The Lisbon Treaty presents new opportunities and challenges for local government in Europe. To debate the role of local authorities at European and local level, Diputació de Barcelona, ESN member, co-hosted the European Summit of Local Governments, 22-24 February, in cooperation with the Spanish Association of Local Authorities (FEMP) and the Spanish EU Presidency. The Summit brought together almost 600 delegates from local government and the EU level to discuss the EU2020 Strategy for growth and competitiveness.

Christian Fillet, head of social services of the city of Willebroek in Belgium and ESN treasurer contributed to the Summit’s round table on ‘Social inclusion through collaboration between the third sector and local governments’. “I think you have to work for results, you have to persevere and work for many years towards a single objective and finally, you have to ensure that everyone can play for the first team, that no-one is left languishing in the reserves,” Fillet said, talking about his professional experience as a social director in Flanders.

The second round table of the Summit focused on ‘models for dialogue and cooperation between the third sector and local governments’. Miran Kerin, President of the Association of Centres for Social Work (SCSD) and Head of Social Services in the municipality of Ptuj presented the experience of this dialogue in Slovenia. “NGOs are a strong partner in the coordination cycle but sometimes there are gaps in implementation, as they do not have secure funding. Additionally, sometimes government programmes and NGOs draw from the same pool of funds and services – which creates competition,” Kerin explains.

ESN’s policy and research officer, Daniel Molinuevo, offered an overview of ESN members’ experience on how local public social services and the NGO/social economy sector work together. Drawing on material from the seminar “Building partnerships in mental health”, held in Madrid last November and the European project Mind the Gap on strengthening co-operation between the public and private social sectors. Download ESN presentation in Spanish.