The
New European Bauhaus
initiative, which connects the European Green Deal
to our daily lives and living spaces, is as a key
opportunity to harness the creative potential of
regions and municipalities, provide jobs locally
and create accepted and sustainable solutions, the
European Committee of the Regions believes. The
opinion drafted by Cork City Councillor Kieran
McCarthy (IE/EA) points out, however, that this
requires strong local and regional engagement,
which is why the European Commission must ensure
that cities and regions are at the centre of the
initiative and receive technical assistance and
appropriate funding. In this regard, the Commission
has confirmed it is developing a voucher scheme as
proposed in McCarthy's opinion.
"The principal concerns of this opinion revolve around
issues such as: what is the role of local and regional
authorities? What financial resources are being put to
this movement or programme? What are the planned
indicators?" rapporteur Kieran McCarthy pointed out when
presenting his
opinion
at the CoR plenary session on 27 April.
"The current call for local and regional authorities to
get involved is welcome but lacks ambition. Sufficient
resources from state budgets and EU cohesion policy
programmes need to be allocated at local and regional
level for New European Bauhaus", he insisted,
underlining also the need for a New European Bauhaus
regional scoreboard to ensure that the initiative is
implemented at all levels and supported by regional
investments.
The opinion proposes a NEB Lab voucher scheme to help
cities and regions co-create, prototype and test the
tools, solutions and policy actions that will
facilitate transformation on the ground. Michaela Magas, member of the EC's
high-level roundtable on the new European Bauhaus,
confirmed the European Commission would work together
with the CoR on launching 100 vouchers for Bauhaus LABs
across EU regions. "I'm grateful for the idea proposed
by CoR to model it on the successful Wifi4EU
initiative", Ms Magas said.
The European Commission is also asked to establish
better links between the New European Bauhaus and
existing conceptual, culture-related,
aesthetics-oriented and design-oriented frameworks.
This would translate principles into action and enable
the initiative to harness the creative, cultural and
cultural heritage potential of local and regional
authorities to renovate and revitalize neighbourhoods
across the EU.
"I believe that the New European Bauhaus must become a
real movement which involves local and regional
authorities and is not just another top-down project.
It must be a project for everyone, not just the few. To
be successful, this exercise must be socially,
culturally and territorially inclusive", Mr McCarthy
summed up.
Contact:
Lauri Ouvinen
Tel. +32 473536887
lauri.ouvinen@cor.europa.eu