The future of the Covenant of Mayors, environmental policy in small communities, smart cities and the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been under discussion at the 25th meeting of the Commission for the environment, climate change and energy (ENVE). With Europe's Green Deal ranking first amid the priorities laid down by European Commission's President-elect, Ursula von der Leyen, Europe’s sustainable energy transition and climate-neutrality have gained the EU's centre stage. 

The call for application for municipalities and associations formed by municipalities is open since 19 September 2019 at 13:00 CEST to apply to win a EUR 15,000 voucher to cover the equipment and installation costs of Wi-Fi hotspots in their municipalities. The beneficiaries will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis, while ensuring that all Member States can benefit from a minimum amount of vouchers. 

The President of the European Union's assembly for cities and regions has voiced support for North Macedonia's bid to join the EU. During his visit to Skopje on 17-18 September, Karl-Heinz Lambertz of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) also urged municipalities in North Macedonia to support the country's accession drive by continuing reforms and exploring further cooperation with cities and regions in Bulgaria and Greece.  

On 17 and 18 September 2019, the region and city of Gabrovo will host an international conference on "Industry 4.0 and the Next Programming Period". This initiative is carried out for the first time in Bulgaria within the framework of the European Union inter-institutional Knowledge Exchange Platform (KEP) and is co-organized by the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission (DG RTD) and the European Committee of the Regions (CoR). High-level speakers at the event will be Tomislav Donchev - Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria and Markku Markkula - First Vice-President of the European Committee of the Regions. 

Addressing the challenges and opportunities linked to any major sector always requires a collaborative effort. By joining forces with public transport colleagues, we can consider what is necessary to place urban mobility on top of the agenda. 

More than two million people in Europe are directly employed in the public transport sector. Public transport plays a major role in the life of cities and is also a key factor in the fight against climate change. 

​In an exchange of views with Finland's Minister for Economic Affairs Katri Kulmuni, EU local and regional leaders stressed that Finland's Presidency of the Council of the EU must come up with an ambitious proposal for the EU's next multiannual budget, providing all cities and regions with means to invest in human capital and to tackle the digital divide.  

On the International Democracy Day, the President of the European Committee of the Regions'(CoR) President Karl-Heinz Lambertz has recalled his appeal to launch a new permanent dialogue with citizens together with its regions and cities, and reinstated the urgency to strengthen the role of local and regional governments in the EU decision-making process. Contributing to the European Commission's commitment to strengthening European democracy, the CoR also published a collection of insights from local and regional governments, practitioners and academics on how best to engage citizens in the EU.  

​The City of Turku and the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities are hosting two different meetings of the European Committee of the Regions in Logomo on 12 and 13 September 2019. The European Committee of the Regions is a consultative body consisting of regional and local representatives from all 28 Member States. It is the official voice of cities and regions in the EU. 

The European Union should deepen relations with neighbours on its eastern borders through more localised and targeted engagement, local and regional leaders from the EU and its partner countries have said. In two separate reports adopted on 12 September, they advised the EU to increase its support for small cross-border projects designed to increase community contacts and to establish a public-administration academy for local and regional civil servants from the six Eastern Partnership countries: Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.  

As part of the initiative launched by the European Commission, 10 European regions awarded with the label of the European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) are collaborating in order to further develop and inter-connect their startup and scale ​up support ecosystems. 

The European Court of Auditors' (ECA) Special Report on public consultations recommends a better engagement of organisations such as the Committee of the Regions by the European Commission to help improve the outreach of the Commission's public consultations and the dis-semination of information.  

De sociale vooruitgang ook op het regionale niveau meten, is cruciaal om ervoor te zorgen dat Europese, nationale en regionale investeringen de sociale doelstellingen van de EU helpen verwezenlijken. Het Europees Comité van de Regio's (CvdR) heeft daarom voor het eerst een regionaal sociaal scorebord opgesteld. Daaruit blijkt dat de meeste EU-regio's tussen 2014 en 2018 vooruitgang hebben geboekt, maar er ook aanzienlijke regionale verschillen bestaan. 

De enquête gaat over de meer relevante vrijhandelsovereenkomsten (zowel overeenkomsten die reeds van kracht zijn als overeenkomsten die zijn gesloten maar nog niet van kracht zijn) en loopt tot half oktober. De resultaten worden bekendgemaakt tijdens een workshop van het CvdR en Eurochambres in november 2019. De resultaten van de enquête zullen ook worden verwerkt in een advies van het CvdR over de algemene uitdagingen waar het EU-handelsbeleid voor staat en over hoe de overheid en het mkb gebruik kunnen maken van en voordeel kunnen hebben bij handelsovereenkomsten. 

The deadline to register your event as a side event of the #EURegionsWeek 2019 expires on 6 September 2019. 

​​In its Annual Subsidiarity Report​ published last month, the European Commission underlined (referring to the European Committee of the Regions), that "The Committee also took concrete steps and actions to implement this ‘Active Subsidiarity’ approach within its consultative and political work. A major example of these efforts is the pilot project for a network of regional hubs to assess the implementation of the European Union’s legislation. 

RegHub took part in the Regional Initiative for Culture and Creativity (RICC) network's Annual Conference on 24 June 2019. 

​The European Commission would like to promote and facilitate the correct application of EU Public Procurement law by local and regional public procurement practitioners in the 28 EU Member States. You are invited to participate to this online survey to help the European Commission understand the type and form of information related to public procurement law, policies and tools you need to perform your work effectively and in compliance with law. 

​On 26 July all 36 contact points of the regional hubs network received their questionnaire for the network's second consultation via EU Survey. The topic is the EU's air quality policy. 

De rapporteur van het Europees Comité van de Regio's (CvdR) voor de hervorming van het gemeenschappelijk landbouwbeleid feliciteert dierenwelzijnsactivisten met het feit dat hun Europees burgerinitiatief "End the Cage Age" ("Stop de Kooien") nu meer dan 1 miljoen handtekeningen heeft. 

In 2019 werden 137 deelaanbevelingen – d.w.z. losse aanbevelingen die deel uitmaken van de door de Commissie genummerde algemene landenspecifieke aanbevelingen – direct of indirect tot de lokale en regionale overheden gericht of hadden een territoriale impact. In 2018 waren dat er 120. Deze zogeheten “territoriale” aanbevelingen maken 62 % van alle landenspecifieke aanbevelingen uit. Uit deze en andere conclusies van de territoriale analyse van het CvdR voor 2019 blijkt dat de steden en regio's in de EU een sleutelrol spelen bij de uitvoering van de landenspecifieke aanbevelingen en dat zij als partners moeten worden betrokken bij het opstellen van de nationale hervormingsprogramma's.  

Voorzitter Lambertz roept nieuwe Commissievoorzitter von der Leyen op om de toekomst van de EU samen met de steden en regio’s vorm te geven 

Geplande bezuinigingen en centralisatie dreigen in 2021-2027 nog steeds het vermogen van de Europese structuur- en investeringsfondsen (ESI) om de ongelijkheden te verkleinen en om duurzame en inclusieve groei over de hele EU te verspreiden, in gevaar te brengen. De partners van de #CohesionAlliance - een EU-brede alliantie voor een sterk cohesiebeleid na 2020 - hebben in een debat met recent benoemde leden van het Europees Parlement, gehouden op 10 juli in het Europees Comité van de Regio's (CvdR), besproken hoe dergelijke risico's kunnen worden ondervangen. 

Narrowing the innovation and digital divides in Europe was in the spotlight on 11 July, when the European Committee of the Regions' Commission for Social Policy, Employment, Culture, Education and Research (SEDEC) met in Brussels. Members adopted an opinion drafted by Eamon Dooley (IE/Renew Europe), a member of Offaly County Council, on the future of research infrastructure and the European Research Area. 

Leading members of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) met the Federation of Local Authorities in Israel on 2 July during a brief visit to Tel Aviv intended to strengthen cooperation. 

Regional development strategies and better communicating EU cohesion policy were the main topics addressed by local and regional representatives during of the 10 July meeting of the Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy and the EU Budget (COTER) of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR).  

De behoeften van de Europese kolenregio's in de context van de energietransitie van de EU stonden op 9 juli in Brussel boven aan de agenda van de commissie Economisch Beleid (ECON) van het Europees Comité van de Regio's (CvdR). In een advies van Mark Speich, staatssecretaris voor Federale, Europese en Internationale Zaken van Noordrijn-Westfalen, dringen de ECON-leden aan op aanpassing van de staatssteunregels en aanvullende financiering voor de betrokken regio's in het kader van het cohesiebeleid voor de periode 2021-2027. 

Opening of EURegionsWeek 2019 registration scheduled on 8 July 2019. 

On 26 June the trainees of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) awarded the winners of the [Y]Factor photo competition "Capturing [Y]our Europe". The goal of the competition was to promote young artistic talents from across Europe and to empower young people to present their unique perspective. The winning pictures by Pavla Vaňková (CZ) and Stefano Scagliarini (IT) were exhibited in the European Parliament in Brussels from 26 to 28 June. 

Finland takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union at a defining moment for the EU. The Union turns over a new leaf in light of the results of the European election: there will be new leaders at the helm of the EU institutions who will deal with major issues such as the next EU budget, as well as take responsibility for defining the content for the next EU programme period. This is a time for renewal.