Secretary General of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG)
Elisabeth Gateau is the first Secretary General of UCLG. Building on her past experience as a local elected official in France, she previously held the position of Secretary General of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), the European section of UCLG. She then went on to oversee local government issues at the Secretariat of the European Convention, which prepared the draft Constitution of the European Union. In July 2004, Elisabeth Gateau’s longstanding contribution to regional and local politics received special recognition through the Emperor Maximilian Prize award that acknowledges the outstanding efforts made to implement of the principle of subsidiarity and the Council of Europe’s Charter on Local Self-Government. Elisabeth Gateau has dedicated her first and second terms as Secretary General to setting the basis for a strong UCLG by: increasing the role and influence of local government in global governance and making UCLG the main source of support for democratic, effective, innovative local government close to the citizen.