04/07/2018 (Agence Europe) – On Tuesday 3 July, the metropolitan city of Lille inaugurated the premises of its Permanent Representation to the European institutions in Brussels. On this occasion, Damien Castelain, the President of the European Metropolis of Lille signed a declaration from the Cohesion Alliance, which brings together the different actors for whom European cohesion policy must remain one of the pillars of the future of the EU within the post-2020 budget. The press release explains that, "Through this gesture, the metropolitan city intends to exert more weight at an international level and get its voice heard while it prepares the new 2021-2027 financial programming period”. Lille is therefore the second French metropolitan city to have opened a permanent representative to the EU. (PH)