Brussels, 14/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - The President of EUROCITIES has said that she is delighted to see the spotlights on cities on 17 and 18 February, at the urban forum organised by the European Commission. The possibility of a European urban agenda will be discussed and, in the view of Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, this agenda would add value if it can “help connect EU policies with an urban dimension, and strengthen the involvement of cities in EU policy and programme development”. Her association, which brings together the cities of Europe, has already recommended a few paths of action. Firstly, emphasis must be laid on the coordination of urban initiatives, which would make it possible to achieve results more quickly. Secondly, urban dialogue should be set in place more systematically with mayors and urban authorities, to ensure that urban issues match needs on the ground and that innovation taking place in cities can be captured and fed into EU policy development. Lastly, EUROCITIES is in favour of biannual summits for European, national and city-level urban stakeholders. These would be opportunities to assess the impact of EU policies on cities and to consider the urban dimension of forthcoming European initiatives. (MD/transl.fl)