EU Urban Agenda: "European Parliament joins regions and cities in urging a Commission proposal in 2016" says rapporteur Verkerk - Hoofdinhoud
"We wholeheartedly welcome the European Parliament vote in favour of the timely launch of an EU Urban Agenda. The adopted report takes on board all key requests formulated by local and regional representatives in relation to identifying clear and shared objectives on sustainable urban development, to be achieved by better coordinating all EU policies impacting on cities" commented the rapporteur of European Committee of the Regions on the Urban Agenda, Bas Verkerk, Mayor of Delft (NL/ALDE) adding that: "Now we expect that the Commission includes a proper proposal in his work programme 2016".
Mr Verkerk has stressed how "the intense cooperation among the CoR and the European Parliament allowed to set a clear path to move ahead after more than 20 years of resolutions and debates". The CoR has been calling upon the European Commission to present an integrated Urban Agenda for the EU since the adoption of Mr Verkerk opinion at June 2014 plenary. Significant progress was made in the past months also thanks to the CoR cooperation with the Latvian Presidency, who was particularly attentive to this issue.
"The Urban Agenda should now be drafted in close cooperation with European cities" says the rapporteur, adding that: "This involvement should ensure a balanced approach to challenges such as the establishment of functional regions and agglomerations and the renewing of the relationship between local government and society".
The main CoR input that were taken on board by MEPs focus on multi-level governance, on the involvement of decentralised levels of government in the impact assessments of new policies, the need to develop new indicators alongside GDP as well as to collect adequate data to assess urban areas more accurately; the need to respect the Code of Conduct on Partnership when implementing programmes and projects supported by EU funding and, more specifically, the need for greater involvement of towns and cities in implementing structural funds programmes.
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