In the next virtual meeting, the "Municipalities for Europe" team stopped in the Municipality of Përmet, where the Mayor, Mrs. Alma Hoxha was present together with members of the Municipal Council, civil society and staff members of this institution.
The meeting was moderated by the head of the Integration Unit in this Municipality, Mrs. Denisa Mamillo and the Project Manager "Municipalities for Europe", Mrs. Jolanda Trebicka.
From the EU delegation in Albania the meeting was greeted by Mr. Frederic Misrahi, Program Manager for the Culture Sector.
The focus of the meeting was the discussion on the progress achieved by the Local Government in implementing the obligations of EU membership, focusing on the field of culture and education. In her speech, Mrs. Hoxha stated that "completing the performance evaluation matrix is not the responsibility of only the Integration Unit but of all the staff of the Municipality. All directorates and sectors must provide timely and responsible information, as the performance appraisal report serves also the Municipality to see where it is located or even compared to other Municipalities in meeting the criteria within the European integration process.
The aim is for us to improve on those indicators where we are not performing well, through integrating them into the short-term and long-term development plans of the Municipality and considering them as priorities in applications for European Union funds. The staff of the Municipality, members of the Municipal Council, civil society and the community, we all together have an important role in Albania's journey towards the European Union ".
For his part, Mr. Misrahi stressed that municipalities have an important role in the European integration process as a large part of EU legislation is implemented at the local level, and the EU will be an determined supporter of municipalities in this journey.
Mr. Bekim Murati, Director of the Agency for Support of Local Self-Government, said that the Agency has worked and will continue to work for supporting the municipalities in this process.
Further on, the expert Mirsa Titka presented the recommendations of the Performance Evaluation Report for the field of culture and education, while Mrs. Iva Çoku presented the opportunities offered by European Union funding in Albania.
