The new urban policy on stage in Warsaw

by Miriam Eisermann on 25 octobre 2011 / 189 visites

Yesterday, Commissioner Johannes Hahn has presented the new urban policy that is currently taking shape within the 2013-2020 budget preparations. Together with Mercedes Bresso, President of the Committee of the Regions, Mr. Hahn set the scene for the conference on “Effective Instruments Supporting Territorial Development” taking place in Warsaw on 24-25 October. The event is organised under the Polish EU presidency in cooperation with Commissioner Johannes Hahn and its colleagues from DG REGIO.

This conference takes place only two weeks after the European Commission has communicated the new framework for the use of European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) in the upcoming 2013-2020 budget period. For the very first time, urban policy and its need to be financed have been taken into account in EU financing regulations.

In its latest press release, Energy Cities expressed its satisfaction on the significant changes under which energy efficiency and renewable energy have become investment priorities for the ERDF.

“Obliging the Member States to use a certain percentage of their budget for energy efficiency and renewable measures – 6% for Old and 20% for New Member States - is not only good news for us. It is also what Energy Cities and the Covenant of Mayors signatories have been working for hardly in the past years.”, said Zbigniew Michniowski, Deputy Mayor of Bielsko-Biala (Poland) and member of the Energy Cities’ Board of Directors, in his speech in Warsaw this morning. The ongoing discussion on possible changes in the cohesion policy after 2013 has been enriched by practical observations from the conference participants. Speakers and participants have shared their experience with the implementation of EU policy instruments in the current EU financial perspective.