Mercedes Bresso, the President of the Committee of the Regions, asked to the European Commission for the possibility to implement integrated actions for a sustainable urban development. She also stressed the need of more flexibility, simplification and an 'Urban-Lab' in order to achieve such goal.

During the first Urban Forum held in Brussels on the 16 February, the Committee of the Regions (CoR)'s president Mercedes Bresso, stressed the need of ore flexibility and simplicity in implementation of integrated actions for a sustainable urban development, including through common management and eligibility rules for all funds.

The Forum intends to pave the way for a close collaboration between the Commission and cities' representatives through the "European Urban Development Platform", as outlined in the proposed draft Regulations on Cohesion policy for 2014-2020 presented in October 2011. Ms Bresso stressed that it could be more cost and time effective to try and improve the current tools already in existence such as URBACT, EUROCITIES, CEMR, and the Reference Framework for Europe Sustainable Cities (RFESC). She also added that a further opportunity may be the creation of an Urban-LAB to gather cities implementing innovative actions to discuss, work-out with the Commission and disseminate innovative ideas for sustainable urban development.

On the other hand, the Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn stressed that events like the Urban Forum will help make cities full partners in Europe's recovery, as economic and political centres and home to nearly 70% of the EU population, cities are an important motor for growth in Europe. While regional policy helps all regions to develop their individual strengths, it is essential to exploit the full potential of cities in particular.