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.

“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.

“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.

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.

“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.

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.

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.

ALDA is a full partner of the World Forum for Democracy taking place from 5 to 11 October 2012 in Strasbourg, France.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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”.

The Director of ALDA, Mrs. Antonella Valmorbida, represents the Civil Society Forum for Eastern Partnership, in her capacity of Coordinator of the Subgroup on Local Governance and Public Administration Reform at the annual meeting of the CORLEAP (Chişinău, Moldova, 17 September 2012).

The Mayor of the Municipality of Yverdon-Les-Bains, Mr Daniel von Siebenthal, Partner of the LDA Albania, is leading the mission of the Swiss Delegation to Shkoder.

The Seminar focused on three main themes: World Federalist issues, European Federalist issues and Sustainable Development issues. These three main topics have been always interconnected and the debate was incredibly fascinating and enriched with several contributes from spokesmen and participants themselves.

From 1 to 5 September 2012 ALDA participated to the international workshop in Hammamet organised in the framework of the project YOUTH GLOCAL SCENARIOS – l’Euromed que nous souhaitons.