The Mayor of Stuttgart, Wolfgang Schuster, has been elected President of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) at the occasion of the CEMR Policy Committee held on 6 December 2010 in Mondorf-les-Bains, Luxemburg. 

Schuster, who is also Vice-President of UCLG and President of CEMR’s German section, identified a number of priorities including the strengthening of local democracy in Europe and of the political voice of European local and regional authorities and their national representative associations.
 
Upon first addressing the Policy Committee members, the newly elected President stated that CEMR “should become an active partner in the Europe 2020 strategy as all the important challenges being dealt with at the European level are challenges also faced at the local and regional levels.  Europe will only be successful if the political systems at all levels work together in the spirit of governing in partnership.  CEMR could be the motor for a new European governance model by proving that new forms of cooperation based on contracts are an effective and successful means of solving our problems on all political levels.” “CEMR should also enhance its role as a forum of debate and cooperation between local and regional authorities in Europe, especially when considering that knowledge transfer and training for the qualification of local and regional administrations has proved successful, and notably so in the last twentyyears.” 

Schuster also identified among his Presidency priorities giving Europe a human face through the promotion of twinning projects and citizen involvement, as well as promoting and enhancing international solidarity via PLATFORMA, the European platform of local and regional authorities for development, hosted by CEMR. President Schuster, who succeeded Mayor and Governor of Vienna, Michael Häupl, is to serve a three-year mandate.