With the celebration of this ceremony, the FMRM and its associates place themselves at the forefront of good local governance in Europe.
The Federation of Municipalities of the Region of Murcia (FMRM) today held the ceremony for the awarding of the European Seal of Excellence in Local Governance (ELoGE) corresponding to the 2nd edition of this award, to the municipalities of Alcantarilla and Cartagena, who revalidate this prestigious recognition granted by the Council of Europe.
This organization, which includes the 45 municipalities of the Region, is working on this certification within the framework of the European project Interreg Adcap4GoodGov.
The event, held at the FMRM headquarters, was attended by the representative of the Council of Europe, Conrad Zellmann, as well as the mayor of Alcantarilla, Paqui Terol, and the councilor for Transparency of the Cartagena City Council, Diego Lorente, who received the award on behalf of their municipalities.
Also participating in the ceremony were the mayor of Los Alcázares and president of the Transparency Commission of the Federation of Municipalities, Mario Pérez Cervera, and Fernando Jiménez, professor of Political Science and Administration at the University of Murcia, along with regional authorities, councilors, municipal technicians and institutional representatives.
The ELoGE Seal is the highest European recognition in terms of good democratic governance and assesses compliance with twelve fundamental principles such as transparency, citizen participation, public ethics, accountability, administrative efficiency and the sustainability of public policies.
During the event, the president of the Federation of Municipalities of the Region of Murcia, Víctor Manuel López Abenza, highlighted that “this seal is not just an award, but a tool for continuous improvement that promotes more open, efficient administrations that are closer to the citizens.”
López Abenza also emphasized that this distinction goes even further: “Today we recognize two municipalities that are among the best in Europe in transparency and good public management. The ELoGE Seal is the highest European distinction for good local governance and demonstrates that in the Region of Murcia we have municipalities committed to democratic excellence.”
The FMRM is an entity accredited by the Council of Europe to evaluate and award this distinction in the Region of Murcia, making it one of only two organizations in Spain with this responsibility. In recent months, the Federation has developed awareness campaigns, training workshops, and technical advisory processes to support municipalities in improving their public management.
With this certification, Alcantarilla and Cartagena have solidified their position as benchmarks for good governance in the Region of Murcia and at the European level, and the Federation of Municipalities encourages other city councils to join this model of institutional excellence in future editions. Furthermore, it is important to highlight that only 23 other municipalities in Spain had obtained this seal by 2025, which would bring the total to approximately 25 municipalities with this recognition nationwide, if we include Alcantarilla and Cartagena on this exclusive list.
The Federation of Municipalities is already working to advise those municipalities that want to obtain this seal, as several have expressed great interest in achieving it.
