NALAS President M. Ergün Turan attends the EU Local Authorities Meeting

M. Ergün Turan, the President of NALAS and Fatih Mayor, Deputy President of the Marmara Municipalities Union (MMU), attended the annual Enlargement Day of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) as a speaker.

First organised in 2015, the Enlargement Day is one of the most important events organised by the European Committee of the Regions on EU enlargement policy and capacity building. The 2023 edition was organised in cooperation with the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU. Attending the Enlargement Day, Mayor Turan said that enlargement policy represents the most important foreign policy instrument for NALAS and emphasised his conviction that peace, prosperity and security in the EU will only be sustainable in the future with the integration of the Western Balkan countries and Türkiye. Stating "Now is the time for the role of Local Authorities to be fully recognised and better positioned in the EU integration process. Sub-national governments and their associations should be recognised by the EU institutions as 'strategic dialogue partners'. This will pave the way for much needed contributions to our common European agenda for sustainable development, peace and prosperity", M. Ergün Turan said that strengthening co-operation with local and regional governments contributes to the dynamism of the accession process.