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Policy
Next steps for the EU Urban Agenda
The Ljubljana Agreement and its Multiannual Working Programme for the Urban Agenda for the EU were adopted by EU Ministers responsible for Urban Matters on 26th November 2021. The Ljubljana Agreement maintains the Pact of Amsterdam and introduces innovations that will further strengthen the impact and effectiveness of the Urban Agenda for the EU. The Multiannual Working Programme complements the political declaration and focuses on work method and steps for implementation of the next phase of partnerships.
We would like to thank the Slovenian Presidency very much for putting urban topics high on the agenda and for working hard towards the Ljubljana Agreement. This Agreement is a great success for all the thousands of small, medium and bigger cities in Europe. We are highly welcoming the growing importance of small and medium-sized cities in the discussion for the next EU Urban Agenda and that Eurotowns is included in the Multiannual Working Programme on page 2. As Eurotowns we continue to serve as a partner to involve more small and medium-sized cities in the Urban Agenda Partnerships to work collectively towards a sustainable Europe for us all.
The Ljubljana Agreement can be found here.
The Multiannual Working Programme can be downloaded here.
Opinion Towards a holistic strategy on sustainable rural/urban development by EESC
The EESC own-initiative opinion NAT/820 ‚Towards a holistic strategy on sustainable rural/urban development‘ has been adopted by the European Economic and Social Committee on 21 October. Eurotowns contributed actively to this opinion in the public hearing held on 18. June.
We are very delighted that the opinion adopted mentions Eurotowns in the section „Challenges and proposals for action“ on page 4:
3.5 Medium-sized cities play a key role in connecting urban metropolitan areas with rural ones and therefore warrant special attention, when it comes to both land-use planning and the allocation of resources and services. Many European cities (including Toulouse in France, our Eurotowns member city of Manresa in Spain, Turin in Italy and Aalborg in Denmark) have already implemented very successful approaches. Networks of cities such as ICLEI, Eurotowns and Eurocities are key players in exchanging experiences and promoting best practices.
The opinion is available here.
Eurotowns position paper on medium-sized cities in cohesion policy
Medium-sized cities represent a significant part of the EU urban fabric. Medium-sized cities are not different only in terms of dimensions and city’s population, but diverge from large cities also in terms of local challenges, resources available, and linkages with the surrounding areas and cities. This specificity should be properly reflected in the next cohesion policy, allowing medium-sized cities to develop the right tools to further invest in new solutions to better face current and future challenges.
The position paper can be downloaded here.
Eurotowns position paper on EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027
Medium-sized cities represent a significant part of the EU urban fabric. Youth participation is very important in medium-sized cities. Through a close connection with its youth groups and institutions, many medium-sized cities engage the youth through democratic processes, such as youth councils, and can include the needs and challenges of young people into its policies and programmes. Medium-sized cities foster active youth participation by being close to its citizens.