02/12/2003 (Agence Europe) - The Greens/FTA group of the European Parliament is organising a conference in Vienna on 5-7 December, together with the European Federation of Green Parties and the Viennese Greens, on the theme "Greening the cities in the European Union". It is important for the Greens' ideas to have more influence on urban policies in the EU, said the group's co-chairman, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, in a press release. Co-chairman Monica Frassoni pointed out that over 80% of citizens of the Union currently live in urban areas, and that their daily lives are strongly affected by the "quality of local policies", and at the same time, European cities are obliged to comply with increasing levels of European legislation on topics such as waste management, public procurement and the Habitat directive.