Brussels, 14/08/2001 (Agence Europe) - for the second year running, the pan-European Day without cars will be celebrated on 22 September. Based on the French initiative "in Town without my car", inaugurated in 1998, this symbolic day ought to be celebrated in 500 European towns (located in the Union's Member States, as well as outside, notably in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia). The actual number of participants is not yet known. The aim of this campaign is to raise the awareness of citizens and political decision-makers of the negative impact of the domination of the car on the quality of life in towns, as well as the virtue of alternative concepts of mobility, like relay parks, extending pedestrian areas, networks of cycle paths. Like last year, the European Commission will participate in this campaign, which the Commissioner for the Environment Margot Wallstrom considers it can, in the long-term, play a decisive role in the fight against air pollution, and especially against climate change, the car being one of the foremost contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.
The 22 September this year falling on a Saturday, the towns taking part will be able to extend the operation throughout the weekend, or even better, the week that precedes it or follows it.