“We look to the future with many questions, a few fears and a great many expectations”. This is how the then Mayor of Prague, Pavel Bém, summed up his intervention in the closing event of the first Open Days, in October 2003. Czech Republic was not even a member state yet.
Fast forward to 2022, Czechia holds the presidency of the EU Council, and Europe celebrates 20 consecutive editions of the European Week and Regions and Cities. In these 20 years, thanks mainly to the support of Cohesion Policy, many of these expectations have been met, while new fears and new questions arose.But as EU Commissioner Elisa Ferreira notes, one thing remained the same: “Cohesion Policy has stayed faithful to its mission, and the partners of ESPON and the European Week have been key to this mission”.
But how did the event that started with the participation of some 1800 participants became the most influential gathering of politicians, researchers, policymakers and experts on regional and territorial issues? “The secret of its success”, writes the President of the CoR, Vasco Alves Cordeiro, “is its capacity to constantly evolve, adapt to new priorities and at the same time influence the policy-making debate”.
You can read about this evolution in our flashback article that navigates us from 2003 to 2022, through quotes - selected from their opening or closing speeches - of the protagonists: presidents of the Commission, presidents of the CoR and EU Commissioners.
There is one more “secret”: the continuous efforts of the two European Institutions that organise together the week for two decades now, the Committee of the Regions and European Commission’s DG Regio, to make this event as inclusive as possible, and to bring the energy and the vibes of the local and regional actors in Brussels. Working closely with them for two years now for the EURegionsWeek editions of the TerritoriALL, I am impressed by the devotion and the effort of their teams.
If the European Commission and the Committee of the Regions are the pillars of the European Week of Regions and Cities, the participants from all over Europe, whose number rose from 1800 in 2003 to 17500 in 2022, are the building blocks of its success. And their enthusiasm to participate, to share ideas and to network was not succumbed even by COVID, when all the events moved online.
Some of this year’s participants and speakers share, in this issue, their views on Youth empowerment, Green transition, Territorial cohesion and Digital transition - the four themes of this year’s European Week of Regions and Cities.
In the course of these 20 years, the first week of October became the mirror of cohesion. The time, to showcase successful stories and inspire the others, to network and to discuss the future of the policy. As we currently experience turbulent times with internal and external challenges, this discussion is more relevant than ever.
I hope that you will find our magazine an interesting addition to the programme of the week to help you navigate to the past, the presence and the future of Cohesion Policy.
Enjoy your reading
Wiktor Szydarowski, ESPON EGTC Director
*2022 is a landmark for ESPON as well, as we celebrate the 20 years of the programme. But for this you will read more in our next issue