A Danish expert has warned that recent European local government reorganisations have placed too much emphasis on efficiency. Kristian Heunicke, from the Association of Danish Regions, said that overhauls of local government in Denmark and Latvia placed too little emphasis on democracy. Mr Heunicke told a meeting of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions that the Danish reform ‘strengthened local government', but ‘was too much of a top-down process, with central government putting too much emphasis on efficiency'. He said: ‘In the end, local democracy was completely forgotten in the reform, and the parliament is free to interfere too much in local issues.' Mr Heunicke's warnings will be seized on by critics of Whitehall's plans for new unitary authorities, which have been criticised as undemocratic by district councils and leading academics.
