The Europe of municipalities from the Belle Époque to the Renaissance européenne (1900-2022)

This book is the outcome of an intense research conducted by the Author at national and international level. The results of the studies allowed both to retrace the history of local authorities’ actions in Europe starting from the beginning of 20th century and to explore their political initiative up to the meeting of heads of State and government held in Prague in October 2022. In this framework it is crucial to recount the work carried out by the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), founded in Geneva in 1951 under the name Conseil des communes d’Europe (CCE). The renaming occurred in 1984, after the European Parliament approved the Spinelli Project. Since the establishment of the first European Communities, the CEMR has been constantly carrying out actions and initiatives aiming at building a dialogue between local authorities with European institutions and therefore at bringing European citizens closer to them. In CEMR vision, European integration process should stem from municipalities and end with the European federation. Among the key outcomes of CEMR political activity, we could retrace the establishment of a permanent committee of local authorities taken by the Council of Europe (one of the main players of which was the mayor of Bordeaux Jacques Chaban Delmas) and the crucial political action for the direct election of the European Parliament, carried out mainly by Umberto Serafini, Secretary general of the Associazione italiana per il Consiglio dei comuni e delle regioni d’Europa – AICCRE. These initiatives were relevant both for the improvement of citizens’ participation in the integration process and * President, Associazione Universitaria di Studi Europei THE EUROPE OF MUNICIPALITIES 10 for the institutional regulation of the relations between European institutions and local authorities, which could and should take part in the building of the new Europe. This perspective is valid and adoptable also to understand the political role of local authorities on the occasion of the Conference for the Future of Europe. Despite its undeniable weaknesses, the Conference has nonetheless allowed to raise the issue of the need for the United States of Europe, if only with a view to the future.