The visit to Brussels under the study visit to Belgium and The Netherlands within the scope of Town Twinning between Turkey and the EU (TWIN) Project completed on Monday, April 17th, 2019. The first visit on Wednesday made to the Assembly of European Regions (AER), to which the metropolitan municipalities in Turkey are a party and which aims to improve cooperation among local authorities in Europe. During this visit, the TWIN study visit team informed on the policies supporting local authorities, putting these policies into effect, maintaining regional interests and the activities to keep the importance of regional governments on the agenda.
The second visit of the TWIN study visit team made to EUROCITIES, which is the network of local authorities including major European cities/local authorities. During the visit, the TWIN study visit team informed on highlighting the significant role that local authorities should play in the governance structure established by EUROCITIES and the activities aiming to reorient the EU acquis in order to ensure that the strategic issues at the local level are handled by the local authorities.
Upon the completion of the visits of the third day, the TWIN study visit team moved to The Hague, The Netherlands. The last two days of the 5-day study visit to within the scope of Town Twinning between Turkey and the EU (TWIN) accomplished with the field visits to local authorities and relevant institutions in The Netherlands.