Next stop: Río de Janeiro
The most important decision taken during ORU’s Executive Bureau meeting in Montevideo was, without a doubt, the approval of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as host of ORU’s next General Assembly. The members of the Executive Bureau set the date of the meeting, the 14th and 15th of April 2016, but they also outlined the characteristics and the theme of the Assembly.
The Executive Bureau decided to devote the Assembly in Rio to the defence of the decentralisation processes – and of the subsidiarity concept - in a post-crisis context where nation-states tend to recentralise. The assembly will discuss how to build an efficient relationship among the nation-state, the intermediate government and the local sphere, and how to achieve financial self-sufficiency, whether assuming full responsibility or participating in the State’s budget.
After having devoted considerable attention to sectoral issues like the Post-2015, climate change or food security, the Executive Bureau proposed to focus the General Assembly in Rio specifically on the debate on decentralisation, its benefits, its challenges and its defence. Discussions will be held on the need to defend a global framework of minimum powers for all regions in the world. In addition, A space for sharing experiences will be created to identify in which areas can the intermediate government be more efficient.
In conclusion, ORU has envisioned Rio as a great advocacy platform for regional governments against the recentralising tendencies triggered by the economic crisis. It will be, of course, a unique opportunity to open our organisation’s doors to Brazil, whose States and ORU have recently established new cooperation ties. In fact, we can consider the General Assembly as one of the first results of ORU’s dialogue with the Brazilian intermediate governments, together with the possible accession of the State of Rio Grande do Sul and the commitment of Luiz Fernando Pezão, Governor of Rio de Janeiro, to seek new states willing to join our efforts.
