The CoR, in cooperation with FEDARENE (European Federation of Regional Energy and Environment Agencies) is organising a seminar entitled 'Financing Local and Regional Sustainable Energy Solutions' in the framework of  the first EU Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) running from from Monday 29 January to Friday 2 February 2007.  The EUSEW is the first major initiative of its size to combine the participation of the European Commission (DG TREN) along with  the European Parliament, the CoR,  the EU Presidency, local and regional authorities and such an extensive range of key stakeholders in the sustainable energy sector.

This seminar will focus on the financial instruments which local and regional authorities can use in order to achieve sustainable energy projects. The first part will comprise an overview of instruments offered by the EU and national levels, as well as by the private banking sector, for financing local and regional action in the field of sustainable energy. Several case studies of successful regional financing models will be presented during the second part. Key stakeholders from the public and private sector as well as European, local and regional policy makers will be given the opportunity to discuss new concepts and share knowledge on financial instruments which assist with the improvement of energy efficiency and development of renewable energy sources.

In addition, an exhibition of stands demonstrating successful examples of local and regional sustainable energy solutions will be presented at the Jacques Delors Building from 30 January to 1 February 2007.

REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED.

• Please click here for the programme.
• For more details about Energy Week please visit the Energy Week website.

The Committee of the Regions would also like to highlight the ManagEnergy Annual Conference which takes place during the EU Sustainable Energy Week. See:
http://www.managenergy.net/conference/2007.html

• Programme
• Other information about the seminar on the FEANTSA website

Working languages of the seminar:

-You can speak in French, English, Spanish, German, Italian, Swedish

-You can listen in French, English, Spanish

On the invitation of Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit, the German foundation for liberal policies, experts of the EU institutions, international organisations and think tanks are going to discuss the EU’s mission to create a zone of peace, democracy and stability in Europe. By analysing the developments of the two main important political instruments – the EU enlargement policy and the European Neighbourhood Policy – the discussion is going to focus on the Western Balkans, the Black Sea region and the Southern Caucasus.

The experts invited are going to discuss the EU’s integration capacity and willingness for the future enlargement to the East. They are going to raise the question on how the so-called ‘enlargement fatigue’ affects the EU enlargement negotiations and the Stabilisation and Association Process. They are also going to discuss the risks of slowing down the enlargement process – on both sides the EU and the Eastern European countries. In the second session the discussion is going to focus on the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP): Does the existing ENP meet the needs and demands of a common policy towards the EU’s ‘new’ neighbours in the East? And how to improve the ENP so that it meets the specific conditions in the region? Furthermore, the experts are going to discuss the EU’s interests and strategic objectives in the Southern Caucasus and the Black Sea region.

The Discussion Forum will represent the final public event of the Poly.Dev Project co-financed by the EU in the framework of the Interreg III B Programme.

The objective of the project is to re-define at a trans-national level a balanced polycentric development in the CADSES area, in consideration of the sustainable principles set by the ESDP (European Spatial Development Perspectives), by means of innovative spatial planning instruments and strategies. Through the active cooperation of all the partners, the project particularly aims to improve the understanding of regional and local communities regarding the gaps in spatial planning set against the objectives of the ESDP and to increase the skills and capacities of regional and local institutions in charge of spatial planning and 'governance' with the prospect of developing sustainable strategies.

The Forum will consist of:

• A presentation of the methodologies and the main results yielded by the Poly.dev experience
• A presentation of each partner’s final results
• A comparison between the Polydev project and other similar experiences
• A look at future prospects: The future of trans-national programmes in new the CASDES area and the political dimension of regional cooperation issues.

“Common Best practices in spatial planning for the promotion of sustainable POLYcentric DEVelopment”: EN - IT

This Forum aims at bringing together high level representatives of co-operative banks and other financial institutions, SMEs, European Institutions, including European Commission, European Parliament and Committee of the Regions, the European Investment Bank and other relevant parties. Because of their proximity and their decentralized networks, co-operative banks facilitate the knowledge sharing between all stakeholders involved in SMEs financing and bridge existing gaps. Therefore co-operative banks and SMEs are natural partner and key players for the achievement of the Lisbon agenda because of their role in European local economies.

The Forum will consist of:

• A morning session dedicated to the analysis of instruments to facilitating access to credit for SMEs:
  Following an analysis of the existing state of the art with regard to demand and needs of SMEs and supply of suitable products, according to their business cycles form start up companies, to LBOs and business transfers, relevant stakeholders will share experience in the framework of two panel discussions aimed at demonstrating the efficiency of the co-operative banks networks in bridging the gap through their decentralized business model.
• An afternoon session dedicated to the European framework and existing challenges for SMEs:
  What are the best practices emerging at European level? What is the impact of the European legislative context?  Experts from European Institutions and other stakeholders will be invited to deliver speeches on their best experience but also on consequences for SMEs of new regulations or instruments

The aim of the Thematic Strategy on the Urban Environment (TSUE) is to contribute to the overall environmental performance of cities in Europe. The European Commission’s DG Environment co-funded the EUROCITIES-coordinated project “Liveable Cities” whose aim is to develop and assess the potential applicability of ‘Sustainable Urban Management Plans’ (SUMP) as a major contribution to the objectives of the above mentioned TSUE.

After 26 months of applied research, EUROCITIES and representatives of 9 large European cities and the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment, will present and debate their results with Members of the European Parliament, Committee of the Regions, national governments, European Commission and other experts on urban sustainability.

The guidance for sustainable urban management “Towards Liveable Cities and Towns” aims both to enhance efficiency of the implementation of environmental policy, and to encourage long-term environmental planning at local level.

• Organiser: Eurocities
• To register, please fill in and return the registration form

Mr. Risto Koivisto, Vice-Chairman of the CoR Delegation of the Contact Group between the CoR and the Congress, invites you to attend the next meeting of the Contact Group between the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (Congress) to be held at the headquarters of the Committee of the Regions, 101 Rue Belliard, B-1040 Brussels (Room JDE 70) on Monday 5th February 2007 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

- Notice of meeting

- Draft agenda

The EUREGHA network (European Regional and Local Health Authorities Platform) will hold its 2007 summer conference on the theme of Nutrition and Physical Activity. Speakers from the Directorate-General for Health and Consumer Protection will present the Commission's recently published White Paper on Nutrition and the EU Mini-chefs initiative, aimed at promoting healthy cooking and food for young Europeans. The conference will also feature examples of local and regional activities to promote healthy eating and physical activity across the EU.

Employment Week conference and exhibition, 5-6 June 2007, Brussels, is the event of choice for all European employment professionals. The 2007 agenda under the theme ‘Working Europe – Creating More & Better Jobs’ will give participants the opportunity to exchange ideas and discuss today’s most topical European employment aspects including: flexicurity, diversity, quality of jobs, mobility, restructuring and much more.

Hear from employment professionals including: McDonalds Europe, Nestle, Volvo, Toyota, Dow, European Commission, European Parliament, Trade Unions…

With a variety of conference sessions, seminars, case studies, project showcases and leading speakers, Employment Week 2007 is destined to be the best event yet. For more information, please visit http://www.employmentweek.com/

The conference / business meeting organised by the Gm-Free network in partnership with the Committee of the Regions and other networks (namely AREPO) has a double objective:

• Institutional because it will draw European Institutions’ attention on stakes that have not been highlighted yet at a moment when the CAP is about to be revised.
• Commercial because the objective is to gather european operators potentially expressing a non-GM soy demand and operators able to supply them.

This conference must reach 3 kinds of results.

• Political: demonstrate that the regions can mobilise, on the very precise angle of the GM question a very wide range of partners.
• Strategic : our objective is to highlight a european market and demand but also to lay a footpath for the next steps of our action, including in the perspective of the future CAP reform.
• Operational: we must be able, in the following stages of this conference – business meeting, to encourage partnerships between suppliers and demanders of this fundamental commodity for our agricultures.

The aim of the conference is to show the diversity, the competitiveness and the potentials of the maritime economy of the five Northern German Länder by best-practice examples. The conference shall indicate what these Länder can contribute to the maritime economy within the development of the EU Maritime Policy. The background for this presentation is provided by the Green Paper ‘Towards a future Maritime Policy for the Union: A European Vision for the Oceans and Seas' the European Commission published in July 2006. The Conference will be accompanied by a maritime exhibition.

• Please confirm your attendance before 15 February, 2007

The presentation of the Observatory's flagship publication is taken as the basis for fostering a wider reflection on the phenomena of EU-LA decentralised cooperation, inviting outstanding speakers from the European Union institutions, as well as Latin-American and European local authorities.

Furthermore, the Observatory will invite experts and practitioners on EU-LA decentralised cooperation from both Europe and Latin America in order to foster a debate on the challenges that this issue poses to traditional development cooperation.

The conference is the final event of the Cards project “Together – the Balkans in Europe, Europe in the Balkans” financed by the European Commission and the Council of Europe which brought together young TV journalists from Serbia, Kosovo/UNMIK and the “former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” and mentors from the French-German TV station ARTE to produce four documentaries together. The aim of the project was to improve the quality of journalism in South East Europe and to foster co-productions between the different countries/entities. The typical ARTE methodology of the “cross-cultural view” was employed, i.e. the journalists did not or not only work in their country of origin to have a fresh view on the topics and to avoid stereotypes.

The four documentary films deal with very different social and cultural issues in the Balkans:

1. A Lake without Borders (shot in Albania and “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”), Nazmije Kamberi (TV Hana/TV Nova) and Vladimir Vasak (ARTE)
2. Nationalism on the menu (shot in Bosnia and Herzegovina), Djordje Naskovic (B92) and David Muntater (ARTE)
3. Resolution 1325 – Women without borders (shot in Kosovo/UNMIK and Serbia), Parta Kelmendi (TV21), Alexander Djokic (NTV/Krug), et Claire Stephan (ARTE, tutor)
4. Dance Radiography Serbia/Kosovo, Summer 2007 (shot in Kosovo/UNMIK and Serbia), Aleksander Djokic  (NTV/Krug), Parta Kelmendi (TV 21) and Claire Stephan (ARTE)

With the conference in Brussels on 7 December 2007, the Association of the Local Democracy Agencies (ALDA) together with its partners (the Local Democracy Centre in Nis, Serbia and the Local Democracy Agency in Kosovo, ARTE, B92, TVHana/TVNova, TV21 and Krug/NTV) are going to present the documentaries to an international public. Being set in the context of the Kosovo status talks, the event will also leave enough room for debate with the directors of the films.

The Committee of the Regions (CoR) is hosting a workshop as part of the European Mobility Week Campaign 2007. The event, co-organised by the CoR and the European Commission's DG Environment, will take place over two days on the 7 – 8 February and features a series of workshops prepared by cities across Europe.

European Mobility Week is an awareness-raising campaign which promotes sustainable commuting to workplaces and schools by encouraging cycling, walking, public transport and car-pooling. One of the main criteria to participate in the European Mobility Week is to launch at least one permanent measure which will continue to exist after the week is over. Examples of permanent measures introduced by participating cities and regions include new cycle routes, online car-pooling systems and the elaboration of school travel plans. In 2006 more than 1300 cities from 38 countries were involved in the European Mobility Week Campaign actively contributing to combating climate change and promoting sustainable modes of transport.

The 2007 campaign, to be opened by Environment Commissioner Stavros DIMAS, will provide an opportunity for participants to share best practices with the most successful cities involved in the European Mobility Week Campaign. Attendees will meet business leaders and regional representatives from all over Europe in an innovative, creative and process-oriented setting and witness the 2007 Mobility Week Award ceremony in which the top three cities committed to the pursuit of sustainable urban transport will receive an award.

• Please click here for the preliminary programme : EN
• Click here for the registration form: : EN
• More information on the workshop is available here.

The ERLAIM (European Regional and Local Authorities for the Integration of Migrants) Project, in the framework of the INTI Preparatory Actions Programme 2005, aims at improving the quality of regional and local policy when participating in the design and implementation of the integration strategies of third-country nationals. The Project foresees a 2-day conference with the following objectives:

• To provide in-depth information to local and regional practitioners on current and future EU policy on immigration;
• To describe experiences and best practices in different regions;
• To explore EU funding tools for the integration of migrants;
• To network and discuss potential projects and partnerships with other representatives of regions from all over the EU.

The South Finland Regional Alliance and the Innovative Actions programme InnoELLI Senior 2006 - 2007 will organise a conference on 8.11.2007 in Brussels emphasizing the future opportunities of ageing from the Finnish and European perspectives. The conference programme will focus on progress made connecting modern technology and the practical needs of the elderly while integrating the services of SMEs, municipalities and local 3rd sector actors in the programme area.

In this conference the InnoELLI Senior programme also provides the opportunity to build contacts and network with other European networks and projects related to ageing and wellbeing.

ERRIN (European Regions Research and Innovation Network) brings together regional decision makers, practitioners and R&D players from over 50 European regions from 13 different Member States. It aims to improve collaboration and joint transnational projects between research and innovation actors from its member regions and to facilitate regular dialogue with the European institutions to promote the regional dimension of research and innovation.

This year’s Annual Event will focus on the future of the European Research Area. ERRIN has been involved very early in the debate launched by the Commission with the publication of its Green paper. The ERRIN 2007 Annual General Event will aim at promoting the European regions’ contribution to the ERA and ERRIN position on the Commission’s Green Paper. Representatives of public and private research organizations will also be invited to present and confront their views in presence of the European Commission.

The workshop will be followed by a cocktail reception during which Professor Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker, Secretary-General of the European Research Council will give a keynote speech.

The European Commission is going into the field, getting up-close & personal with European youths in schools throughout the Member States to inform, raise awareness and engage in debate on  the EU's role in the area of external assistance .

• Want to participate? Click here

"Brussel, healthy City-Region" is the forefather of a project which integrates in the communatarian initiative INTERREG IIIC and titled "Neighbours of Europe", this project is a interregional cooperation program between cities of Brussel, Belfast, Milan and Lyon. The purpose of this project is to create and to perennise a participative urban governance, and transparen ton the european territory by encouraging citizen participation and local democracy.

The liquid waste generated by the galvanic industry is one the most powerful inorganic pollutant waste due to its toxic and corrosive elements. The project ZERO PLUS aims at implementing a management model for this liquid waste by applying a refuse collection process for the subsequent water recycling. The main objective is to achieve zero waste by using the Best Available Techniques (BATs) in the manufacturing processes applied in the surface treatment industry and, therefore, to foster compliance with the most stringent requirements of European directives on industrial pollution.

Lead partner: AIMME (Metal-Processing Technology Institute for the Valencian Region)

Project partners: INNOVE VERDA, S.A., University of Valencia, Galol S.A., L'Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint-Etienne, Veolia Water (Water Division of Veolia Environment), Anjou Recherche (Research Centre of Veolia Environment), ECS (Electro Chemical Services) and Fundación Comunidad Valenciana – Región Europea.

The Ufficio Speciale per la Cooperazione decentrata allo Sviluppo ed al la solidarietà internazionale of the Sicilian Region is organizing the final event of the RFO TREND financed by the Interreg III C Program. The objective of the RFO TREND is to promote the joint development of new programming tools and regional governance models of local development between the administrations of the five partner regions: Sicily, Tuscany, Balearic Islands, Galicia, and Crete. The priority themes of the project are: Innovation Technology, Information society, Sustainable development.

The European Enterprise Platform aims to create a two-way link between regions and blue-chip companies to explore economic development, policy cooperation and investment opportunities. The European Enterprise Platform is an informal grouping with no political agenda. Representatives contribute their experience and expertise on shared regional and company priorities that contribute to the wider European competitiveness agenda. There is no membership or funding associated with its activity. The Platform is chaired on a rotational basis. This function is currently carried out by the East Midlands region. On 10 September, the European Enterprise Platform will hold a Stakeholder seminar to present this initiative to European regions.

Mutualité Sociale Agricole (MSA), first French professional social protection scheme, manages social and family protection for the agriculture community as a whole (farmers and salaried workers), which represent 4,000,000 people. The funds have a general vocation. They offer a « single counter » to their policy holders, which differentiates MSA from the other social security organisations. The funds collect contributions and pay out the benefits at all the levels of social protection (health insurance, family & old age pensions). This large range of missions explains why MSA was soon involved into European affairs: for instance she took part to the creation of REIF (Representation of French Social Security Institutions to the European Union). More recently she has strongly contributed to the French group that organised on 30 May 2006 in Paris the conference on social services of general interest (SSIG-FR).

MSA wants to strengthen this European involvement within its elected bodies, which are the basis of its mutualist identity and the link between the institution and rural populations. This is why it will organise its next Presidents and Central Administrators' seminar in Brussels on 10 & 11 January 2007.

It will deal with European social current topics and will analyse their consequences on agricultural social protection.

This roundtable will allow European Regional and local authorities' representatives: 

•  To make Regional and local authorities legitimate actors in the context of the evaluations of the directive 2002/03/CE introducing noise related exploitation restrictions (in 2007), and of the directive 2002/49/CE on the evaluation and management of noise in the environment (to be re-examined in 2009)

•  To propose concrete solutions to be implemented in order to reduce the airport nuisances endured by European citizens : implementation of noise management action plans, respect of environmental night within airports' operational organisation, noise indicators, role and independence of institutes in charge of noise pollution control, Regional spatial planning, restrictions on exploitations, reduction of noise at its source etc.

•  To deepen their own reflection on the necessary balance between the Regional socio-economic dynamics directly linked to airport and aircraft industry and the European citizens' fundamental right to live in a healthy environment.

Program - Reply Form - Invitation

For years, the farmers of La Albufera in Valencia have been burning rice straw wastes. In order to abate the noxious smoke produced by this incineration process, the City Council of Valencia (Municipal Service for the Protection of the Natural Park of La Albufera) launched in December 2004 the Eco-Rice LIFE Project "Sustainable management of rice straw". Eco-Rice provides an alternative solution to this common practice by re-using the rice straw to fabricate organic fibre blankets that can be used subsequently on dry or eroding land, making this activity more profitable and water-saving friendly.

Lead partner: Devesa-Albufera Service (City Council of Valencia)

Project partners: Valencian Regional Ministry of Housing and Territory, PROJAR, Mrs Francisca Francés, INNOVE VERDA, the Agriculture and Environment Foundation of the Valencian Region (FUVAMA), Conseil Municipal Agari de Valencia (Valencian Municipal Council Department of Agriculture) and the Fundacion Comunidad Valenciana – Region Europea (Dissemination partner)

In Europe, there is a growing necessity for an educated youth and a highly qualified workforce able to meet the constantly changing labour market demands of a knowledge-based society. Improving Early School Leaving situations in Europe is part of the Lisbon Strategy priorities as well as of the Social Inclusion Programme, to which the Restart project pertains.

The workshop will provide the results of Restart, a trans-national exchange project in which new approaches to tackling early school leaving have been explored. The workshop will particularly focus on three kinds of approach:

• Breaking Walls between Work, Training and Education
• Broader Approaches to Learning
• The impact of Former Early School Leavers on Youngsters at Risk of Early School Leaving

Organiser: QeC-ERAN – Giorgio Zoia (project coordinator)

Programme

For registration and more information, visit: http://www.qec-eran.org/

The social protection is becoming more and more a subject of interest at Regional and local level. This is why in the last years, new regional and territorial social protection schemes were set up in Europe. The conference will deal with this phenomenon, on the one hand by analysing its main causes, advantages and potentials; and on the other hand by describing some experiences and their main features throughout Europe.

The Ifo BrIEF, a new annual conference series, has the aim of strengthening the contribution of Europe’s economic expertise to European economic policy-making and providing a platform for prominent decision-makers from the world of European politics to meet with renowned economists and discuss core questions pertaining to Europe’s future.

The inaugural conference will address issues related to the attainment of the goals set forth by the Lisbon process, which aimed at making the EU “the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010”. The conference’s focus will be placed on the implications of the dramatic changes in the global division of labour brought about by globalisation, the challenges posed by the demographic shift towards ageing populations, and the demands placed by the Lisbon Agenda on Europe’s education policy.

• Programme

The Agency for Sustainable Development of the Brasov County, Romania (ADDJB) in partnership with the Committee of the Regions, Brasov County Council and the National Union of County Councils of Romania (UNCJR) are organizing a conference on Models of Community Growth in New E.U. Member States with focus on the study case of Brasov County .

The event leaves from the shared assessment that the European Community is a continuous source of learning and understanding of its members' diversity of practices and models. Therefore, the conference offers its guests (political decision makers, entrepreneurs, other stakeholders) with the opportunity to debate on two main issues: the Multicultural character of the EU and the European Citizenship and the Sustainable development and tourism. The debate will start from the example of Brasov County as one of Romania's richest counties in terms of multiculturalism, having also a strong development in the field of tourism and being internationally recognized as “the winter capital of Romania”.

ADDJB is the first inter-community association to have been created in Romania at county level. As one of the most significant sources of development in the Brasov County , the agency coordinates the County's Sustainable Development Strategy 2007-2013 and focuses its expertise in order to create sustainable development in all fields and for the benefit of all the stakeholders.

Throughout the week, an exhibition of past and present images of the city of Brasov and its cultural and historical heritage will be open to visitors on the premises of the CoR.

• For further information on the conference, please contact:
• http://www.addjb.ro/

Europe is a continent fringed by small islands. Many of us look to these islands for leisure and recreation, a peaceful environment away from the bustle of modern day life, where traditional life is preserved. But what of the people who live there all year round? How, in this world of information technology, i-pods and internet, do our small European islands fit in?

Funded by the European Commission's INTERREG Programme, the European Small Islands Network have been examining, over the past 2 years, the challenges faced by small islands: from transportation to wind turbines, from island identity to innovation. This project has taken over 200 islanders from 6 member states on island exchange visits where they have experienced first hand examples of best practice in 18 different areas of activity on islands.

The central role of the marine environment is integral to all Island Communities. During this briefing day we shall try to impart islanders' expert knowledge regarding this subject, debate the challenges and present innovative solutions from the islands. This debate seeks to inform all levels of government on the needs of small islands in Europe as well as reaffirming the vital role that they play in contributing to a diverse and sustainable Europe.

• Presentation of final report on the case studies being written within the project: transfer of good practices; key success factors of ICT regional projects.
• Presentation of a strategic sectoral analysis at regional and inter-regional levels (regional benchmarking): better knowledge of the drivers and perspectives of public sector services ; action plans and methodologies for regional development.
• Presentation of results on a new approach enabling policy makers to assess ICT territorial projects and to implement new ones (transferability of projects). The new approach is based on the adaptation to the public sector of an existing “Self Assessment Tool” (currently available only for SMEs). This tool is being developed by partner HEC-Paris (school of management).
• Analysis of the impact of the national and international events: effective dissemination of good practices and policies for regional development towards policy makers and project managers, easier cooperation for developing new projects between the involved partners and towards other European regions.

The aim of this event is to present the major challenges and solutions for the management and financing of a cluster and, furthermore, the exchange of good practices and future cooperation among the clusters.

This event will be an opportunity to address questions such as:

• What is the role of clusters in regional development and in the regional innovation systems?
• What are the factors underpinning the regional clusters?
• What are the financial and infrastructural frameworks of clusters?
• How important is the cooperation between the different clusters of Europe?
• What can we learn from each other?

The seminar will be organised in the framework of the European project Interregional Partnership Platform, which is one of the 18 subprojects funded by the Interreg IIIC South through the Regional Framework Operation Perspective 2007-2013 (www.perspective2013.info). Four regions participate in this initiative: the Valencian Region (ES), Region Centre (FR), Saxony-Anhalt (DE) and Eszak-Alfold (HU). The subproject aims at promoting a joint participation of regional entities in European networks and programmes. This is being made by identifying potential partners for co-operation within the European framework and by collecting information about funding co-operation possibilities and disseminating them through interregional workshops.

For more information, visit: http://www.eszakalfold.hu/

Programme

The objective of the conference is to assess the work of INTERREG III projects in terms of health, and medico-social cooperation between France, Belgium and the Great Duchy of Luxemburg between 2002 and 2007, and to map out the prospects of interregional collaboration in these fields with minimised 'border effect'.

This conference follows on from those organised at Lille Grand Palais on 5 December 2003, in the Jean Monet building in Luxemburg on 30 November 2004 and in Strasburg on 28 November 2005. Each of these conferences gathered more than 150 participants among the aforementioned targeted publics, namely: health system and health insurance management services of the member-states (particularly of cross-border regions), management services for medical and care establishments (hospitals, reception and care centres for the elderly and the disabled) as well as all other agencies concerned by these domains (particularly in cross-border regions), as well as the representatives of European regions.

Closed landfills take up a considerable amount of space in many European Member States. Many sites are situated near the outskirts of cities and villages. In terms of efficient space usage, these landfills can constitute alternative locations. However, landfills may also pose a risk to the environment. In order to protect the environment, it is necessary to examine the potential risks related to landfills and to take adequate measures if needed.

SufalNet, funded by INTERREG IIIC as an interregional cooperation project regrouping 20 partners, will present and discuss the network's final results with members of the European Parliament, the Committee of the Regions, the European Commission and experts on landfills.

This final seminar of SufalNet, open to practitioners, experts on landfills and representatives of local and regional authorities will:

• clearly outline a Model Strategy on how to achieve a sustainable use of closed landfills across Europe;
• identify how to examine closed landfills, how to organise aftercare and how to re-use closed landfills;
• showcase successful projects
• provide participants with opportunities for developing policies, instruments and projects.

Draft Programme

Project Annoucement

To see the programme go to: http://www.sufalnet.net/

This conference will be exposing the activities within the framework of the Lisbon Regions Network, which the FCVRE is part of. There will also be a presentation of the Youth Workers Labour Integration Programme within Regional Offices.

The EU doesn't have officially any competence in spatial planning. But many European policies have a territorial impact and the ongoing discussions on the ESDP (1999), the urban “acquis” of Rotterdam (2004) or the drafting of the document named “Territorial Agenda of the EU: Towards a more competitive and sustainable Europe of diverse Regions” are key signs of the progressive involvement of the EU in this field.

This Territorial Agenda, which should be adopted during the next meeting of the EU ministers for spatial planning in Leipzig on May 24 th -25 th 2007, is a unique opportunity for the Ile-de-France Region to organise a debate with the representatives of the European Institutions (German Presidency, Commission, Parliament, CoR) and the other European regions on the basis of the presentation of its regional scheme, the SDRIF and the one from other Capital Regions.

Program - Subscribe - Photos

This event aims at bringing together academic specialists in European regional institutions and policies, as well as practitioners (members of the CoR, regional civil servants, stakeholders and interested actors such as journalists and master students) in order to examine the patterns of institutional variations in EU regions, as well as their policy consequences. It aims at comparing rigorously the democratic quality and performance of regional political systems in the EU. This event will consist of four workshops:

• Workshop n°1: Patterns of institutional structures of European regions.
  The workshop will focus on the variations of regional institutional arrangements and on benchmarking and the identification of best practices. The institutions examined will include electoral and party systems, legislative assemblies, executives, and the relation between regional and local authorities.
• Workshop n°2: Regional Policy performance and institutional patterns
  The workshop will focus on the impact of patterns of institutional arrangements and regional policy outputs.
• Workshop n°3: The formation of regional identities in Europe and the role of linguistic and ethnics minorities
  The workshop will focus on the formation of regional identities in Europe, their potential impact on the regionalisation and Europeanization process, as well as the solution of ethnic and linguistic conflicts.
• Workshop n°4: The role of the regions in the international arena

This conference is a unique occasion where Civil Protection experts, policy-makers and European Institutions will be brought together to discuss the importance of promoting European collaboration and minimum standards in Civil Protection. This conference is the final and conclusive event in the context of two European INTERREG IIIC projects in the field of Civil Protection. The aim of this conference is to widely disseminate the results and conclusions of the projects, to receive feedback on the work achieved and, furthermore, to generate a European dialogue and future continued cooperation in the field of civil protection.

The first part of the conference will be dedicated to the presentation of the projects' major results while the second part of the conference will be dedicated to discussion on future efforts and steps to be taken both by European institutions, policy-makers and by local and regional organisations responsible for Civil Protection. The projects, called "SIPROCI" and "RESCUE", are promoted by a vast European partnership and led by the Province of Macerata in Italy and the Region of Central Macedonia in Greece .

For more information http://www.siproci.net/conference.html

There is a strategic interest at European political level in the deployment of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. These technologies are perceived as a crucial part of a solution for the current challenges of the energy sector, i.e.: secu rity of energy supply, climate change and other environmental concerns as well as competitiveness of our industry.

Whilst some policies are being developed at EU level, some regions and municipalities all across Europe are already putting into place concrete initiatives starting with the development of strategic plans for the sustainable deployment of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies in their respective areas of activity.

This workshop aims at engaging regions and municipalities in the creation of a European strategy towards a hydrogen economy in Europe. The programme includes speeches from key stakeholders in the hydrogen arena that will facilitate discussions on EU strategies, the role of “communities” (regions, cities and towns), financing mechanisms for regions and municipalities, etc. In addition, some practical cases from specific regions will be presented.

In an increasingly competitive global environment, many companies have to seek alternative markets outside their regional customer base to compete for new business. Yet they are sometimes insufficiently prepared for the local customs and business practices, which can be fundamentally different.

Understanding the local business culture can be one of the essential keys to success in foreign markets. http://www.businessculture.org/ is a free online multi-lingual guide to business culture and etiquette in 25 countries of the European Union. It has been created by a multinational partnership of professional associations, consultancies, SMEs and training organizations, and is supported by European Union funding through the Leonardo da Vinci programme.

Come to the seminar “Working across Cultures in the EU” on 17 October 2007 to hear what experts from the business world and the EU have to say about the challenges and opportunities of cross-border business, and see the website set up by the “Passport to Trade” project partners.

The Erasmus Student Network (ESN) will open the celebrations of the 20 years of Erasmus Programme with a conference to evaluate the development of the programme. The conference is kindly hosted by the Committee of the Regions on Rue Belliard 101, in Brussels on January

18th 2007 from 9.00 to 17.00.

250 former Erasmus students of the three phases of the Erasmus programme will share their experience of studying abroad. During the discussion panel suggestions and questions will be passed to European Stakeholders in order to plan new life-long learning programmes and evaluate the actual one.

With the participation of:

• Michel Delebarre, President of the Committee of the Regions
• Margot Wallström, Vice President of the European Commission
• Jan Figel, Member of the European Commission

Direct link to conference website: http://www.20erasmus.eu/page/erasmusdays

Organiser: Erasmus Student Network: http://www.esn.org

In order to encourage international co-operation, mutual learning and exchange of best practices, the Veneto Region Brussels Office will be holding a conference at the Committee of the Regions on 18 th April 2007 dedicated to the presentation of the project developed in 2006 with the County of Timis in Romania on Technical Assistance on Biodiversity Management for “Rete Natura 2000” pSCI Implementation in New European Union Member States (Dir. 79/409/UE and 92/43/UE).

The project, financed by Veneto Region and scientifically realized by CINSA (National Interuniversity Consortium for Environmental Sciences) in close technical and administrative collaboration with the County of Timis , will coherently become part of the communitarian context and will meet the forthcoming requirements of the European Commission.

Le Président du Conseil régional de Picardie, Claude GEWERC et le Président du Comité des Régions, Michel DELEBARRE, ont le plaisir d’accueillir leurs partenaires à l’espace Atrium à partir de 18h30 pour un cocktail à l’occasion de l’inauguration des bureaux de la Délégation de la Picardie à Bruxelles.

Située au cœur du quartier européen, cette délégation assure une fonction d’interface entre les Picards et l’Europe. Son rôle est d’informer, d’anticiper les politiques européennes, d’aider à l’utilisation des programmes européens et de dialoguer avec les instances communautaires.

Ce même jour, un point presse est par ailleurs prévu avec les journalistes à 14h au sein des bureaux de la Délégation picarde, 1-5 avenue de la joyeuse entrée.

This event is the Final Conference of the EQUAL Transnational Cooperation Agreement TRIALOG, whose Secretariat is under the responsibility of the Murcia Region NGO: ASPROSOCU. Other relevant members of the Development Partnership involved in this project are: the General Direction for Immigration (Murcia Region Regional Government) and the Institute for the Woman (Murcia Region Regional Government, Commission of Presidency).

The project was started in 2005 with the following target groups: Rom populations from Eastern Europe , refugees and asylum seekers. The main goal is to facilitate their access to the host society's welfare services as well as the labour market.

The purpose of this conference is to show the final results of the project, to introduce some recommendations to policy-makers and to promote strategies for future work with these target groups at the regional and trans-national levels.

The event is targeted to local and regional authorities, and in particular to local transport stakeholders. It will include an introductory session to the issue of Climate Change as well as a session on what are the different measures that local authorities can adopt and promote to face climate change. In another session representatives from leading cities will present their plans, actions, objectives and achievements to combat and adapt to climate change. Finally a round table including stakeholders from different organisations will further encourage the debate, opening the floor to the audience.

The conference will be an opportunity to launch a broad debate about the Commission's communication on the follow-up to the white paper, which is to be released in the coming weeks. The conference enjoys the support of a large number of economic and social partners and civil society players, and also members of the European Parliament from various political groupings, including the rapporteur for the white paper on services of general interest, Mr Rapkay.

Programme - Registration

Numerous stakeholders are involved in the implementation of international and especially European mobility. In the framework of their competences in the field of vocational training, most of the French regions are taking actions to improve the mobility of some publics such as apprentices, job seekers etc.

This seminar will give an overview of the initiatives taken both at the regional and European levels to improve the mobility of these publics and through an exchange of good practices between the regions represented, to discuss with the representatives of the European Institutions, of the national agencies and other institutionals about the challenges and difficulties of the mobility and the way to deal with them.

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• Reply form
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4 th European Economic meeting d'Ile-de-France on the theme: CAP DIGITAL PARIS REGION: the cluster of digital content connected to Europe and the world.

Prime employment area, the second pole of implantation of 500 biggest companies in the world, easy access to a market of 450 million consumers, Paris Ile-de-France is the first European concentration in terms of research and development and a place conducive to innovation.

The Regional Development Agency Paris Ile-de France and the Ile-de-France Regional Council invites you to come and discover or rediscover this reality through two panels focusing on the cluster CAP DIGITAL:

• Round Table 1: Cluster Cap digital and its emblematic projects
• Panel 2: European cooperation current and future digital course

Among present to share with the room: the cluster officials, business leaders and officials of the European Commission.

This seminar will be covering the following subjects:

• Creating awareness within local authorities for necessity of action having in mind the huge energy saving potential in buildings managed by local authorities.
• Presenting the favourable frameworks at European and national level for such actions.
• Showing good examples of how to proceed and encourage duplication.
• Insisting on the importance of an efficient management of the energy consumption (reducing energy consumption and at the same time costs and GHG emissions)
• Facilitating a better understanding of the advantages of energy efficiency services through for example energy performance contracts.

Conclusions and presentations of the conference

FLORISPRE is the international acronym for the "Citizen FLOod RIsk PREvention" project. The project has been approved by the European Commission and is partly funded under the Interreg III C "Grow Programme" (http://www.grow3c.com/).

The project is being carried out by three partners:

• EGMASA (Empresa de Gestion Medioambiental S.A.,) from Andalusia, Spain
• The Environment Agency from South-East England
• The Municipality of Piacenza from Emilia-Romagna, Italy

The FLORISPRE project aims to improve European management in areas vulnerable to flooding. The project is developing tools and methods designed to help public bodies reduce flood risk in their areas. It is designed to support effective regional policies and to share best practices and methods with public bodies and communities.

This final conference will be a valuable opportunity to:

• disseminate the work of the FLORISPRE project done so far
• raise public awareness regarding flood risk and the role the public can play to minimize risks
• bring together other regions working actively on principles related to flood risk management

Invitation

Programme

Flyer

The purpose of the seminar is to discuss potential cooperation prospects with focus on future prerequisites for developing local and regional interaction between the European Union and Russia as well as on functioning working tools for cooperation.

There are several agreements between Stockholm Region and Russian regions which actively support different forms of cooperation aiming at strengthening the competitiveness in a global perspective as well as long-term sustainable growth.

The event provides an opportunity to present and discuss different working tools at regional and local level for EU institutions and European regions, as well as to disseminate the experience and knowledge accumulated during the long-lasting Swedish-Russian cooperation.

The seminar is jointly organised by Stockholm Region, Sörmland Regional Council, the County Administrative Board of Västmanland, the County Administrative Board of Stockholm, the County Council of Örebro and the County Council of Stockholm together with the Governments of the Leningrad region, Novgorod region, St. Petersburg, Vologda region, and Moscow Regional Duma.

In the face of increasing globalisation, the European Union needs to rely more on its regions. This can be achieved through "improved communication and trust between the EU and the various levels of local government which will contribute to effective cohesion", as stated during the plenary session of the Committee of the Regions in Italy, marking the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome.

The seminar will be accompanied by an exhibition on the European Solidarity Centre, which depicts the modern history of Poland and Europe. The exhibition consists of a series of photographs of defining moments from the past decades in Central and Eastern Europe. In presenting the intellectual contribution of the Solidarity movement and its spiritual dimension as well as portraying social and cultural heritage in Central Eastern Europe, the exhibition allows for a better understanding of Poland and the Pomorskie region.

November 21st the Seminar “Place Marketing, key point in developing cities and regions” will be held in Brussels. The main aim of this meeting is to highlight the significance of the actions designed to urban and regional development by implementing global place marketing strategies.

The seminar will take place in the Valencian Regional Office in Brussels (Rue de la Loi 227, 4th floor. B-1040 Brussels) from 15:30 to 18:15. This event will count on the presence of representatives of the Committee of the Regions, the European Commission, Valencian Regional Office in Brussels and, the Fundación COSO. Said representatives will talk about the involvement of place marketing in designing and managing strategies of urban and regional development.

Within this framework, the role of the Regional Offices established in Brussels will be exposed. These Offices are promoting development by implementing support and mediation actions and by discovering and undertaking new initiatives and opportunities.

During the Seminar, the International Programme: Place marketing and Strategic Planning in the context of Globalization will be introduced. It is an international postgraduate that will be developed in 2008 in Valencia and in Brussels and which will support by the Committee of the Regions. www.placemarketing.org

• Programme

The objective of the conference is to open up dialogue between politicians, actors and experts involved in the initiating, organising and managing of regional health-systems, hospitals and health-projects across Europe.

The conference aims to discuss new, sustainable, social but also efficient and cost-effective hospital management structures, restructuring ideas and organization forms as well as cooperation ideas on regional level. Aim would be to learn from other experiences in this area, to identify risks and chances and also to speak about the challenges and needs for border-cooperation in the health sector in Europe.

The conference will address three themes of importance:

• What systems exist for health-organization including hospital organization in regions being able to provide near, excellent, modern and human but cost-efficient sustainable treatment and care in regions?
• Could border cooperation in a long way be helpful, a solution and in which areas?
• What will be the challenges for the future for the regions as regards health and the financing of health in the regions?

Panel presentations and wider forum discussion:

Language is considered as both a barrier and an opportunity by EU citizens when it comes to mobility.

Identity is closely involved with this but we need to consider exactly what we are all aspiring to in our search for “the good life”. Lively debate is guaranteed on the theory and practice of multilingualism, with the unveiling of innovative project proposals that will become reality with the aid of leading researchers, policymakers, practitioners and business representatives from Benelux, the Czech Republic, England, France, Italy, Poland, Scotland and Spain .

• Log onto http://www.britishcouncil.be/  for more information

Following-up on the event organised by ESPON and the Committee of the Regions organised in November 2006, ESPON invites representatives from European regions for a second open dialogue.

The focus will be on European perspectives for regions, on the upcoming Territorial Agenda for the EU, and on opportunities for joint analytical efforts involving regions and ESPON. Spatial scenarios for the European territory and the latest ESPON findings will be presented for discussion.

All Regional Offices representatives are warmly invited to the dialogue event which will be organised in cooperation with the Committee of the Regions, on 22 May 2007.

Further information, the preliminary programme and registration form can be obtained from on the ESPON website http://www.espon.eu/.

Please note the deadline for the registration on 9 May 2007. As only a limited number of places are available, the registration will be done on a first come, first served basis.

Rapidly changing and very complex urban realities characterize regeneration areas across European countries. Authorities at all levels of governance (local, regional, national, European, international), civil society organisations, businesses and universities play a critical role in adequately facing such complexity, jointly as well as individually in the framework of their responsibilities.

A consensus is emerging on what should be the appropriate short- and long-term responses to this complexity, namely through the adoption of an area-based integrated approach to urban regeneration. Despite this consensus, it appears that there are insufficient skills in the community to address this challenge successfully, presumably because the challenge has increased so fast in scope compared to institutions' ability to respond.

This conference will bring together actors from across the EU who are involved in Urban Regeneration and will present the work being currently undertaken to address this skills gap. In addition QeC-ERAN will present the results of a unique skills and training audit which was recently undertaken.

The event is the culmination of a two-year programme bringing together a diverse mix of public bodies, local authorities and NGOs from seven EU member states (11 partners) that are all involved in local/regional/national work related to tackling social exclusion as well as in working on a Europe-wide level.

The overall aim of this project is to develop a framework and a methodology for the creation of Local Action Plans (Laps) or Regional Action Plans (Raps) for Social Inclusion which will enable a more effective integration of area-based approaches into wider conurbation or regional and national-level strategies.

The conference seeks to highlight the need for such a connection is reflected in the fact that despite the centrality of the issue of social exclusion in terms of policy, the role of cities, towns and regions in the development of National Action Plans for Social Inclusion (NAPs) has been ad hoc somewhat marginal.

The fourth workshop of the Lisbon Monitoring Platform (LMP) will be held on 22  October at the Committee of the Regions' Rue Belliard headquarters. The agenda is devoted to the regional and local contribution to unlocking business potential and securing safe and sustainable energy supplies – identified as key EU priorities by the European Council.

The LMP workshop will focus on:

• Better regulation for growth and jobs from a regional / local perspective
• Regional and local policies to support business start-ups
• The contribution of green procurement to sustainable development
• Financing renewable energy and energy efficient projects

The workshop conclusions will feed into a report on partnership for growth and jobs, which the CoR has been asked to submit to the Spring European Council in March 2008.

The results of the LMP's recent monitoring exercise will also be discussed by an expert panel at the workshop, with a view to the next Lisbon governance cycle in 2008-2010.

• Click here for the programme

The European Energy Service Initiative was developed and launched in 2005 to provide a promotional plateform for energy services in Europe. Its principal aim is to increase awareness on the options and opportunities of energy services especially for energy efficiency, by showing its successes and to motivate others to follow. Main target group are political decision makers in national and local authorities and decision makers in building administrations. However, also decision makers in the industry as well as the financial community are addressed.

Régistration sur http://www.privatemeetspublic.de/

The EUropean REGional and local Health Authorities platform (EUREGHA) is holding its half-year conference on 23 January in the Committee of the Regions in Brussels . Participation is open to all regional and local health authorities from across the EU, with responsibility for health care.

The conference will focus on EU health at a regional level. The German Presidency will speak on their health priorities of the coming 6 months and the European Commission will give the participants a thorough insight into various health initiatives on the 2007 Commission Working Programme.

The aim of this EUREGHA Conference is also to debate directly with the European Commission the different questions raised in the Commissions consultation paper on community actions on health services. This debate will be introduced through speakers from 4 different regions presenting challenges and perspectives of patient mobility in EU.

Please register a.s.a.p. through mailto:health@nwhbo.org

The IANIS + Secretariat organizes a Policy Seminar on the topic “Networks of Innovation”.

The event will focus on the importance of developing regional strategies in support of all networking activities aiming to a sustainable innovation process within European regions. As it will be shown by direct testimonies, some regions have already developed their strategy for the creation of internal, as well as external, “Networks of Innovation”.

In brief, this event aims at opening a discussion on key issues related to questions like:

• What are the success factors for the development of the competitiveness of regional economies?
• To what extent does regional development depend on innovation, research & technology development?
• What kind of approach to networking should regions pursue to improve their connectivity & competitiveness?
• What opportunities do the EU and its programs offer to assist regions in these regards?
• What's the role to be played by Universities, Regional Development Agencies & Regional Governments? (e.g. having a strategy for networking: awareness raising.)

Some interesting inputs on the subject will be given by presentation of the “Networks of Innovation” research study, commissioned by the European Commission and conducted by the Center for Research on Innovation & Internationalization of Bocconi University ( Milan , Italy ).

In the second part of the meeting, participants will be invited to debate on their regional strategies on "Networks of Innovation", a discussion that will be kicked off by the presentation of three regional experiences: Piedmont , Extremadura and Yorkshire & Humber.

The challenges of application of Directive 2001/42/EC on SEA to the new Interregional cooperation programmes and projects, including project opportunities and studies of cases. Final conference of the project INTERACT-TranSEA, Strategic Environmental Assessment Application at Transnational Level to the INTERREG Programmes and Projects.

Lead partner: AICCRE - Italian Association for Council of Municipalities and Regions of Europe. Project partners: South Aegean Region (Greece), the Non-profit Corporation for Regional and International Cooperation "Aristotelis" (Greece), Ministry of Territory and Housing of the Region of Valencia (Spain), Delegation of the Region of Valencia in Brussels (Spain).

The Paris Region Agency for Economic Development and the Ile-de-France Regional Council are holding the 3rd Paris Region Economic Forum in Brussels.

The event will focus on Life Sciences in Europe, highlighting the assets of the Ile-de-France Region in this field and the possible synergies with other EU regions and at the European level, namely with:

• the presentation of a study on the major EU metropolitan areas with Life Sciences clusters;
• a presentation of the Life Sciences cluster of Ile-de-France (Competitiveness pole MEDICEN);
• the presence of representatives of this cluster;
• the presence of a representative of a Life Sciences cluster from another European region;
• a presentation of the “Health” thematic priority within FP7 by a representative of the European Commission.

For more information about this project, please visit:

http://mailing.paris-region.com/Bruxelles2007/invitation.htm

The project DESEO “Development of Districts of Equal Opportunities in Social Economy Territories”, aims to analyse potentials for local clustering which gears towards improved mechanisms for an equal participation of women and men in economic and social life. By pooling experiences and resources of both local authorities and social economy operators, new methods of collaboration will be found.

In the case of DESEO, a social economy cluster could be defined as follows: “ … a group of social economy enterprises operating on the basis of mutualised resources and services, a spill-over of skills/competences and knowledge as well as common management systems. Activities are founded on collaboration and the shared and overarching objective of all actors to promote gender equality as a major element of innovation, solidarity, participation and local development in general.”

This public session aims to present best practices and local test applications of a new benchmark regarding local clustering for equal opportunities. Local authorities and social economy structures, European civil society networks and other stakeholders at local and European level are invited to discuss these experiences and network with project partners from Italy, France, Sweden, Spain and Ireland.

DESEO Info: EN - FR

The European Federation of Public Communication Associations ( Feacp) aims to link, all over Europe, those national associations that gather professionals in charge of communications on behalf of public authorities of all levels: national, regional or local governments, assemblies, administrations and public services.

In view to contribute to a better European communication and to help European citizens to speak together, Feacp is organising, in collaboration with DG COMM, a meeting of "public communicators", from the 27 countries of the European Union, who are the officers of public institutions and national or regional authorities.

Organiser: European Federation of Public Communication Associations

Download the programme

The seminar "Regional Opportunities for Managing Demographic Change" is premised on the idea that demographic change is not only a challenge but also an opportunity. Due to the ageing of populations, there is a need for new services, products and innovations. The purpose of this seminar is to look at demographic change from a regional and local perspective and to discuss the opportunities for developing new markets linked to ageing. The seminar is organised by South Finland EU-office which represents three Finnish regions: Häme, Päijät-Häme and Itä-Uusimaa.

Please click here for the seminar program

In the frame of the European Leader+ Initiative, 19 European Local Action Groups (from Spain, Greece, Italy and France) are developing a trans-national project of cooperation, which aims for the creation of a brand on a European scale: the European Territorial Quality Mark (ETQM). The targets of this brand are those rural territories that share the same values of sustainable development and quality production. Each of these territories has its own Territorial Mark applied to companies and sectors as diverse as agro-food, tourism or culture. The ETQM will be an "umbrella" brand and will enable every territorial mark to gain recognition at the European level.

This conference will expose the values that constitute this brand, as well as its functioning, to the representatives of diverse European authorities.

Programme: EN - FR

Conference information: EN - FR

The 15th annual Congress of EUROCHAMBRES, the organisation representing over 2,000 regional and local chambers of commerce in Europe, will be held on 25-26 October in Paris. The Committee of the Regions (CoR) has granted its patronage to this event, which will gather more than 500 representatives from chambers, business, politics and academia around the theme 'Business and regional development: growth will come from the ground!', i.e. the role of regions and local actors in boosting competitiveness on a European scale.

CoR President Michel Delebarre will address the opening session of the Congress, together with Pierre Simon, President of EUROCHAMBRES, François Fillon, French Prime Minister, and Jacques Barrot, Vice-President of the European Commission.

One of the highlights of EUROCHAMBRES’ Congress will be the presentation of an 'Atlas of Competitiveness', a ranking of the 250 most competitive European regions. This study, comparing figures for all 27 Member States, will give an extensive overview of the EU’s economic performance on the basis of six indicators: general economic background, infrastructure, entrepreneurship, employment and education, innovation, and internationalisation.

• Registrations for EUROCHAMBRES’ Congress are open on http://www.eurochambresparis2007.org/
• Further information: Isabelle Gueury, tel.: +32 2-282 08 74, gueury@eurochambres.eu
• Press contact: Guendalina Cominotti, tel.: +32 2-282 08 66, cominotti@eurochambres.eu

A workshop for stakeholders and members of the Council Working Party on the Environment will exchange their views on the revision of the Waste Framework Directive in the light of the results of the first reading of the proposal at the European Parliament.

Plymouth Marine Institute is organizing on 26 th March 2007 in the Committee of the Regions the final conference of an FP6 project entitled 'European Lifestyles and Marine Ecosystems' (ELME). The event is designed to inform a number of key stakeholders of the outcomes of this work. This will be a half-day informative session (including questions and answers). A special publication will be released on the day.

The ELME project - For the past three years, a group of 28 leading research institutions from 14 European countries have been undertaking a study of the relationship between the rapidly changing European lifestyles and the deteriorating environment of Europe's regional seas, the Baltic, Black Sea, Mediterranean and North East Atlantic. This study is supported by a EUR2.5M award from FP6. Its findings enable a process of horizon scanning to look at the potential future state of the seas for the next 20-30 years under a number of development scenarios. This is the first time such a comprehensive study has been undertaken and it examines the major changes in demography and economic development and their implications for the natural environment and for the resources that many marine activities depend on. It comes at a critically important moment for the EU, as a new Maritime Policy is being debated, as well as a Marine Strategy Directive.

• More information about the ELME project at http://www.elme-eu.org/public/home.aspx

In the context of the Regional Framework Operation RUP-PLUS co-financed by INTERRREG III C, the Autonomous Region of Madeira is the leading partner of a project aiming to evaluate the importance of State aid for the development of the EU's Outermost regions. The project foresees the realisation of a study in this field which will be presented in a seminar that will take place in Brussels.

The Communication from the Commission “A stronger partnership for the outermost regions” (COM (2004)343, of 26.5.2004) recognises that State aid plays an important role in the competitiveness of the Outermost regions' economy as instruments of attractiveness for the economic activity in these territories, the most remote ones of the Union.

This study carried out by CEDRU Lda. and QUARTENAIRE Portugal S.A aims to show the contribution of State aid in the reduction of the handicaps inherent to the Outermost regions and to evaluate their importance for the social and economic development of the European ultra-periphery, namely in relation to the establishment of new companies, the modernisation and diversification of the economy.

The Organisation intends to associate to this event, apart from the representatives of the Outermost regions, representatives of the Unit “Outermost Regions” of DG REGIO, DG COMP, DG TAXUD, DG TREN, members of the commissions Territorial Cohesion Policy and Economic and Social Policy of the CdR, members of the commissions Transports and Tourism and Regional Development of the EP and MEPs from Outermost regions.

The partners of the WEFNET Project have the pleasure to present the activities and good practices developed by the WEFNET Project between Italy, Germany, Romania, Greece, Albania and Poland. The event will focus on gender equality at the European level and also on gender opportunity and women entrepreneurship. The enlargement of the Women Resource Centre Network in the CASDES area – meant to foster psychological, managerial and financial support for the women of the targeted areas – will be presented.

This conference will be an important step in the raising of two intertwined issues such as women entrepreneurship and gender policies at the European level. Furthermore, it will define the "State-of-Art" and the new perspectives related to these issues, thanks to the participation of decision-makers (EU members, EC officers, local government representatives).

Click here for the programme

Please confirm your attendance before 21.06.2007 – 12.00 am

On September 27/28, 2007 the 'Fourth European Cohesion Forum' will be held in Brussels. More than 800 regional and local representatives from all over Europe will discuss the findings of the 4th Report on Economic and Social Cohesion as adopted by the European Commission on May 30, 2007.

In this context, the Saxon State Minister for European Affairs, Hermann Winkler, and the Saxon Local Authorities would like to invite you to a networking session on the eve of this important event.

The aim is to let our regional and local voices be heard since the Cohesion Forum’s panels are predominantly dedicated to national representatives.

Panelists include politicians from Saxony and DG Regio’s representative, Eric Dufeil. Representatives from European regions and local authorities and interested people are warmly welcome to discuss with us on September 26 at 18.00.

Interpretation in English/German will be provided.

The debate will be followed by a reception.

• Programme
• Reply form

The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) is organising a seminar on the topic of domestic violence. Sweden has come a long way in fighting domestic violence and would therefore be in a good position to encourage a European debate on an inter-regional and local level. The seminar will focus on preventive measures against domestic violence and the importance of early intervention. In Sweden, men are the perpetrators 90 % of the time, which raises the question of whether it is necessary to change men’s behaviour in terms of masculinity, power, attitude and violence. It is important to extend the knowledge of domestic violence and learn to identify the problems before it is too late. The seminar will highlight the successful Daphne projects and will work as a platform for European actors working in this field for the exchange of ideas and information. A detailed agenda of the seminar will follow later on.

Transnational Workshop on the theme: citizen participation on urban policies and programmes

How to bridge the gap between citizens and European institutions? The European Regeneration Areas Network is a platform established in order to create a contact between local entities, in their three dimensions (residents, technicians and decision-makers) and the European Union.

This workshop brings together participants from 7 Member Countries, 10 local partners tackling with the issue of citizen participation in urban regeneration programmes. We are hoping to have involvement from the EP Intergroup in Urban Policy and Housing and also from the EC. The aim for this platform is to become a future forum of consultation on urban regeneration issues for the EP and the EC. In addition there will be delegates from Brussels based organisations. The working languages will be English; Italian; Spanish and French

Luc Van den Brande, First Vice-President of the Committee of the Regions, and Carlo Liviantoni, Vice-President of Umbria Region, are pleased to invite you to the presentation of the photographic book Umbrian Country by Henri Desplanques. The presentation takes place on 28 February 2007 at 4.15 pm at the Committee of the Regions, Rue Belliard 101, Brussels, Room JDE 52, in the presence of Franco Frattini, Vice-President of the European Commission. José Manuel Sousa Uva, Director of Rural Development Programmes at the European Commission will give a speech on Rural development European policy 2007-2013 in Italy and particularly in Umbria.

The European Association of Co-Operative Banks (EACB) is hosting its 2nd high-level Convention which will take place on Wednesday 28th of March 2007 at the Committee of the Regions, Rue Belliard 101 in Brussels. Entitled “Co-Operative Banks: Catalysts for Social Cohesion”, this conference will bring forward the key role played by the co-operative banks and its 60 million members in the European economy.

The success of Co-operative Banks can be seen by their financial results and top ratings, but also on the ground by having a major impact on society at local and national level. Governance, Proximity and Solidarity are key values shared by all 60 million members, and one of the objectives of the 2 nd convention is to inform a larger audience of the major role of Co-Operative Banks in the economy and on how the competitiveness of the banking sector in Europe contributes to the realisation of the Lisbon Agenda.

The 2 nd high-level Convention will bring together representatives from local, regional and national co-operative banks, as well as senior figures from EU institutions, member states, organisations, industries, and the international press, to discuss the differences and complementarity between commercial banks and Co-operative banks.

• Full details can be found on: http://www.eurocoopbanks.coop/or http://www.forum-europe.com/

The event co-organized by the Regional government of Andalucía ( Spain ) will gather HIGH LEVEL representatives from regional government responsible for Information and Communications technologies (ICT) + innovation policy, European Commission, European Parliament and Industry. The objective is to

• Share best practice between regions;
• Get in contact with various stakeholders from different levels (European, national, regional);
• Gain knowledge of successful ICT projects that have increased regional competitiveness (e- Health, e-Education, e-SMEs, e-government, etc.);
• Look for opportunities like cooperation in innovation, common ICT projects;
• Understand different regional needs in different ICT sectors.

AquaFil is a network of territories focused on the issues linked to the participatory management of water canals as well as education on environment. Founded in 1998 by four members, the Aquafil European network (Interreg IIIC programme) has enlarged and now includes seven members. The seminar will gather other European actors working on the theme of water as well as members of the European Commission, elected civil servants and representatives of national delegations acceding to the EU. The object of this conference will be to present the instruments at the disposal of local and regional authorities in terms of participatory management of canals and water streams, and show how building regional information structures, raising awareness and organising activities linked to water such as ‘Les Maisons de L'Eau' can contribute to implement the Water Framework Directive in cooperation with official institutions. The enlargement of the Aquafil European network with other partners with the perspective of further inter-regional cooperation is desirable.

Organiser: Commune de Beckerich - chef de file projet Interreg3C AquaFil

Compulsory preliminary registration: http://www.aquafil.net/

On 29 June, on the occasion of the International day of Danube river, Regional government - Ruse will organize a holiday under the slogan: “The river, that brings us together”. The regional governor Mrs Maria Dimova will open the celebration, that aims  at  encouraging  the crossborder and inter-regional cooperation of the regions along the river. The idea is to make the International day of Danube river popular and to establish a successful model for cooperation between the danubian regions, that will stimulate join partnerships for socio-economic and culture cohesion.

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The City of Västerås is the promoter of the Leonardo da Vinci DEFT Pilot project. Presentation of the final result of this project will be given together with partners from Surrey County Coucil, Regione de Veneto, City of Vienna and IFCO (International Foster Care Organisation). DEFT is a train-the-trainer programme designed to give trainers of foster carers a practical tool to help develop and evidence their skills. The skills that learners gain are designed to help ensure, on a European level, that a trained and informed community of foster carers is in place for the ultimate benefit of looked after children. After the presentation there will be light refreshments with a chance to ask questions and participate in discussions.

The Committee of the Regions, in cooperation with FEDARENE (European Federation of Regional Energy and Environment Agencies), is organising this seminar in the framework of the first EU Sustainable Energy Week.

Local and regional authorities are playing a key role in promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency, many of them giving substantial priority to sustainable energy solutions. However, the implementation of such energy concepts under their management may often fail due to a lack of money and/or knowledge of existing financial mechanisms.

This seminar will focus on the financial instruments which local and regional authorities can use in order to achieve sustainable energy projects. The first part will comprise an overview of instruments offered by the EU and national levels, as well as by the private banking sector, for financing local and regional action in the field of sustainable energy. Several case studies of successful regional financing models will be presented during the second part.

Key stakeholders from the public and private sector as well as European, local and regional policy makers will be given the opportunity to discuss new concepts and share knowledge on financial instruments which assist with the improvement of energy efficiency and development of renewable energy sources.

Interpreting facilities will be available in English, French and German.

Organiser: FEDARENE (European Federation of Regional Energy and Environment Agencies)

To register, please visit: http://www.eusew.eu/page.cfm?page=registration

The "European Citizens' Panel" is a pilot bottom-up initiative that encourages citizens from eight different regions of Europe and from very diverse backgrounds to have a voice in the policies that affect an issue of common interest: the future of rural areas in Europe. The process started with the creation of citizens panels at the regional level. During these gatherings, the citizens drew up recommendations for their local authorities. This process will culminate in this three-day-long European Panel during which the citizens will deliberate and work to formulate common recommendations. These recommendations will be presented to key policy makers at the European level as well as to the wider public on Monday 2nd of April.

The initiative is documented and publicly available on http://www.citizenspanel.eu/and will be evaluated to ensure that it can be repeated in the future. The methodology, based on comprehensive and balanced information by decision-makers, experts and stakeholders, will be used to create a mechanism enabling citizens to draw up and disseminate proposals on other important issues faced by Europe today.

The purpose of this conference is to disseminate the results of the Grundtvig2 project “Second Chance Working Winners” which looked for best practice in encouraging older learners (40+, especially those with social disadvantages or from minority groups) to re-enter the labour market or to engage in active citizenship. Beside a lecture about social policy in Europe, the conference will invite stakeholders (European and Flemish) to discuss the results with the participants of the project (Third Age Foundation, London ( UK ) (coordinator); Hoger Instituut voor Gezinswetenschappen, Brussels (B); Agora, Lorient (F); Initiative 40, Salzburg (AT); ABS Wyda, Zdar nad Sazavou (CS)

“CECODHAS – the European Liaison Committee for Social Housing- is committed to maximizing the potential of regional policy to make social housing a key element for integrated urban development and a tool for cohesion in the European Union.

This conference, opened to practitioners, experts on social housing and representatives of national, regional and local authorities will:

• clearly outline new possibilities to use structural funds to support social housing sector
• identify what is required to secure these funds and successfully implement EU supported housing projects
• present successful projects in integrated urban and renewal and community development
• provide participants with a key opportunity to establish partnerships and networks

To see the programme, go to http://www.cecodhas.org/