Brussels, 03/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission understands that “there is a clear demand for a European approach to urban development”, said Regional Development Commissioner Johannes Hahn at a cities forum in Rome on Wednesday 1 October.
Commissioner Hahn briefed the 28 mayors of European capital cities present at the forum on the preliminary results of a public consultation exercise on a European urban agenda, a consultation that ended on 26 September and for which a consolidated report will be published at the end of the year. Hahn said “broad agreement on the need of an EU urban agenda is emerging” in order to improve policy co-ordination, forge closer links with citizens, improve strategies and respond to the challenges of society. He said that the message was “also clear on what is needed and what is not. Everybody agrees that subsidiarity needs to be respected. Everybody agrees that no new legislation or new structures are needed”. He said that, in his opinion, “without the cities there is no sustainable exit from the crisis. Without the cities there will be no ownership of the European agenda”.
Hahn will soon be moving from regional development to become the EU commissioner for neighbourhood policy and enlargement, so it will probably be the new commissioner, Corina Cretu, who will be responsible for setting the shape of any European urban agenda. Before leaving his post, Hahn was keen to encourage the mayors to do all they can to influence the development of a European urban policy and he suggested that they meet once or twice a year “in advance of key European events and to issue political recommendations fixing the capitals' priorities. The revision of the EU2020 agenda next spring would be a great opportunity”. (MD)