Part I

Stéphane GUERARD, Associate Professor (HDR), University of Lille, Visiting Professor – Ovidius University of Constanța, Local Autonomy in the Member States of the European Union: Experiences and Directions for Development

The preamble to the European Charter of Local Self-Government, adopted in Strasbourg (Council of Europe, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities) on October 15, 1985, states in paragraph 8 that: “Supporting and strengthening local self-government in the various countries of Europe represents an important contribution to the construction of a Europe based on the principles of democracy and the decentralization of powers”

Consequently, at the European level, promoting the concept of local self-government is an essential guarantee of democracy and a democratic indicator of the state.

This is the clear reason why, as provided for in Article 2 of the Charter, nearly all European Union member states have enshrined the principle of local autonomy in their constitutions, even if they sometimes refer to it by a different name.

Keywords: local autonomy, European Union, European Charter of Local Self-Government