EU Week of Regions and Cities

My favourite week of the year, is the EU Week of Regions and Cities.  Now in its 22nd year, I have been attending it for most of the past two decades, even online during the pandemic.  I suffer from FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)!  It is a great week that brings together policy makers, policy implementors, and action takers that stimulate a true sense of European collaboration, solidarity, and unity.

Over the years the venues have changed, the format has changed, and the participants have changed.  But the focus remains the same.  Exploring how EU policy for Europe’s cities, towns, village, rural communities and regions can collectively contribute to the political, economic, environmental, and societal challenges today.

This year, the EU Week of Regions and Cities provided a feast of seminars, workshops, formal and informal meetings, and that can facilitate contacts in the key areas of the policy instruments.

The sessions were well attended and had a spectrum of speakers, participants, and contributors from across the continent.  As I participated in the sessions, I noticed that there were common threads throughout the debates that centred on three main transition challenges being faced by all cities and regions, environmental transition, digital transition, and societal transition. 

The workshops that were arranged focused on these themes and provided great insights into the work of cities and regions across Europe and how they were going about tacking these challenges.  At the end of week there were for me there were four main take-aways.

1.       Multilevel, and cross sectoral, policy and stakeholder engagement are essential.  This is important to overcome the difficulties in implementing policy changes at local level.  Common difficulties that were highlighted included how different actors in the community have different interests and priorities and the need for these to align; the often geographic and cultural divides; and regional regulatory frameworks and how these can be problematic for inter-regional collaboration.

2.       The need for greater horizontal use of policies.  By integrating policy tools rather than complicating or duplicating, resources would be better used and be more impactful.  There is also the opportunity to scale-up local projects through the multiple use of EU tools, if funding frameworks supported this approach more.  There were calls for the Directorate Generals to co-ordinate these efforts better.

3.       EU policy instruments should lead to actionable knowledge.  This can then be used in policy and the future stages of the policy cycle.  One contributor gave the example that their experience in EU funding, and their involvement in pan European partnerships has influenced local policies and domestic funding opportunities.

4.       European values matter.  Peace, solidarity, rule of law, democracy, human rights, freedom, are essential values of the European Union and must underpin all policies and projects.  Sometimes it is important to get back to basics.

It was, as always, an invaluable week and one that stands out each year in the jam-packed calendar of EU events.  I left with inspiration and a feeling that Europe’s regions and cities are having a profound impact on Europe’s efforts to address the three transitions.