The Centre of Expertise for Good Governance of the Council of Europe has been supporting the implementation of the European Label of Governance Excellence (ELoGE) in the Basque Country since 2017.

On 17 September 2021, the fourth round of ELoGE was launched by the Association of Basque Municipalities (EUDEL) through a hybrid session, in order to present the tool to Mayors and other representatives and inform them about the ELoGE process.

Mar Zabala, General Director of EUDEL, highlighted the importance of ELoGE to strengthen the work done by municipalities and the services they can offer to citizens.

Until now, 16 different municipalities participated in the process, and 8 of them were awarded the Label.

The fourth round will be open to municipalities with a population of over 5000 and will further emphasise the links with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Municipalities will have time until 24 September to apply. The implementation phase will be from October until mid-December. The Final Award Ceremony is foreseen to take place in January 2022.

ELoGE is awarded to municipalities which have demonstrated compliance with the 12 Principles of Good Democratic Governance, measured against a Council of Europe benchmark. Currently, ELoGE is being implemented in about 20 of the Council of Europe member states.