From 9 to 12 October, the European Week of Regions and Cities takes place in Brussels. Check out the full programme of activity.
During the week, the high-level EU sessions will be available to watch live online. You can find the details of these sessions below. Click on the session of your choice to find a link to the live stream:
Monday 09/10
14:00 CET Opening session of the European Week of Regions and Cities 2023
The Opening Session is designed as an interactive debate between high-level speakers, members of the European Committee of the Regions, local and regional authorities, young local elected politicians and key actors of the Cohesion Policy.
Tuesday 10/10
09:30 CET Local energy shift for security and sustainability
Europe has faced an unprecedented energy crisis triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This session will focus on how the localisation of energy can contribute to the security and sustainability of the EU energy system.
11:30 CET Regions in post-industrial transition
Today’s geopolitical and environmental challenges call on policy makers to maximize the opportunities of transition while mitigating the costs to communities and individuals. The EU policy instruments encompassing the EU strategic autonomy and the green and digital transitions should be combined with the strengths of regions to propel industrial transition forward. In this process, no one should be left behind.
14:30 CET Retaining talent for regional growth
The EU is going through an important demographic transition. How to retain or attract talents may be a key question for future regional growth. Join the session and get inspired on the best practices in attracting more skilled workers in regions.
16:30 CET Small and mid-size urban centres driving growth
This session will illustrate how, by applying the place-based, bottom-up approach, with the right mix of policy approaches in the framework of a sustainable urban development strategy, it is possible for small and mid-size urban areas to overcome the identified challenges and build dynamic, green, resilient and inclusive cities able to drive economic prosperity in their area.
19:00 CET Citizens' dialogue
Young people will share their experience with Commissioner Ferreira. What challenges are they facing? Why did they decide to stay or to leave their place of origin? And how does it relate to the talent development trap and demographic decline which is affecting the EU and some of its regions? Make sure to book your seat!
Wednesday 11/10
11:30 CET Breaking barriers to cross-border cooperation
This thematic High-Level session showcases how cooperation across borders removes barriers and unlocks new opportunities for inhabitants of a border region living in the EU or in its neighbouring countries. Three high-level speakers will demonstrate how cooperation projects – funded by Interreg - are making the lives of citizens in their territories easier and better. The audience will also have the possibility to directly address questions to them..
16:30 CET Promoting social innovation for a more sustainable, inclusive, and social Europe
This session will showcase how social innovation can positively impact local societies by putting people, their wellbeing, and their agency at the forefront. Join the session and be inspired by concrete examples from social innovators across Europe.
19:00 CET Awards Ceremony of the Megalizzi-Niedzielski prize for aspiring journalists
The Megalizzi-Niedzielski prize honours the memory of Antonio Megalizzi and Bartek Piotr Orent-Niedzielski, young European journalists with a strong attachment to the EU and its values, who passed away after a terrorist attack in Strasbourg in late 2018. The prize aims to reward and encourage promising journalists who share Antonio and Bartek's enthusiasm for the European project.
Thursday 12/10
09:30 CET REGI - COTER meeting
Following publication of the 8th Cohesion report in February 2022, discussions on cohesion policy post-2027 have started in various fora. The European Committee of the Regions is currently preparing an own-initiative opinion, in order to put forward its political recommendations on the matter, and the European Parliament is dealing with this issue in several reports. Against this background the joint meeting will provide Members of the European Parliament and the European Committee of the Regions with an opportunity to discuss with Commissioner Elisa Ferreira how the policy needs to be shaped in the future, in order to ensure that it can effectively achieve its objectives.
11:30 CET Cohesion Alliance - Lessons learnt from the RRF: safeguarding a place-based approach
The establishment of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) marked a turning point in that it introduced for the first time an approach making the disbursement of EU funds fully contingent upon the achievement of outputs/results (defined as targets and milestones). The option of mainstreaming this approach to other EU funds in the future, notably to EU cohesion policy funds, is likely to be part of the political debate on cohesion policy post-2027. On the other hand, the RRF model lacks the territorial approach of cohesion policy and its transposition and implementation has been largely blind to the needs of local and regional governments. Against this background, the Cohesion Alliance high-level event will provide an opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of a fully performance-based approach, as well as the question of how to strengthen the place-based approach in both cohesion policy and other EU instruments to deliver on reforms while ensuring that no people or places are left behind.
14:30 CET Closing session
After 4 days of intense interaction, the closing session has no lesser ambition than to harvest the results of this "Thriving Regions, Stronger Europe" event and its sessions dedicated to:
- Regions in post-industrial transition
- Retaining talent for regional growth
- Small and mid-size urban centres driving growth
- Breaking barriers to cross-border cooperation
- Local energy shift for security and sustainability
- Promoting social innovation
