News

18.04.2007
No place for the handicapped in most European taxis
In most European countries less than 10 per cent of the taxi fleet is accessible for wheelchair users. There are more than 45 million disabled people across Europe. Therefore, it is clearly important that accessibility to taxi services should be impr...read more

18.04.2007
OECD presents Territorial Review of the Randstad, the Netherlands
On 11 April 2007, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published its Territorial Review of the Randstad urban area. The Randstad is the poly-centric urban area in the west of the Netherlands, comprising Amsterdam, Rotterda...read more

17.04.2007
Bigger and better roads can be environmentally sustainable (or not?)
The transport sector is responsible for 14 per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions. Many green civil society organisations therefore want to curb the funding for road transport in favour of more sustainable transport systems, such as (light)rail. As...read more

17.04.2007
Register now for Europan 9 – the urban design competition for Europe’s young architects and urban design professionals
Europan is a European urban design competition that brings to the fore Europe’s young architecture and urban design professionals. It gives them the opportunity to publicise and develop their ideas. The theme of Europan 9 is ‘European urbanity – sust...read more

16.04.2007
Europol report analyses threat of terror
On 10 April Europol published its first EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (TE-SAT 2007). The report indicates that 498 attacks were carried out by Islamist, separatist, left-wing and anarchist terrorist groups in eleven EU member states in 2006...read more

11.04.2007
'Cities need to invest 40 trillion dollars in infrastructure'
Cities around the world need to invest 40 trillion dollarsto upgrade inadequate and out-of-date infrastructure or risk losing their workforce to locations with better services, according to a report published by consultant Booz Allen Hamilton.read more

06.04.2007
EC: European universities and businesses need to strengthen relations
On 4 April 2007, the European Commission has published a communication on the relation between the European academic world and European business. According to the communication, an average university in Europe generates far fewer inventions and paten...read more

05.04.2007
“An integrated society is not the sole responsibility of the municipality: all inhabitants need to be involved in the process”
The town of Oss in the Netherlands used to have a ‘categorical’ integration policy. “The municipality addressed immigrants as a separate group, not as regular inhabitants. In addition, the native-born people of Oss were not involved in the integratio...read more

05.04.2007
CoR ‘Declaration for Europe’: more respect for local and regional diversity, identity and autonomy
The Committee of the Regions (CoR) celebrated Europe’s 50th birthday in Rome on 23 March. At the main ceremony the CoR adopted its ‘Declaration for Europe’, which calls for a new ‘bond of trust’ between the European Union (EU) and its citizens. Respe...read more

04.04.2007
Social cohesion indicators to measure your city’s policy effectiveness
European societies are facing growing disparities in individual wealth and well-being. To reverse this trend, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities urges towns and regions to develop social cohesion indicators with which they can assess and ...read more

04.04.2007
Map for city migration now on-line
Which cities around the world attract most immigrants? The Global City Migration Map Tool provides an easy-to-understand visual of immigrants’ urban destinations. It is freely available on-line. The map tool is developed by the Migration Policy Infor...read more

03.04.2007
Increased attention for violence and racism in sport
Politicians, academics, NGOs and sport federations are all calling for more attention to violence and racism around sport events. The Council of Europe (CoE) is organising a conference on 'Sports, Violence and Racism in Europe' on 2-5 April 2007. The...read more

03.04.2007
“Local authorities and professionals needed to fine-tune drug policies”
When it comes to dealing with drug issues, local authorities are much needed to fine-tune drug policies. This is the opinion of Wolfgang Götz, Director of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). He identifies several hop...read more

02.04.2007
EP hearing on juvenile delinquency focuses on prevention and rehabilitation
Prevention is the key to solving the problem of young offenders. This is the opinion of the European Parliament’s (EP) Women's Rights Committee, voiced at a public hearing on juvenile delinquency. The hearing took place on 20 March 2007 in Brussels. ...read more

30.03.2007
Political agreement on LIFE+ reached
The Council of the Europe Union and the European Parliament have reached an agreement on LIFE+, the new financial instrument for the environment. LIFE+ will bring simplification by regrouping a broad range of existing environmental programmes and ins...read more

29.03.2007
“Micro credit programmes should not just cover structural investments, but also operating costs”
The Italian regional development agency BIC Lazio is running a micro credit programme in which so called honour loans are provided to unemployed people with entrepreneurial ambitions. The programme has proven to be very successful so far. Since the b...read more

29.03.2007
Eurocities and CEMR move in together
From the start of April, the Eurocities Brussels Office and the Council of European Municipalities and Regions are based in a new premises. It is officially named "The House of Cities, Municipalities and Regions". Not just Eurocities and CEMR will be...read more

28.03.2007
Sevilla 2007 gives renewed impetus to the Aalborg Commitments
Over 1500 delegates from European local governments have committed to immediately advance policies for local sustainable development. These policies, which will be implemented within the framework of the Aalborg Commitments, are an important step tow...read more

28.03.2007
More EU investment in urban areas benefits European economy, CoR reports
The Committee of the Regions (CoR) published a report on the effects of EU cohesion policy and the structural funds on European economic development. Based on Commission estimates, every euro spent on EU cohesion policy leads to an additional investm...read more

27.03.2007
European Security Research Programme launched in Berlin
The European Security Research Programme (ESRP) was launched at a Commission organised conference taking place in Berlin on 26 and 27 March 2007. The ESRP is a separate programme under the Seventh Research Framework Programme 2007-2013. The programme...read more