The first day started with a lively debate about the EU energy policy and the difficulties and opportunities it presents for European cities – a very successful session not least thanks to its chairman, Cork County councillor, Alan Coleman.

Open floor for our members

The afternoon sessions were an opportunity to present practical local initiatives of around 50 members of Energie-Cités and to discuss 13 of them in more detail in small groups: London Borough of Sutton, Geneva, Rennes, Frankfurt, Echirolles, Healthy Cities, Almada, Odense, Heidelberg, Modena, Växjö, Kirklees Metropolitan Council and Kaunas. There is no doubt: local authorities are not only ready to act, but many of them have already started to fulfil their sustainable energy agenda.

Synergies between the Europen Union and the local authorities

The synergies between European and local decisions were particularly highlighted by Alfonso Gonzalez-Finat from the European Commission’s DG TREN on the second day, when the Covenant of Mayors initiative was discussed. Eckart Würzner, President of Energie-Cités, chaired the debates and allowed fruitful exchanges between local authorities and the panellists. Lian Merkx, Deputy Mayor of Delft, expressed her enthusiasm backed by Leicester City councillor, Michael Cooke, who stressed the uniqueness of this process, highlighting the fact that local authorities already dispose of several means of influencing a more sustainable energy future, ranging from green procurement to local ordinances on renewable energy.

Enthousiasm for the Covenant of Mayors

Unanimous panel members eagerly stated that they were looking forward to putting the practical actions that will follow the Mayors’ commitments to reach the EU’s energy and climate objectives by 2020 in place.

Your feedback on Energie-Cités’ opinion of the Covenant draft document would be much appreciated and should be sent to Kristina Dely as soon as possible. The initiative is now in a phase of consultation with stakeholders, so please do not hesitate to send your comments to TREN-COVENANT[at]ec.europa.eu as well; you have until 30th April 2008.

View Tom Sheahan, Mayor of Cork County, in an interview given during the launch of the Covenant of Mayors last January: View video here

Further information and documents concerning the conference on-line on this website >>

Miriam Eisermann