Welcome to day one of the Economic Development Forum 2022. Today, we will look at the politics of economic recovery, how the existing cooperation between different levels of government influences recovery efforts in cities, and what are the lessons for European economic governance.
Europe faces an exceptionally long recovery period caused by multiple consecutive crises with complex and uneven impacts. The ongoing Covid19 pandemic disrupted the sluggish recovery following the global economic and financial crisis. What initially looked like a temporary health emergency has had far-reaching implications for the economy, labour market, and communities. After nearly two years, with the pandemic still challenging our societies, we see significant changes in citizens’ behavioural patterns and preferences, from remote working to transport, housing, consumption, social life, and leisure activities.
The EU’s prompt response with the allocation of € 672.5 billion through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) is a robust economic stimulus fostering the twin transition. The launch of the RRF implementation phase is an opportunity to learn from past mistakes and improve cities’ position in European multilevel governance. Cities can accelerate a fair, digital and green transition and are the key actors in making the recovery real for people. Cities also recognize the importance to strengthen their resilience beyond the RRF, and this requires adjustments of the EU economic governance framework and a more flexible approach in the Stability and Growth Programme.
The Eurocities Economic Development Forum 2022 will revisit and formulate cities’ role in the implementation phase of RRF, reveal how economic recovery can be grounded in and with cities, and identify paths for strengthening their long-term resilience through adjustments in the EU economic governance framework.
Key questions
• How can cities ensure a green and inclusive recovery?
• What are the key bottlenecks of the EU economic governance framework that prevent cities from strengthening their resilience?
• How can cities and European institutions cooperate to accelerate recovery?
• How can sustainable and energy-efficient housing drive urban recovery?
Day two will examine sustainable financing of affordable and energy-efficient housing and how housing, can drive the recovery of urban economies. Through parallel workshops, participants will have a chance to learn more about the possible mechanisms for financing housing recovery.
Day three will unlock the strategies of our host city and their efforts to c by integrating future recovery needs in today’s projects. Examples from the Next Mannheim vision will be showcased together with examples from other European cities.
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Eurocities wants to make cities places where everyone can enjoy a good quality of life, is able to move around safely, access quality and inclusive public services and benefit from a healthy environment. We do this by networking almost 200 larger European cities, which together represent some 130 million people across 38 countries, and by gathering evidence of how policy making impacts on people to inspire other cities and EU decision makers.
