In light of the elections for the European Parliament in May 2014, local and regional governments have adopted a Manifesto outlining nine proposals for an EU that puts a higher priority its citizens, cities, municipalities and regions. The Manifesto was adopted by the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) and its 57 associations of local and regional governments

The President of NALAS, Mr

NALAS seeks to engage an agency to provide interpretation services at NALAS IX General Assembly, to be held in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, from10-11 April 2014

kick-off meeting, organized on 17 and 18 February 2014 in Vienna, Austria launched the new NALAS project "Local Leaders in South East Europe: Lead for Change", implemented in partnership with the Open Regional Funds, Modernization of Municipal Services (ORF-MMS).

From 22-24 January 2014, in Brussels, NALAS co-organized a seminar on Fiscal Decentralization. This was the fourth NALAS activity implemented in cooperation with the Local Administration Facility (LAF), the Technical Assistance and Information Exchange (TAIEX) instrument managed by the Directorate-General Enlargement of the European Commission and the Committee of the Regions.

The five NALAS Task Forces in: Urban Planning, Energy Efficiency, Fiscal Decentralization, Water and Solid Waste and Sustainable Tourism are at the heart of NALAS, bringing together the best experts from the region, competent associations' staff and professionals employed in the local government administration, who are directly facing the consequences and challenges coming from policies and laws which define the system of local government. NALAS Task Forces have a key role in knowledge production and dissemination.

On 4 December 2013, six weeks after the publication of the European Commission's Montenegro Progress Report 2013, which identified significant progress in the accession negotiations and recommended the opening of additional negotiation chapters, debates at the third meeting of the EU-Montenegro Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) focused on the issues of the absorption capacity of EU pre-accession funds at local level and fiscal decentralization. Opening the meeting, JCC's co-chair Stanisław Szwabski (PL/EA), Chairman of Gdynia City Council, commended Montenegro's progress towards enlargement as "both impressive and inspiring", stressing that "Montenegro's determination towards EU accession reinforces the credibility of the enlargement process and is an excellent example for the whole Western Balkan region

During the meeting of the NALAS Committee of Liaison Officers, held on 8 December 2013 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, our Network has been enriched with two new associate members

On 21 November 2013, South East Europe got one of its key development documents, SEE 2020 Strategy, expected to bring growth and prosperity to the region. This Strategy puts an emphases on the subsidiarity principle and the role of local governments in promoting economic growth. Unfortunately, in parallel, some SEE countries undergo processes that decrease the fiscal autonomy of the local government and by doing so, jeopardize economic development.

Yesterday, the President of NALAS, Mr. Anton Persak, attended a dinner with the Vice-President and Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), organized by the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) in the European Parliament in Brussels.