EU: Multi-Level-Governance

This information session for 20 Chinese government officials took place from 8 to 21 July 2012.

Just as the other sessions of the series, the programme contained a relevant mix of lectures and field visits. The programme was designed for 20 delegates of NDRC supported by 2 GIZ staff members (coordinator and assistant) and one interpreter. The ultimate goal of the course was to reflect about multi-level governance in Europe. The cooperation between the supranational, national, regional and local levels built the red line of the seminar. The case studies were carefully selected according to the diversity of European national and regional governance systems and in coordination with the managing authorities of the operation programmes involved in the activity.

The course started with a briefing session in Beijing. This covered basic logistical issues and background information on the topic. The session was attended by representatives of the EU Delegation to China and by the Director of the Chinese Centre for Urban Development at NDRC, Mr Li Tie. The project coordinator explained the rationale of the information session’s design and the results to be obtained in the selected regions. Participants were then transferred to the Beijing international airport.

Once in Europe, the information session started with an introduction to the main issues of multi-level governance and regional policy legislation in Europe. Participants then visited best practices in six European Union countries representing the diversity of multi-level governance systems: Belgium, Netherlands and Germany (all three federal), Italy (decentralised unitary) and Poland and France (regionalised unitary). The cities and regions visited represented different models of cooperation at national, regional and local level, making them particularly interesting for Chinese officials. 

The report of the activity can be accessed here.China 1_Technical_Report_100812