On the eve of the European Council and at the close of the meeting of the Executive Bureau of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing met with Mr Juncker, Acting President of the European Council.

President Giscard d'Estaing notably reaffirmed CEMR's commitment to the process of European unification, an essential element for peace and stability on the continent.

After having recalled that the Union should have the capacity and the means to take decisions and to act, the President emphasised that a strengthening process must take place on a parallel basis to enlargement, which presumes a reform of the Union's Institutions.

In the Resolution adopted by the Executive Bureau, CEMR welcomed in particular the process of opening negotiations with the candidate countries being launched by the European Council in Luxembourg, and called for no candidate country to be excluded within a long-term process.

After having recalled the importance of a guarantee of respect for the principles of local self-government, one of the criterion which, according to CEMR, must precede any decisions taken regarding membership, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing recalled that the success of enlargement is also reliant on the active participation of local and regional authorities.