 Urban Mobility: the relevance of networking and the contribution to Cohesion Policy 25 February 2008 Eleni Kopanezou Head of Unit DG TREN/G4 “Clean Transport and Urban Transport” EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Why a Green Paper on Urban Mobility EU citizens expect high levels of mobility Cities face important challenges and should not be left alone Sustainable urban mobility is essential for achieving various policy objectives There is no magic solution, but change is possible through integrated thinking …. involving stakeholders and linking policy domains to develop « packages » that are implemented and monitored professionally

Why a Green Paper on Urban Mobility  Why a Green Paper on Urban Mobility We need to act together … Problems are local but some of their impacts are global: cooperation between local, regional, national and European level is necessary EU wishes to play a facilitating role respecting the subsidiarity principle The Green Paper follows extensive consultations with stakeholders The Green Paper puts forward options, no proposals TOWARDS A NEW CULTURE FOR URBAN MOBILTY | 3

Green Paper: Towards a new culture for urban mobility Five major challenges for European cities Free-flowing towns and cities Greener towns and cities Smarter urban transport Accessible urban transport Safety and security A new culture for urban mobility Financing urban transport

The added value of EU action EU wishes to facilitate change but without imposing solutions Exchange of knowledge and best practices Guidance and awareness raising Standard setting and facilitating interoperability Financial support Simplification of legislation New legislation framework, if necessary

Financing is a major issue Better use of existing funds (local, regional, national and EU) EU financial means: Structural Funds, Cohesion Fund, loans from EIB, RTD (e.g. CIVITAS Initiative), Intelligent Energy Europe programme – STEER… Users should also contribute: public transport tickets, urban road user charging, parking fees…

Green Paper – Next steps Green Paper launches a new consultation phase until 15 March 2008 All contributions are welcome Publication of a concrete Action Plan in autumn 2008 Action Plan will include possible actions at EU, national, regional and local levels and at the level of industry and citizens

How to participate ? Comments and suggestions can be sent to: European Commission DG Energy and Transport Clean Transport and Urban Transport Unit Office DM28 02/64 B-1049 Brussels Email: tren-urbantransport@ec.europa.eu

The added value of networking activities and cohesion policy « Isolated » sharing of knowledge does not bring value at EU level Exchanges organised through networks /partnerships of cities at EU level maximise exposure to knowledge and excellence minimise costs still allow close interactions Cohesion policy can benefit from networking

Example 1: Regions for Economic Change – Sharing Excellence Networking now to facilitate access to EU financing More than 500 participants from regions all over Europe are expected to discuss how European regional policy and its instruments can help regions to learn from one another and translate network outputs into action through mainstream policy and programmes Through nine workshops, the event will showcase strategies, experiences and projects intended to provide learning and networking opportunities for Structural Funds managing authorities

Example 2: Going beyond CIVITAS The French network of CIVITAS cities The Romanian network of CIVITAS cities The UK and Ireland network of CIVITAS cities To add value and establish national partnerships between authorities/organisations To build new links and dialogue with the national governments to promote investment in sustainable transport measures To raise awareness of successful CIVITAS measures in France, Romania, UK and Ireland

Example 3: The Covenant of Mayors for Sustainable Energy Cities Launched on 29 January 2008 by the European Commission Initiative involving citizens in the fight against global warming Formal commitment of the adhering cities to go beyond the objectives of the EU in terms of reduction of CO2 emissions Almost 100 cities throughout Europe, including 15 capital cities

Example 4: Hydrogen Bus Networks Building on the very positive results in the CUTE/Ectos/Step and HyFleet:CUTE projects which have delivered beyond expectations : >2mKm, 137000 hours, millions of passengers Hydrogen Bus Alliance - (currently 9 cities signed MoU) aiming at promoting the deployment of hydrogen buses worldwide Linking with HyPath (HyFleet:CUTE) initiative to develop a roadmap for commercialisation of hydrogen buses The International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy (IPHE) also provides a platform for information exchange on hydrogen bus demonstrations

Example 5: The cities networks Eurocities: network of more than 130 large cities in over 30 european countries http://www.eurocities.org/main.php CEMR (Council of European Municipalities and Regions): largest organisation of local and regional government in Europe (100.000 towns and regions from over 35 countries) http://www.ccre.org/ Polis: network of leading European cities and regions working together to develop innovative technologies and policies for local transport http://www.polis-online.org/ URBACT programme: aims to develop exchanges of experience between European cities and the actors, which have been involved in the URBAN Programmes, initiated and implemented by the European Union since the late 1980s http://urbact.eu/