All politics is local, or so the saying goes – but it can be hard to engage people in local politics. The Council of Europe’s annual Local Democracy Week, which started on Monday, aims to combat that problem. In the UK, events have included a tour of Bristol’s City Hall, and politicians are paying visits to students in schools in Brent and Stockton-on-Tees.
In Sweden, a local council asked the public to help them create better walkways, while in France, residents of the city of Strasbourg have been discussing citizenship participation.
A series of Eurobarometer surveys might help explain why the problem persists. Each year, citizens from 32 countries across Europe are asked about their trust in their regional or local public authorities. Between 2008 and 2016, the level of trust in local democracy fell in 18 countries, and by an average of 4% across the countries surveyed.
In the latest survey, in May 2016, just 22% of the population in Croatia, Serbia and Italy expressed trust in their local governments, and 23% in Greece and Macedonia.
The UK was more positive, with 53% of correspondents expressing trust in its local and regional authorities, an improvement of 6% on the 2008 survey.
Trust in local authorities was highest in Luxembourg, at 69% of respondents.
