European Union News - Regional Policy

European governments must make a 'generous effort' so that local and regional bodies actively participate in defining policies against the economic crisis. Spain, Belgium and Hungary are working on a 'roadmap' to bring about real European participation by local and regional bodies.

Organised annually since 2003, the 8th European Week of Regions and Cities - OPEN DAYS will involve 247 regions and cities from 34 countries in October 2010 – more event partners than ever before. In line with the EU's new 'Europe 2020' strategy and discussions on the future of cohesion policy after 2013, this year's focus will lie on competitiveness, competition and cohesion.

ESPON has revamped its website navigation and layout to make it more user-friendly and easier to find information on territorial development in Europe. The new website features one-click navigation that provides easy access to 7 main themes reflecting user needs: programme, projects, how to apply, events, scientific tools, publications and press. A number of additional features are under development such as video clips.

The Committee of the Regions welcomes the objectives and the form of governance outlined in the Europe 2020 Strategy but stresses that its effectiveness will be limited if local and regional authorities only play an implementing role downstream of the decision-making process.

The Union for the Mediterranean opens its Barcelona headquarters on 4 March, with a ceremony which will include the presentation of the organisation's first Secretary-General, the Jordanian Ahmad Masa’deh; the foreign ministers of Spain, France, Egypt and Jordan will be present at the ceremony, together with top ranking representatives from the Arab League, the European Commission and the Regional Government of Catalonia.

A public consultation on what is the best approach to ensure that basic telecoms services are available for all EU citizens has been launched by the European Commission. Current EU rules on universal service obligations for telecoms date from 2002 and guarantee that Europeans have access to public telephone networks and to services like basic internet access.

The ambassadors of Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Romania and Serbia in Spain have attended a briefing on the preparatory work for the Danube region strategy ahead of the summit meeting on 25 February in Budapest.

Municipal policies to tackle the crisis and their application at EU level will be discussed during the three days of the summit entitled, “Networked Local Governments for a New Europe”, which will bring together representatives from 260 cities in Barcelona.

As EU leaders discuss the Europe 2020 proposals to revamp the European economy at a summit in Brussels, six European regions that are already working to create jobs and boost their local economies through their entrepreneurial vision have become the first winners of the European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) label at a ceremony in the Committee of the Regions headquarters in Brussels.

More than 400 participants from 19 countries gathered in Ulm (Baden-Wurttemberg) on 2 February for the first conference on the development of an EU Strategy for the Danube region. This was the first in a series of consultation meetings by the Commission to shape the content of the Danube Strategy as requested by the European Council.