Barcelona will host the European Summit of Local Governments 22-24 February 2010, bringing together representatives from local groups, governments, European institutions and the private sector. The question at the heart of the summit is how local governments need to go about strengthening the cohesion of cities and Europe in general.

From 22 to 24 February 2010, Barcelona will host the European Summit of Local Governments, which will debate the role of local authorities at European and local level, and the measures necessary for adoption in the current context. The primordial question around which this summit will revolve is that of how local governments should act to achieve cities and a Europe that are more cohesive. The concept ofMultilevel Governance, on which the Committee of the Regions has developed a white paper, will be an important issue in this meeting.

The aim is to analyse the different models of governance, the public investments and the policies of European local governments, taking into account the close relationship between authorities and citizens. As a backdrop to the discussions: the economic crisis and the new European agenda.

The European Summit of Local Governments provides a space for debate and exchange among local governments from all over Europe, the European institutions, the member states and the private sector, for the purpose of providing a response and promoting specific proposals in the framework of a new European agenda, and the current context of economic and financial crisis. The future perspectives, the models, public financing and the policies of European local governments will be revised, always taking into account their special situation of being the government body closest to the citizens.

To this effect, it must be taken into account that one of the added values of European integration has been the development of networks of actors linked to directly to the region. These networks have had and still have a fundamental role in the formulation of European policies.