The new European Urban Agenda provides a chance for more integrated approach to EU policy and legislation affecting towns, cities and urban areas and reinforcement of commitments between the cities and European Institutions. It also provides a fundamental tool to achieve territorial cohesion objectives enshrined in the EU Treaty. Yesterday, Members of the European Parliament's REGI committee debated together with their counterparts from the European Committee of the Regions' COTER commission the Implementation of the EU Urban Agenda: “Towards the Pact of Amsterdam” at the joint Public Hearing co-organised by both institutions.
Chairman of the COTER commission, Raffaele Cattaneo who led the discussions, underlined that the CoR is a strong advocate for an EU Urban Agenda addressed to all urban areas of the EU, independently of their size, and considering their function as a driving force for potential development in bordering areas. He called for their active inclusion. "We all agree that the future EU Urban Agenda must further involve towns, cities, local and regional authorities more closely in the preparation of these policies" – underlined the President of the Lombardia Regional Council.
However, during the hearing, Mayor of Gdańsk, Paweł Adamowicz called for the Urban Agenda to include more references to Europe's metropolitan dimension. "European metropolies are engine for economic growth, and nurturing places for innovation and business development. We need to support their academic potential and seed Europe's growth there. They are too weakly represented in the current agenda" – complained Adamowicz, who also touched upon stronger emphasis on culture and policies of openness and participation that should address problems of ageing societies in the European municipalities.
CoR politicians agreed with their EP counterparts Lambert Van Nistelroij and Jan Olbrycht that there is a need to go beyond an EU agenda, towards real EU Urban Policies and that new working methods proposed, including partnerships and selective impact assessments of legislation pave a way towards this goal.
This was the first joint hearing held by the regional-policy panels of the two political assemblies. Particular attention was devoted to the integration of refugees in Europe's cities, and on issues that undermine the quality of life in cities, including urban sprawl and poverty. Members considered three case studies, one on Barcelona's integration of immigrants, one on Stockholm's urban planning and one on Zagreb's accessible housing.
"Our meeting demonstrates that the political alliance between the REGI committee of the European Parliament and the COTER commission of the European Committee of the Regions is based on a common political objective: to accelerate the setting and implementation of an EU Urban Agenda, while reinforcing the role of cities, towns, local authorities and regions in the EU legislative process" underlined the Chairman of the COTER commission, Raffaele Cattaneo.