Background
The network of EU Local Councillors is the first European initiative bringing together more than 3,000 local and regional elected representatives from all Member States, with the goal of bringing Europe closer to citizens and communicating about Europe at local level.
It results from the merger of two parallel networks:
- The European Commission’s Building Europe with Local Councillors network (BELC), which was launched in 2022 following the Conference on the Future of Europe. It put into practice the 36th proposal in the conclusions, namely to create a network of local and regional councillors as a way to bring Europe closer to people and to improve European democracy. Accordingly, in 2022 the BELC initiative was proposed by the European Parliament as a pilot project for an initial duration of two years. The pilot project was carried out by the Commission in close consultation with the European Committee of the Regions (CoR).
- The CoR’s Network of Local and Regional Councillors, which is run by the CoR and was set up in 2021. The network gathers local and regional elected representatives from all EU countries with the aim of bringing Europe closer to local communities, building a direct dialogue with CoR members, exchanging information and networking with other local and regional councillors across Europe and reporting their feedback to Brussels.
The fundamental rationale of both networks is that communicating about the EU is a shared responsibility of the EU institutions and bodies and of the Member States’ authorities, including and starting from the local level.
As part of the EU’s commitment to strengthening its relationship with local communities and communicating locally, the network of EU Local Councillors is jointly governed and managed by the European Commission and the CoR via an administrative agreement signed by the two institutions in December 2024.
The way forward
The European Commission and CoR are fully committed to joining forces to bring Europe closer to citizens, investing in the effective mobilisation of local and regional elected representatives across Europe, and to making this network grow.
Objectives are set together through joint governance and joint management, including common branding, a common website and database, a single application process, joint communication services and products, measures to raise awareness and events aimed at the network’s members.
Some key points:
- The European Commission President’s political guidelines for the period 2024-2029 include a direct reference to the network of EU Local Councillors as a flagship initiative, and to the CoR as a partner in strengthening it over the next few years.
- In the mission letters to the new Commissioners, the European Commission President encourages them to be more present on the ground and ‘rely on our network of EU Local councillors’, setting the scene for widescale participation by local representatives across Europe.
- The network’s activities rely on active cooperation with Commission Representations and the EUROPE DIRECT centres in the Member States, as well as with the CoR members. The project can count on the support of the European Parliament.