History
At the informal ministerial conference on urban policy 'Cities Empower Europe' on 30 November 2004, the EU Ministers for urban policy agreed to develop a pilot project for a European urban knowledge exchange network - EUKN. The EUKN pilot project took place under the auspices of the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations with the voluntary participation of other Member States and the support of URBACT.
By the time of the project Kick Off meeting in May 2005, the
number of participating countries had risen from five to fifteen.
The first phase of the EUKN pilot, 2005-2006, was be developed in
cooperation with the URBACT Programme, via an URBACT Working group.
During the 2007 German EU Presidency, the members of EUKN decided
to end the successful pilot project phase of EUKN and extend the
network until 2010, with an eye on sustainably financing the
network after this period. Two new members joined EUKN in 2008,
Romania and Sweden respectively. In April 2009 the Czech Republic
also joined EUKN. The EUKN Management Authority is formed by the
Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations and the Dutch
ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment.
In 2010 the Informal Ministerial Meeting on Urban Development under the Spanish EU Presidency politically supported the continuation of EUKN up till 2015, in the Toledo declaration.
EUKN now consists of 15 Member States: Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Eurocities, the URBACT Programme and the European Commission also support EUKN, making EUKN a Europe-wide supported network.
In 2010 the Informal Ministerial Meeting on Urban Development under the Spanish EU Presidency politically supported the continuation of EUKN up till 2015, in the Toledo declaration.
EUKN now consists of 15 Member States: Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Eurocities, the URBACT Programme and the European Commission also support EUKN, making EUKN a Europe-wide supported network.
04 Nov 2009