The future of urban development in the spotlight
URBAN partner organisations debated at the European Parliament with MEPs and representatives of the European Commission about the future of urban development in Europe and the cohesion policy support for it in the new programming period after 2013.
Two presentations by the European Commission about the recently published report “Cities of tomorrow” and about the urban elements in the proposed regulations for cohesion policy 2014-2020 were followed by a long questions and answers session with the European Commission. The participants requested among other things some clarification about the new territorial instruments proposed in the new regulations for cohesion policy, about the earmarking of some of the ERDR allocation for integrated urban development and in more general, about the Commission’s vision for desired future European city model.
The meeting was organised on the 6th of December 2011 by the URBAN Intergroup and took place at the European Parliament.
URBAN Intergroup at the Covenant of Mayors Ceremony
Jan Olbrycht, President of the URBAN Intergroup, participated on the 29th of November in the Covenant of Mayors 3rd Ceremony at the European Parliament in Brussels.
The Ceremony gathered mayors from all over the world to confirm their commitment to the Covenant of Mayors. Based on many examples showed during the meeting, the participants discussed about the contribution of cities to the reduction of CO2 emissions and their plan for local energy actions.
“Covenant of Mayors clearly shows that cities are not waiting – they are actively participating in the European policy while setting and implementing a very ambitious agenda going beyond the European targets.” – Jan Olbrycht, President of the URBAN Intergroup, underlined in the summary of one of the panel discussions.
The Covenant of Mayors is a European Commission initiative supported by the European Parliament and by the Committee of the Regions. The Covenant signatories aim to meet and exceed the European Union 20% CO2 reduction objective by 2020 by increasing energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources on their territory. Including the 263 mayors who joint the Covenant at this year’s ceremony, the number of signatories reached over 3000.
More about the Covenant of Mayors
