, where the state is still too centralised, and there does not exist a clear picture of how the Croatian regions should look like.
The debate offered the occasion to Mr Otočan to provide a local insight about Istria Region experience (Croatia) in addition to contributions made by Mr Leen Verbeek, Representative of CoE Chamber of Regions, and Ms Hande Özsan Bozatli (TR), AER Vice-president.
“The question of the formation of regions is very important for the local democracy – said ALDA President – because regional governments are important in the transmission of citizens’ desires and needs towards national and European authorities. Beneficial role of regions is reflected in their participation in those decisions that concern citizens at the European level. Along the criteria of economic efficiency, and very important financial rationality, in the consideration of the creation of regions it is also necessary to take into account the criteria of the common identity in a particular area, cultural and geographical features, and the question of local democracy, where the citizens have the ability to be sufficiently “close” to the decision making”, he said.

ALDA President, Oriano Otočan, stressed the importance of the role of local authorities and civil society organisations in regional co-operation, speaking about ALDA and LDA’s experiences on this field at the round table organised by Kanton of Sarajevo at the European Parliament (Brussels, 9 October 2012) in the framework of the “Open Days”.
ALDA was also represented by Dobrica Milovanović, member of the Governing Board, who illustrated the point of view of Serbia on the theme of the meeting: “Towards EU28: The perspectives of Croatian Accession to the EU for the future of EU integration process and regional co-operation“.

The round table aimed at showing the importance of regional cooperation within the Western Balkans as well as of the cooperation between the European Union, her member states and the countries in Western Balkans.
Issues like how can cooperation at the regional and local level take place when Croatia joins the EU, were discussed at the round-table. Best-practices examples were presented, e.g. the cooperation between Austrian and Italian regions with regions in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Following to the round-table at the European Parliament, the successful regional co-operation was celebrated at the common house of regional representation offices of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Carinthia, Sarajevo Canton and Istria County.

“Decentralisation and strong role of local authorities are key elements of democratic and economic growth”, stressed Antonella Valmorbida, ALDA Director, speaking at the 10th meeting of the Strasbourg Club. (Strasbourg, F, 9 October 2012). The meeting was promoted by the Municipality of Strasbourg in the framework of the World Forum for Democracy.

“ALDA, through his work at the local level, has been able to verify the positive impact that civil society (associations and volunteering) brings to the community. A strong and vibrant civil society is an important tool for the strengthening of democracy” said Antonella Valmorbida.
“The future of European democracy, including local democracy, is based on building up a participatory democratic model. This meeting of the Strasbourg Club stresses the role not only of active citizenship but also of education for democratic citizenship as vital elements in developing such participation”, said Keith Whitmore, President of the Congress.
“We in the Congress are convinced of our duty to support the creation of a general framework for education for democratic citizenship in our societies”, explained Antonella Cagnolati, Director of the Congress, presenting a range of tried and tested tools from all over Europe, including European Local Democracy Week (ELDW) – an annual pan-European event which was initiated by the Congress. She added, “ELDW is an excellent example which is now being implemented by hundreds of municipalities in more than 30 European countries”.

ALDA is a full partner of the World Forum for Democracy taking place from 5 to 11 October 2012 in Strasbourg, France. Organised by the Council of Europe, the Forum was opened by international key figures such as United Nations Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-moon and Ms. Tawakkol Karman (Yemen), Nobel Peace Prize winner 2011.

ALDA is present in the organisation of the Forum and in person with its President, Oriano Otočan, and Director, Antonella Valmorbida interventions.
Speaking at the opening of the Word Democracy Forum, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that there is a pressing thirst of dignity throughout the world following the demands for democracy in North Africa, the Middle East and beyond in the last two years. Ban Ki-moon recalled that the UN member States have clearly defined democracy as a universal value. “Now we must listen to the people”, he highlighted, and “we must remind governments when they do not comply with their international law obligations”. Finally he recalled that establishing democracy is not only “giving citizens a voice”, but also promoting economic and social development.
“Democracy as a system that enshrines universal values. Democracy as an agent of peace. Democracy as a guarantor of progress and prosperity”. Council of Europe Secretary General, Thorbjørn Jagland opened the Strasbourg World Forum for Democracy, highlighting the unique role of democracy around the globe.
Yemeni journalist and peace prize winner Tawakkol Karman launched a plea for mercy in Syria during the open ceremony of the Forum as she told of her “despair” at the human suffering.
Ms Karman called for support for the Syrian people, and for the UN to act wherever injustice was found. “Governments worldwide must commit to international rights law to create change in a world where liberty was being trampled by dictators”, she said.
This Forum gathers around 1000 participants from more than 100 countries that will be debating the question of democracy: “Bringing the gap: democracy between old models and new realities”. Leading public figures, political and academic experts, national and European parliamentarians and local elected representatives will participate in the discussions alongside civil society activists, bloggers in public workshops on democratic governance, public participation, responsible journalism etc.
ALDA President, Mr. Oriano Otočan, will be panelist of Democracy round table on “Regionalisation and democracy” (Wednesday 10th October, 5 to 7pm), organised by the Assembly of European Regions, the Congress of the Council of Europe, and the Alsace Region.
ALDA Director, Mrs. Antonella Valmorbida, will be panelist at the conference on “Contribution of women to the advancement of democracy” (Tuesday, 9th October, 6 pm).
ALDA will also attend to the Civil society debate organised by the Conference of INGOs (Sunday 7th October, 9:30 am to 5:30pm).
ALDA is strongly supporting the development of democracy and the new models of citizens’ participation in the areas such as the Balkans, Caucasus and MED countries. Being an important stakeholder in these geographic areas, ALDA contributes to the general reflection about the democratic challenges on global level.

In October ALDA is part of all the most important events promoted by European Commission, European Parliament, Committee of the Regions, Council of Europe and Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. “In the next weeks, in Strasbourg and Brussels, we will have the opportunity to emphasise the role of ALDA in the promotion of fundamental democratic and European values, which still represent a challenge to the EU countries as well as those on the path to EU or those in the close European neighborhood” said Alda President, Mr. Oriano Otočan.

Organised by the Council of Europe, the first World Forum for Democracy will take place in Strasbourg from 5 to 11 of October 2012.
ALDA President, Mr. Oriano Otočan, will be panelist at the Democracy round table on “Regionalisation and democracy” (10th October, 5 to 7pm), and ALDA Director, Mrs. Antonella Valmorbida, will be panelist at two conference events: the round table on “The Challenges of citizen participation in Europe: Citizens’ Initiative and European elections 2014”, within the Club of Strasbourg events, (9 October, 11:00 am to 1:00 pm),
and the conference on “Contribution of women to the advancement of democracy” (9
October, 6 pm). ALDA will also attend the Civil society debate organised by
the Conference of INGOs (7 October, 9:30 am to 5:30pm).

In the framework of the “Open Days”, European Week of Regions and Cities (Brussels 8 – 11 October) ALDA President, Mr. Oriano Otočan, will be panelist at a multilevel political round table on “Towards EU 28: The perspectives of Croatian Accession to the EU for the future of EU integration process and regional co-operation” table (9 October 2012, 09.00 – 12.30, at European Parliament building). Mr. Dobrica Milovanovic, member of the Governing Board, will also present its experience from the Serbian point of view.

ALDA will also promote two events as part of the 2012 edition of the ELDW, European Local Democracy Week an initiative coordinated by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe..
A Seminar on Local Self Government that will take place in Braslaw, Belarus, on the 27 October, in the framework of project TANDEM, and an international conference and an “International Citizenship Fair”, that will take place in Malta (29 – 31 October), as final event of the project TIC TAC.

ALDA is organising an event included, by the European Commission, in the official programme of the next European Development Days (Brussels, 16 – 17 October ). It will be a WTD project creative laboratory, conceived as a learning café session, aiming at brainstorming and proposing recommendations integrating the contributions of experts and practitioners on the advantages of creating real synergies between LAs and CSOs in development cooperation.

ALDA President, Mr. Oriano Otočan, will have a speech during the 23rd Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, taking place from 16 to 18 October 2012 in Strasbourg.

Finally, ALDA will take advantage of these important Europeans events to think also about its future strategies. In fact, a meeting of the members of the Association will be held in Brussels on 16 October (11:00 to 13:00, ALDA offices in Brussels) and a meeting of the Governing Board will be held in Strasbourg on 17 October. The Governing Board will discuss in particular on strategies for the next three years, to propose solutions and new forms of actions to problems that are facing local authorities and civil society in Europe, in the acceeding countries to the EU and the Neighbouring countries.

ALDA and the Foundation for partnership and civil society development of the Region of Istria in cooperation with the Region of Istria and partner organisation ZUM Pula organised on 27th and 28th September 2012 in Pula the third and last module of the workshop “EU programs, funds and projects” on the subject of structural funds. Workshops are held within the project Think.EU, funded by Europe for Citizens programme.

Oriano Otočan, Head of Department of International Relations and European Integration of the County, since June this year also president of ALDA, greeted the participants and noted that the project was created in collaboration of the Region of Istria and the Foundation for Partnership and civil society development of the Region of Istria with the aim of educating the widest potential users to use European Union funds. “Through the project THINK.Eu 30-new participants will be trained and ready to prepare and implement projects from various EU funds, in particular the Structural Funds,” said Oriano Otočan.
In order to provide a high – quality training, ALDA has valorised the long-term experience in the structural funds of the Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia and has involved officials with solid experience in various aspects, i.e. planning, financial management, territorial cooperation. The speakers from Region Friuli Venezia Giulia were Roberto Piccini, 1st level controls on structural funds, Simonetta Micheli, regional service for Communitarian programmes, Raffaella Viviani, Brussels office. The coordinator Marco Boaria, and Anna Ditta, project officer from the ALDA Resource and Development unit also presented their experiences to the participants of the workshop.

Next 27th and 28th September ALDA will organize in Pula, Croatia, the third and last part of the training on EU funds, foreseen in the frame of the THINK.EU project, funded by Europe for Citizens programme.
The Foundation Istria, lead applicant of the project, will host the event.

Addressed to officials in the region of Istria, representatives of NGOs and the business community, this training will focus on indirect funding of the European Union, also known as Structural Funds. Croatia will officially become a member of the European Union on the 1st July 2013. It will benefit, starting from this date, of 687.5 million euro (for the solely 2013) of which a large part will be Structural Funds.
This training is therefore of crucial importance in such a particular historical moment.
In order to provide a high – quality training, ALDA will valorise the long-term experience in the structural funds of the Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia and will involve officials with solid experience in various aspects, i.e. planning, financial management, territorial cooperation.
The officers involved will be: Roberto Piccini, 1st level controls on structural funds, Simonetta Micheli, regional service for Communitarian programmes, Raffaella Viviani, Brussels office.
ALDA will participate with its staff from the Resource and Development unit: the coordinator Marco Boaria, and Anna Ditta, project officer.
The training will represent a fundamental opportunity for all the target groups involved to learn on how to use the conspicuous funds that Croatia will receive soon. On the other side, it will also be the occasion for exchange and partnership between Italian and Croatian institutions and CSOs, with a view to future cooperation and mutual growth, thanks to new and greater financial opportunities provided by the European Union to its new Member State.
In this frame is therefore interesting to mention that Oriano Otocan, director of the International Relations Department of the Istria Region, is the new President of ALDA since June 2012.
A new impetus for ALDA’s activities and the opportunity for Croatian region to be actively involved in a really European network.

ALDA, in cooperation with LDA Zavidovici, is starting a realisation of a new project, titled „The European and Our Affairs“. The project is funded by the Delegation of the European Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a part of IPA 2011 – Information and Communication Programme.
The activites will be located at municipalities Zavidovici and Zepce, and the subject who will benefit from his project include the local civil society, citizen groups, local community members, local media and public at large.

Some of the project objectives would be helping to raise awareness on EU enlargement process and pre-accession assistance aimed to support the reform process at local level in Bosnia and Herzegovina; to improve public understanding of the benefits of EU integration; to promote tangible results of EU pre-accession assistance; to help reinforce the role of civil society in the public dialogue on EU accession agenda and to strenghten the local ownership over the reform and EU integration process.
The main activities of the project include an opening conference on the topic „EU integration – a dialogue for the future“ in Zavidovići, two training seminars for CSO-s and local authorities on EU integration and pre-accession assistance; a training seminar for local media titled „EU Integration: prejudices and myth-buster“, and a Youth for EU campaign including a EU quiz in secondary schools and EU Ambassadors’ visits.
Through these activities, it is expected to achieve improved public awareness and knowledge of actual benefits of EU integration, increased information provision about the effects of EU funded projects, improved outreach and information dissemination on EU integration issues, increased number of cross-sectoral partnerships and issue based networking for underpinning reform process, and improved public dialogue for common understanding of EU values.
The first scheduled activity of the project is the opening conference which will be held on October 10th 2012 in Zavidovici.

Officially started on 17th September a common project between LDA Osijek, LDA Subotica, ALDA and other local partners.
The project named “Support for Networking at EU Level – SNET.EU” is a part of the programme IPA CBC Croatia – Serbia and will last for 18 months.

The applicant in Croatia is Local Democracy Agency in Osijek with partners the Croatian Institute for Self-Government (HILS) and Evangelic Theological Seminary (EVS) both from Osijek.
The applicant in Serbia is Local Democracy Agency in Subotica with partners ALDA as well as Open University Subotica.
The main objectives of the project are: to build capacities of local institutions and local authorities for understanding regional EU policy and European integration process; to promote town twinning as a tool for development of European active citizenship; to contribute to twin town/municipality partner search for LA from Croatia and Serbia at European level and to contribute to networking and cooperation between LA from Croatia and Serbia.
Its aim is also to contribute to capacity building of human resources for supporting and developing of town twinning involving local authorities in rural areas of Osijek-Baranja and Vukovar-Sermium Counties in Croatia and Bačka District in Serbia through establishing of resource centers for town twining.
Besides being a great opportunity for capacity building of small municipalities both in Croatia and Serbia this project is a great contribution for involvement of experts and partners from LDAs and ALDA regional and European network as well as for further cooperation.

On 11th and 12th October, the Union of Bulgarian Black Sea Local Authorities (UBBSLA) will organise, in Varna (Bulgaria) a workshop on “How citizens trough volunteering may contribute to the enhancement of the communities’ governance”. This workshop will be the 9th local event organised within the framework of the project VIT, Very Important Twinning, Volunteering in Town, in which ALDA is the lead partner.

The workshop will focus on the Interaction between the generations and the potential opportunities for the elderly people, also on the Public health care for the longevity of the elderly people.
The project VIT focuses on volunteering and democracy in an enlarged Europe. It aims at promoting volunteering in towns, addressing this issue from a participatory perspective.
In particular, the project wishes to create a platform involving different types of stakeholders (see partnership below) for debate, action and reflection on how citizens may enhance governance in Europe. At the same time, the project aims at revitalising existing town-twinning relations of the partner towns and initiate new twinning.
If you are interested in attending this event, please contact Mrs Mariana Ivanova (office@ubbsla.org ).

For more information on travel and accommodation costs of international participants, please contact Mrs. Polina Antonova from UBBSLA (coordinator@ubbsla.org).