The European Union (EU) has a growing influence over local government activity. Local Authorities also have a major role in ensuring that the EU delivers practical benefits for Welsh citizens. There is a number of reasons why Europe is important to local government and why local government is important to Europe. These include:
- Local authorities can contribute to the quality of EU initiatives by identifying ways to make them more workable on the ground.
- For many local authorities, EU funding, whether from the Structural Funds or other programmes, is a very important resource.
- As much as 70% of UK domestic law impacting on local authorities has its origins in EU legislation.
The electorate entrusts local councillors with responsibilities for using public resources carefully and fairly, ensuring that their communities are properly represented, and providing day to day services on which they can depend. Councillors are elected to office not only to represent their ward and their constituents. They also have legal obligations to oversee the management of the corporate body of the Council and to assure the highest standards of governance, stewardship and organisational performance in the public interest.
For more information contact: Lowri Gwilym