Brussels, 22/04/2022/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - As the date of adoption of the Amsterdam Pact, which will establish EU urban policy, fast approaches, the mayors of European capital cities have, in a declaration adopted in Amsterdam on Thursday 21 April, called on the European Commission to take the reins and coordinate European urban policies.
The mayors signatories to the Declaration by the Mayors of the EU Capital Cities on the EU Urban Agenda and Refugee Crisis call on the Commission to make the urban agenda one of its priorities for its term of office and, as a consequence, to develop annual work programmes. They call, in particular, for the Commission to coordinate urban policy in order to ensure a coherent, integrated approach so that the framework is reliable, effective and relevant, in line with “Better regulation”. Thus, the capitals suggest that the Commission should strengthen its internal coordination on issues of relevance to urban areas, for example, within the framework of impact assessment studies of EU policies with a view to integrating an urban dimension.
The issue of governance would seem to be one of concern to the cities and also to a number of MEPs. In an exchange with Anna Lisa Boni, Secretary General of Eurocities, several MEPs wondered about the form that governance might take in the partnerships provided for in the new Amsterdam Pact (see EUROPE 11505). Some speakers also considered that coordination necessarily fell to the Commission, respecting the principle of subsidiarity, before going on to wonder with which Commission directorate general responsibility for this task would lie. Several agreed that it should be DG Regional and Urban Policy, which deals with cohesion policy, a very small part of which is directly ascribed to the cities.
In line with the 12 priorities set out in the provisional version, four pilot partnerships have been launched on the issues of integration of migrants and refugees, urban poverty, which should also relate to the Roma (see EUROPE 11528), housing and air quality. Here, too, Eurocities Secretary General Boni expressed concerns, fearing the emergence of a whole machinery and calling for better use to be made of already existing initiatives and networks. Another source of concern for her was the relative absence of the member states from the pilot partnership. In her view, the solution to many of the problems facing cities is to be found at national level. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)