“The reforms that the Croatian government will finalise in the next twenty months to prepare the country to the European appointment in July 2013 should be shared with civil society, and European institutions will continue to monitor the situation, which is essential for the completion of the process act”.

The celebration for the 15th anniversary of the LDA of Sisak (HR) coincides, for a not accidental case, with the eve of Croatian access in the big European family, and the awarding of the “12 stars label” to the Municipality for its efforts in ELDW

The visit in Ijevan (Armenia) of two executives of the Municipality of Thiene (Italy) launched yesterday (27th of October) a twinning project between the two cities, in cooperation with ALDA.

The new Local Democracy Agency Armenia was opened on 28th of October in Gyumri. It is the second LDA in the South Caucasus area and the thirteenth LDA opened by the Association of Local Democracy Agencies (ALDA) with the support of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

“The new LDA Armenia, like the others established in the past years, will be a bridge builder! It will build bridges between the various stakeholders of the community, as local authorities, civil society, and the local business and educational sectors, in order to promote democracy and respect for human and minority right”.

The Association of Local Democracy Agencies participated in the European Congress of Rural Municipalities, which took place in Warsaw on 19-20 October 2011.

On the 23rd of October it was officially launched in Budapest, Hungary, the Grundtvig project “Network for Community Development with Marginalised Social Groups” in which ALDA is partner.

On 11 October 2011, as part of the activities in its committee «Wider Europe», AFCCRE took the initiative to organise a meeting between the French and the Croatian representatives of local authorities in both countries.

Mr Dragan Marinkovic, associate of LDA Niš and Head of Environmental Protection Department of the City of Kragujevac, will take part in the international conference on climate change, “Green capital” in Tbilisi, Georgia, on 20th of October.

Supporting participatory urban development and start a solid relationship of decentralised cooperation with an Armenian town.

Respect of freedom of expression and assembly, and immediate release of political prisoners, in Azerbaijan. Is what asks the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum to the Government of Azerbaijan, to the Heads of all EU institutions, to the Governments of the EU member States and to the Council of Europe.

ALDA and the LDA Central and Southern Serbia were present at the 2011 European Week of Regions and Cities in Brussels

ALDA is having a central role in the promotion of the ELDW , the European local democracy week, among its members and its partners, as main partner of the Congress of the Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, the body which promotes the initiative.

The new Local Democracy Agency Armenia will open on 28th of October in Gyumri. It is the second LDA in the South Caucasus area and the thirteenth LDA opened by the Association of Local Democracy Agencies (ALDA) with the support of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

During the past 2 weeks, 4 trainings on use of wiki sites were held as part of the project for decentralised cooperation between North Macedonia and Lower Normandy.

The participants of the Eastern Partnership Conference, that took place in Warsaw (29 Semptember 2011) adopted a declaration in which they express their continuing concern about the ongoing human rights violations and the existence of political prisoners in some of the EaP countries.

ALDA will take part in the International conference for the European Year of Volunteers on “Italy – Central and South Eastern Europe: Volunteerism and Institutions in comparison”, 7-9 October 2011 – Gorizia (I).

The Congress was organised in Rybnik, Poland, (29 September – 1 October) by the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), in partnership with the Association of Polish Cities, a CEMR member association, and the City of Rybnik, with the financial support of the European Commission and under the patronage of the Polish EU presidency.