National Meeting of Chile's Regional Councillors
Over one hundred regional councillors met up in Pucón, Araucanía, to address the issue of decentralization in Chile.
On July 21-22, the Chilean National Association of Regional Councillors (ANCORE) held its annual meeting in Pucón -Araucanía Region-. With the presence of over one hundred councillors from all Chilean regions, the meeting concluded with a strong commitment for a political process favourable to regional autonomy in the country. ORU Fogar attended the meeting and participated in it, represented by its Secretary General, Carles Llorens.
In the opening ceremony, ANCORE’s President, Marcelo Carrasco, called for “political, fiscal and administrative autonomy” in the Chilean regions. He estimated that ANCORE’s membership in ORU Fogar, as an international platform for regions, will entail valuable support in the decentralisation process that the country is in need to undertake. Answering to these words, ORU’s Secretary General expressed the organisation’s entire willingness to support the Chilean regions, pointing out as well that “Chile is at the bottom of the ranking regarding decentralisation in the Latin-American frame”. In some Latin-American countries, governors have budgetary difficulties as well as some disputes regarding areas of responsibility, but they are present as elected political powers and have a recognised institutional role, and that’s something that doesn’t occur in Chile”. There, regional councillors are elected, but they have a merely advisory and pressure-making function before the authorities appointed by the Central Government.
Within the framework of the National Meeting of Regional Councillors, a training course on “Regional Incomes“ was given by Doctor Maite Vilalta, fiscal politics professor at the University of Barcelona. Organised by ORU, in collaboration with the Public Administration School of Catalonia (EAPC), on July 25, the same course was also delivered in Quito, Ecuador, in the framework of the seminar “Reflections on the local governments financing model”. This initiative is framed in the agreement concluded in 2015 with the EAPC in order to create ORU’s Training School, one of the services that ORU offers to its members in order to provide them with formative tools and resources.
Related Content:
ORU organises two courses on regional financing in Chile and Ecuador. Article published by ORU Fogar's website. 26/07/2016
