 Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, here at the Hemicycle of the European Parliament and welcome to you to online. Welcome to the 20th edition of the European Week of Regions and Cities. And yes, do take a seat. This is a festive occasion. The celebration of the 20th gathering of people involved in local and regional politics, joining forces, exchanging ideas, exchanging best practices, working together in a European context. It all started in 2003 with 10 regions joining forces, but today and in the next couple of days, over 500 local and regional authorities are represented here, as well as nearly 20,000 external partners, senior EU officials, academics and journalists alike. It's grown into the biggest Brussels-based platform for sharing knowledge on cohesion policy. This year's theme is New Challenges on Europe's Cohesion, with a focus on themes like green transition, digital transition, territorial cohesion and youth empowerment. And mentioning youth empowerment, there are a lot of young elected politicians here among you. So let's see, where are you? Raise your hands, young elected politicians. Welcome. As I said, it's a festive occasion, but at the same time, of course, at times like these, when a war is raging in Ukraine, when an energy crisis is raging all over Europe, those are topics that need to be addressed and will be addressed. My name is Anna Lisbeck. I will be your moderator throughout the event this afternoon, and I'll be welcoming prominent guests in a moment, like Vasco Alves Cordero, President of the European Committee of Regents, Elisa Ferreira, Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, and Roberta Mezzola, President of the European Parliament, our host, so to speak. That's for in a moment. First, let's hear from the colleagues who are taking care, managing and moderating comments of you watching online and on social media. Alejandro, what are you up to today? Thank you, Annalis, and what an amazing opening of the European Week of Regents and Cities in its 20th anniversary. I also want to welcome our online and on-site participants. I'm Alejandro, and I will be your social media host, so please keep interacting with us and use the hashtag EUregentsweek through our social media channels, Facebook and Twitter. And of course, use the live chat of the events platform. That's once again, hashtag EUregentsweek. Now, for anyone who decides to take part in our upcoming polls, please visit the website slido.com or the application for your mobile phone, tablet, or even computer. For Slido, you will require a code, which, if it's not appearing right now on the screen, I will give it to you. It's EUregentsweek. With that code, you can interact with those on the polls. Now, this is how it's going to work. I will give you a question right now, possible answers, and in my next session, I will give you the final results of that question. Let's give it a try. So, in the first question, how would you define cohesion policy in one sentence? For the options we have, cohesion policy promotes solidarity across Europeans, cohesion policy reduces inequalities in Europe, cohesion policy supports sustainable economic growth, cohesion policy addresses Europe's crisis, and cohesion policy fosters territorial cooperation. Don't forget to interact with us on our social media platforms, Facebook, and Twitter with the hashtag EUregentsweek. For those only using Twitter, we will kind of have a small poll, let's call it, with the question of which one of these years, four topics interest you personally the most. The options will be there on Twitter. And again, for Slido, just go on slido.com, use the application on your mobile, tablet, or computer, and I will give you the results in my next intervention. Now, let's continue with this incredible opening of the European Week of Regions and Cities. Back to you and Elise. Thank you very much, Alejandro, for that inspiring questions indeed and do engage out there with what's happening here in the hemicycle of the European Parliament. I would like to welcome the guests on the podium, Vasco Alves Cordeiro. Welcome, Elisa Ferreira and Roberta Mezzola. Welcome to all of you. You can applaud them. We'll hear from them within a couple of minutes, but to be very clear about what we will be talking about here this afternoon, let's look at a clip to state the first big question, which is what is the state of Europe's cohesion? So a number of interesting choking points. Mr. Vasco Alves Cordeiro as president of the European Committee of Regions may ask you to elaborate on what we just saw and what, according to you, is the importance of cohesion policy on the European level. Well, thank you so much and first of all, let me on behalf of the Committee of the Regions welcome you all to this opening session of this initiative that brings us to the new challenges that cohesion is facing across Europe. I would like also to thank our host this afternoon, President Roberta Mezzola of the European Parliament that welcomes us here in her house to have this opportunity to have everybody meeting and discussing this issue. Also a special greeting to Commissioner Lisa Freire, our partner in this endeavor of having this European week of regions and cities. Let me try to very briefly very briefly, that's my role indeed to keep you all on a time schedule. I'm sorry, it's not the most popular role, but I appreciate it. First, cohesion is not something that, putting it another way, cohesion is very core of the European project. So you're not talking about something that you establish to be achieved. No, it's the very idea of the European Union that cohesion is the way to cohesion in the several aspects. The times we are living are very very challenging concerning this issue. Not only because as the eighth report on cohesion demonstrates clearly some of the aspects that can be improved in the way cohesion policy is delivered, but also I think post-pandemic, the war in Ukraine and today is a very sad and dramatic day that remembers us, the impact and what is at stake in war in Ukraine. I would like to extend our solidarity to the members of the European Parliament. We are not alone. We are fighting with them because this is a fight for our common values and common principles. But to conclude, much has been achieved in cohesion, but there are new challenges. New challenges not only about, for example, energy but about the procedures itself in the way we can deliver a better cohesion policy. And especially to recognize the role that regions and cities across Europe play when we intend to have cohesion. You cannot have cohesion if you don't value and recognize the role in regional authorities across Europe. Thank you. Thank you very much. President Cordero already mentioned the 8th Cohesion Report, Commissioner Ferreira, but what is it that you think are the main takeaways from that report? First of all, it's really great to see so many people connected to address cohesion as a core issue and a core condition for Europe to function because we are playing with very critical things like a single market full competition, movement of people, movement of capital, and so if we don't have a kind of a machine that fosters the growth of the weakest, then they will be left behind and if they are left behind we cannot be united because we don't share same opportunities and same wealth. That is my first comment and this is reason why to address these challenges we have got to have regions, cities engaged. Cohesion policy is a policy that goes bottom up, that requires partnership, that requires vision, and then the use of the instruments. The 8th Cohesion Report has shown several things. The first one is that in fact cohesion works because looking at those member states that joined in 2004, they had income per capita 59% in 2019 of the average of the European Union. In 2019 they were about the 70, 75, so they have really moved very, very fast. The weakest regions sometimes for certain regions grow 5% in a couple of years. So challenges, the first one is that some of these fast growth is in itself imbalanced and some countries are growing very fast but they are creating internal balances. The second challenge is that after this period in which a lot of investment is done in relation to infrastructures then keeping the pace and keeping going and keeping growing is much more difficult. So often we have regions and countries that after this initial growth then they stagnate or decline because the demands, the requirement the recipe to go on growing it's much more complex and we have got to look at it. And then you have the big cities that have a very important role to play. Also from a functional perspective they have got also to assume some responsibility for development of surrounding areas. If we add you add to this all the challenges we are facing with asymmetric impacts being the globalization, the COVID crisis, the invasion of Russia, of Ukraine and again also I would like to express my solidarity with Ukraine and our friends in Ukraine. But if we think of these challenges and now the inflation and the energy crisis we have a lot of interference and we have got to be strong and to be intelligent in keeping the dynamics, keeping the cohesion going and not lose the vision of where we want to go although adapting to the different circumstances in our way. And it's very important to see that the European Parliament represented at the highest level and thank you for being the President and the Committee of the Regions is so engaged and I think we'll do it because we are together. Thank you very much, Commissioner Ferreira. And that brings me to our host to the President of the European Parliament, indeed, Roberta Metzola. The war in Ukraine has been mentioned a couple of times. The need for solidarity, expressions of solidarity as well. I understand that's something you want to address as well in the context of this gathering. So the floor is yours. Thank you very much. How much time do I have? You have six minutes and I want to thank the previous speakers for sticking to what they're a lot of time. That's actually extremely nice. So thank you. Thank you very much and I must say welcome. Welcome to the European Parliament. It is not only a pleasure to host you here but a privilege for me to share a stage with Vasco and Elisa. The commitment that they have expressed is one that is shared by this whole house and it's really quite an honour to be able to host this 20th edition of the European Week of Regions and Cities. It has always been hosted by the Parliament and it is something that we missed very much during the pandemic. As you said, Chair, I would like to start by wishing that this was a happier day. This is a very sad day for Europe. This is one that has witnessed the most severe atrocities in Kiev and in so many Ukrainian cities. It is a sad day but our grief must move to a determination to do more to stand tall and be more steadfast together with our Ukrainian friends. I have been in contact with them all day as we seek to help people who are looking for shelter as we seek to identify the ways that we as a European Parliament but as Europe can help Ukraine in fighting against this brutal invasion. Let me be clear that a regime that targets indiscriminately trains terror and death down on children is a criminal one and it is one that we will not stop in fighting against. I would also like to thank you all of you for having been essential over the past years. We just had a good conversation with Vasco in preparation for this meeting is that without your help without your essential role then we would never have managed to get through the pandemic. Today we would also not be managing to open our homes and our hearts to the Ukrainian people who are fleeing the most brutal of terrors. Why do I say this? When we don't talk about this enough that Europe is made of what is decided and carried out at the local level. I as a member of the European Parliament I rely on the leaders of the different regions in my country in order for the very decisions that are needed to be taken as close to the citizens as possible. We have heard this a lot and I am happy that there are so many young people in this plenary in order to reinforce the fact that when we are talking about cohesion policy and how important it is when we are talking about where our funds go, how we take the decisions for financial infrastructure to be able to trickle down to the most local of levels without you would not be possible. Without you it would not be possible to take care of our communities, to make sure that our local businesses are supported to make sure that our farmers are supported to make sure that our entrepreneurs are there in order to spread the community message and help at the most local level. So I am here to to reinforce that to tell you that the European Parliament is by your side that there is no for me distinction between what level of decisions is taken but to reinforce how important that is taken at the most local of Europe. I came, I entered this room the first time as a representative of the National Student Union, a youth organization and I remember thinking my goodness this is where a lot of things could be done 20 years later, because it was 20 years ago long time, I still think can we do more can we communicate better what we say here in our individual towns and villages. My appeal to you would be that at the end of this week that you do precisely that, that you take away from what you discuss with colleagues from all over and I can tell you that some of my friends who are today in the European Parliament were with me then 20 years ago and we look at each other and we say have we done enough. I don't think we can ever say that we have done enough our citizens want more from us, we heard them talk what more we can do during the conference on the future of Europe it is our task to take that forward, the European Parliament and the Committee of the Greens, the Eubring Commission can do so much more in order to get that message across in a true and tangible way. Thank you. I think I was less than six minutes. You were less than six minutes, you were very generous. Thank you. Not only impassioned politicians but also very punctual and polite politicians. Thank you for that. Miss Metzola, you will be leaving us in a moment but... My extra time, my reserve time. Yes please because we would like to take this opportunity to make a family photo now that the three of you are here. There are names in the front of the podium so if you stand there with your back to the public but all of you are in the pictures so put on your brightest smiles please. Then we will take this opportunity to take the photograph and then take this historic, this festive moment for this gathering forward into the discussion. If I may ask then we take a moment for the photograph. This way. In the same place. Yes, you can stay with us please. To get an idea of what it means when we mention European solidarity here is a short video to kick off the discussion I will follow. So for this second segment the question of solidarity is asked. Please do take a seat. The next panellists will talk about what that means in practice. What that means in their communities and in their regions. Cohesion policy transforms from principles on paper into practice and action in a unique way like no other EU policy does in fact. I welcome a new guest on the podium. Welcome. You are the first vice president of the European committee of the regions and also the governor of the central Macedonia region in Greece. So please tell us what solidarity means where you come from if I may put it that way and from your practice. Well let me first say that it is true that we are facing huge challenges nowadays and these challenges need to be answered in a concrete way with solidarity from the European Union. Sanitary and crisis and the aftermath, the inflation, the energy costs, the recession that we might be getting into, climate emergency or our factors that we need to take under consideration and of course these crisis could change the standard of living for all Europeans. Europe needs to act now and it needs to act on the ground. Any further delays you know and this is why I wanted to start with this or even a failure to address these challenges risks Europe's cut off from its citizens and the citizens then would or could turn eventually to the loud deceptive voices of populists and extremists. So while we have all this discussion here in Brussels, we the 240 regions and 90,000 municipalities of Europe are working on the ground to make sure that funds from Europe basically and mostly cohesion funds will reach every household, every citizen and at the same time by implementing very important projects on the ground. So in my region for example, in the region of central Macedonia in northern Greece we are renovating hospitals, schools, sports facilities houses, making them energy efficient we are financing SMEs to reduce energy costs we are installing photovoltaic systems and new charging stations for electric vehicles everywhere, we are replacing the vehicle fleet of public institutions, municipalities with electric cars and we are also replacing the old homes in our roads with new low consumption lead bulbs all around central Macedonia and of course we are building waste treatment plants to improve living conditions, so this kind of public works and hundreds of more that I could mention today are happening today in every corner of Europe, however there is a danger if I may say cohesion funds during these last years turned into a critical emergency instrument because of COVID because of all these crisis we have in order to tackle this crisis. We must be very careful though because systematically redirecting resources from the cohesion operation funds and programs will not be a sustainable solution long-term and I really want to urge you all today and especially Commissioner Ferreira who is one of the greatest friends of Europe's regions and cities to defend the original purpose of cohesion policy and to reject any attempts harming the cohesion principle. In other words, and I conclude with this, emergency management should not become the new normal for cohesion policy this must be clear because a lot of regions are lagging behind so if we continue this way having cohesion policy in the center of our policies I am sure that we will be able to get out of this crisis tackle the problems that we have and of course continue on building a strong future for Europe with its regions and cities in a protagonistic role. Thank you. Thank you very much Mr. Costas, a very clear message that was now if all goes well I would like to bring in Carmine Pacente, member of the Milan municipal council in Italy. Mr. Pacente I should say is joining us online from the city council in Milan and before we go to him I need to inform you that a strike action has been called by the interpreters consequently some of the languages might not be available when remote speakers like Mr. Pacente take the floor but all should be clear Mr. Pacente happy to see you there in Milan and I understand you're not alone that the council is with you if I'm not mistaken the floor is yours Mr. Pacente Good afternoon and it's a pleasure and an honor for me to be here of course. Thanks to the European Cohesion Policy and its programs for example the National Operational Programs for Metropolitan Cities here in Italy or the European Social Fund, the European Regional Development Fund but also the Urban Innovative Actions that react to you in Milan in the last programming period 2014 and 2020 we co-financed projects for around 200 million euro urban mobility, social infrastructure social services, urban regeneration but I'd like in few words to focus on one example that in my opinion is really important we co-financed also in our town public showers for homeless people in different public spaces of our urban areas with a budget of around 3 million euro more or less half from the National Operational Program for Metropolitan Cities and on the other end half from ReactU. This is a clear example in my opinion in our opinion that the European Solidarity Inaction also in a rich town in a rich urban area such as for example Milan. As you can imagine clearly, as you can understand clearly it wouldn't be possible without the financial support of the European Cohesion Policy and as you know better than me the social problems the social challenges, the social differences are increasing also in our urban areas also in Milan. So I think that in the next programming period we have to strengthen the urban dimension, the metropolitan dimension of the European Cohesion Policy and here in Milan we have some ideas for working together thank you very much for your attention and greetings from Milan Thank you very much Mr. Patiente and ciao a tutti in Milano. Bye bye. Okay moving on to another level from the city to the regional I would like to invite Marie Antoinette Muppertouille and Ellella, President of the Corsican Assembly of France please do share with us your experiences. Thank you very much. So when we talk about cohesion obviously we can't stop us from thinking about our Ukrainian friends today because the cohesion that we defend here is also the cohesion that will happen very soon, I hope so. So we are millions of Europeans living in regions with geographical and structural handicaps and Europe must be the closest and it is already one of these insular, mountainous, and the cohesion policy of the union is essential for our decontamination and I will give a very concrete example, I will not talk about millions, I will give an example and it is a small Mediterranean trip that we are going to do. The city of Bastia in Corsica is anchored between the sea and the mountain and the circulation is very difficult. We have created thanks to the structural funds of infrastructure both of sustainable mobility, of social mixity and of opening on the European and Mediterranean space. So first, the project ALDI-LONDA, the LONDE FLOW, a passerelle and responsible for 480 meters above the sea which connects the northern regions and southern regions of the city. Obviously it is a fantastic walk for the populations who rely on the peripheral areas in the city centre, on foot or on a bike, who rely on the areas that enchant tourists, an exceptional site. This passerelle, via an elevator, allows you to climb in the citadel where you will discover a great amphitheater in the air, of course, which overflows the Mediterranean the port, of course, and Italy which is very close to the European territorial cooperation. It is a place of culture that welcomes artists from all over the Mediterranean and makes them live in the old citadel. Everything was co-financed by the structural funds and especially by the federation. So I wanted to show you here, with these achievements that Europe invests to create more sustainable links between the neighborhoods, between the cities, between the European regions Basia and the Corses are, thanks to the structural funds at the heart of Europe and the Europe closest to the mountain island. Thank you. So, Commissioner Ferreira and President Cordero still with us. What I hear is that there is a sense of urgency in putting plans into action that the cohesion funds shouldn't be turning into critical emergency funds in reality that solidarity is being put into practice with the most vulnerable among us that urban dimensions of the whole idea of cohesion should be strengthened and we were given a mind travel experience showing that the funds literally forged ties on so many levels and in so many ways. Now, is that also what you retain from what is being said or what is the call to arms that you remember? First of all, I think it's very important that we share what we do and our experiences and what works and what doesn't work because from all these people, from all these regions, from all these cities we have wonderful experiments, things that are tried, things that change the life of people and change the potential for growth of these areas. Two comments. One on what Dear Apostolos mentioned about this need to balance between short term and long term. We are all and I am personally very much aware of this risk and of this challenge of having the new normal is that collision policy is the source of finance for all the emergencies. Having said this for COVID, for the welcoming that was amazing from European regions and citizens of the Ukrainian friends that were fleeing the war and for some elements of the increase in energy prices. If we had not done anything and had been freezing the funds for the long term prospects I think the situation across the different regions of Europe and different countries in a lot of situations would not have hold. What kind of values are we talking about for and you know the possibility to reprogram collision funds to address the needs due to COVID so it was to support running costs in small companies, jobs, ventilators extra work for hospitals. Everything that was of an emergency need, we have invested or reprogrammed 23 billion euros but the half of it was used by all the member states in the first six months so this is quite significant because it was really emergency support for the refugees we reprogrammed again and we reprogrammed the legislative tax so that now we have 3 billion to support these people because I said it before and I want to repeat it the hearts of people are immense. The pockets sometimes are not as big as the hearts so there is this risk of having refugees support fatigue because people cannot hold this kind of effort for too long. Certain regions particularly in the border areas would have collapsed under this inflow so we are talking about 10%, 11% of the overall funds but we are very much aware that we cannot kind of be dispersed by this and it is important to note the role that the committee of the regions and that the European Parliament in particular the Regie committee and the chair Mr. Omadji is here I wanted to receive from this plenary and from the committee of the regions because in fact committee of the regions and Regie committee of the European Parliament because in fact there was unanimity or almost unanimity in all these movements because this was the sense of urgency and if we had not done it the regional problems or the imbalances would have broken Europe convinced of this. Now we have got a new period of support 2021-27 I close. We have signed 22 partnership agreements we'll sign this week the 23rd so we are we have approved the not majority but the high percentage of the operational programs so let's move forward let's protect 2021-27 let's go back to basics at the same time I think we did the right thing by doing what we did and I always think and I want to thank all of you for support but of course it's important that also you tell people what you have done and what together we have done because some people just don't know citizens that this was support of the European Union that kept a lot of the society and a lot of the economy alive because of the lack of oxygen so thank you once again. Thank you Commissioner Ferreira. President Cordero what did you take away? Well I think one of the if I may say so one of the lessons that we can take from the examples that were mentioned here is the richness of cohesion policy. The richness of situations helps cities and regions across Europe to achieve this goal and this leads me to another issue it's very important that we do not fall in the trap of considering that cohesion policy is a policy just for some because everywhere in every region in every urban area city there are some kind of challenges that cohesion policy can help to address. So this is not the policy just directed or mainly directed for the ones that are in a more fragile situation. This is a policy that touches as I told before the very core of the European project and it's useful for everybody for everybody. Third idea I would like to stress is the importance of involving cities and regions in the design of the way cohesion policy addresses those challenges. We will have during this week the presentation of the state a report on the state of regions and cities across Europe and it's interesting that for example in what concerns some of the instruments that were created to deal with the current situation less than 1% less than 1% of the respondents say they feel they were fully involved less than 10% say they were partially involved. This means we have a lot of work to do not only at member state level and it is important to stress that in 1st and this is a responsibility of member states but also from all European institutions to stress that the participation of the local and regional level is not only a question of the interest and responsibility of member states no it's a precondition to have an effective efficient well delivered cohesion policy. You must involve local and regional levels because if not you won't have a cohesion policy that addresses the kind of situations that is intended to deal so it's important that also at European level we stress that we have this policy we have these resources but in the way we deliver this policy it's very, very important to involve local and regional authorities and not only in the interest of local and regional authorities but in the interest of the policy itself in the way it can achieve its goals. Thank you. Thank you. This is only the beginning of the discussion there's days ahead but thank you for all that input and I want to stress again that this event is not taking place only here we are being watched by many, many, many people online and touching here upon some of the topics and angles that the cohesion policy and its impact on cities and regions provide but I'm curious to know what people out there via social media, the internet, Twitter and so on are contributing thinking or commenting on what is happening here and the one to turn to with that kind of questions is Alejandro. Alejandro, what can you tell us? Yes, Annalise, I'm here so I'm here following not only the interventions from our panelists but also the comments and participations from all of those viewers and on-site and online participants so before I give you the results on the first slide or question let me share with you that the hashtag EU regions week has been mentioned already more than 500 times and it's still counting and furthermore our viewers on Twitter voted as green transition the most interesting topic of this year that's also very positive. I want to thank you all for your amazing contributions and interactions but still please stay engaged with us with the hashtag EU regions week. Now going back to our first question on how would you define cohesion policy in one sentence the results show that for everyone who participated cohesion policy reduces inequality in Europe that is the most important and popular answer for now I mean not continuing with the next ones so that won't follow by cohesion policy fosters territorial cooperation was the second most popular and the third one cohesion policy promotes solidarity across Europeans but in the spirit of polling and of course taking into account how important is cohesion in Europe I invite once again all of yours and everyone participating on Slido to answer the next question the next question is how is cohesion policy most supporting your city and region the options are it supports innovation it supports climate action it supports social inclusion it supports young people or it supports the digital agenda once again you can do this through Slido.com or the applications and mobile tablet to computers and you can use the code EU regions week for the second question then I will give the results and my next innovation so back to you on the list for now thank you very much Alejandro and thank you out there all to all of you for participating and taking part in this discussion now in times of crisis and war solidarity it is an empty word apart from generosity it requires effort and courage and vision you will hear in this next segment testimonials of what that means in practice with regard to the pandemic and to the war in Ukraine in particular and as Alejandro said keep feeding us with your ideas with your questions taking part in the Slido survey that is focused on this question about solidarity and it has been mentioned by the commissioner before that is to be forged bottom up now bringing in new guests here on the podium but also on the front row I would like to address Vladislav Ortil president of the Podkarpaki region in Poland a member of the committee of the regions to tell us about your experiences with solidarity please Mr. Chairman, Mr. Commissioner the current effects of the politics of solidarity are not to be underestimated without a doubt this policy has led to the improvement of the economic, social and social solidarity as well as in my country in Poland we also appreciate the help from the initiative Reaktiu expanding the current environment the beneficiaries who carried out the projects really wanted to share the challenge with the help of the members of the committee we really needed a lot at the moment of solidarity of course the European Union, the military budget and also the budget of the state we signed on the help of the members of the committee whether medical or psychological we are a border region hence the needs in this region are and were huge the military government signed these funds for the creation of housing for the citizens of Ukraine this is such a future action in four main masses of the region such houses will be created the next important project which we carry out from the initiative Reaktiu is the creation of the Podkarpaki center integration for the citizens of Ukraine now we are going to deal with two problems housing, inflation, economic problems and of course also with the problems associated with the war the war is going on so this joint solidarity has a new price and new challenges I would like to share with you the appeal to increase the available resources within the political community especially when it comes to peripheral regions regions that are poorly developed or border with Ukraine I remind you that the goals of the political community in the summer of 2021-2027 were formulated in a completely different geopolitical reality before the aggression of Putin's Russia to Ukraine I want to show you just one thing it is a bit difficult because it has far-reaching consequences trans-border programs which we have at the moment for example here is the internext program of the Polish-Ukrainian and the quantity of this program after the exclusion of Russia and Belarus with this trans-border help has decreased and the challenge has arrived in the time when it was created and millions of people who are still on the border to Poland, other countries, Europe and they have made us that on the border of the European Union we need more border of better quality of these transitions Dear Ladies and Gentlemen I would like to say that the political community is the foundation of the development of the European Union but in order to increase its participation in the development of the region and of course it has to look at the aggression of Putin's Russia to Ukraine the inflation problems economic, energy and of course social Thank you very much Mr. Ortin and on stage in the meantime you can make the acquaintance of three young elected politicians who will also address you Let's start with Karina Miquelsone Deputy Mayor of Adagia in Latvia The floor is yours Today we all participate in the work of Ukraine Ukraine's with weapons we with energy challenges my municipality have tens of the less previous price At the same time in solidarity there is a deep phase that we will achieve a common victory Each of us helps Ukraine as much as possible Our municipality solidarity welcome Ukraine refugees all in our inhabitant homes municipality of Adagia is strengthening cooperation with municipality of Slobozhansk in Ukraine a partnership memorandum with this aim not only classic cooperation but also support with experience in preparing for admission in the European Union After the war it will be important for Ukrainians not only rebuild the destroyed infrastructure but most and also to rise democracy to new level in its independent country Today from our friends in Ukraine we feel they already in process of transformation it start with a change of traditions in administration on municipal and next on state level we Latvians know how hard and full of challenge is this path to democracy we joined to European Union in 2004 Latvians know how important is support and understanding of partners when preparing for administration to European Union we, Adagia, Latvians are ready to support Slobozhansk, Ukraine in this process and share our experience Thank you very much Thank you very much Ms. Mikkelsen Moving on to Sofia Seydouk local councillor of Anderlecht here in Belgium not far from here in fact and also member as I said of the young elected politicians program the Flores Yards Thank you very much to welcome us as young elected I think it is also important to hear from you The social policies to be able to translate the concept of solidarity in concrete action for our generations but also for future generations and these policies will also allow to take into account those who are currently and those who will be more affected by the effects of the crisis and in particular the environmental crisis which touches outside of all the we already talked about in the afternoon and when I say the most vulnerable or at least the most affected I think precisely in vulnerable people and therefore the young and to exemplify you in 2019, the federal and German constitutional court has stated that our generation should not be allowed to consume a large part of the budget of the CO2 without considerably reducing its printing especially if it increases the choice to drastically reduce their own consumption to face climate change and on this subject one of the objectives of the European Fund of Regional Development, the federal is to devote 30% of its budget to measures of support to European climate objectives a second objective is not to support precisely the actions that respect the principle of non-nuisance today, some politicians would like to redress the ambition of Europe the ambition to make Europe climatically neutral until 2050 precisely because of the different crises that we currently know and this, yes, I would really think is to the detriment of all these of my generation but also of the future and it would not be a good signal in terms of social cohesion and in terms of solidarity for the whole of the Europeans this message there is really important to be able to invest much more more in the case in the environmental and social transition which is just for all and for all and it will allow our children your children, your little children to just enjoy the beauty of our planet Thank you very much Sofia, it's Duke and now the floor is yours Thank you very much I'm not just here as a local leader but as a woman and I am ringing in this perspective of the upcoming winter in the energy crisis so what I see, we were talking about energy power of households and now we're talking about energy power of local municipalities and cities and what I see as cities are considering to dim street lights or cut street lights considering to have a longer winter break for nurseries, for schools we see cutting public transport we see closing or considering closing elderly day care how will this affect us if I look at street light women and men have a very very different perception of safety when it comes to darkness if cities will cut street lights in the night or close in women if I look at closing kindergartens and nurseries we've seen that in the COVID pandemic this will put a heavy burden on women's shorter if I look at public transport cutting who are the main users of public transport it's women if I look at elderly day care how will we see the most vulnerable population it's mostly women so what I see, if we don't change about our decisions who will be affected women will carry a much heavier burden this winter due to the energy crisis and due to our decisions so I'm not turning to Elizabeth Herrera I'm turning to my fellow mayors and local decision makers to always have this perspective in mind when deciding thank you thank you very much and last but not least for this section I would like to thank our councillor of Asnier in France and also a member as I mentioned of the young elected politicians program what do you want to share with us? Madame la présidente du parlement européen Monsieur le président du comité européen des régions, Madame la commissaire Mesdames et messieurs les élus chers collègues et amis l'Europe se fera dans les crises et elle sera la somme des solutions qui leur seront apportées ces mots de Jean Monnet le défi climatique d'abord représente probablement l'un des enjeux majeurs auquel l'Union européenne devra faire face dans les prochaines années face à l'accélération du réchauffement climatique, face à la multiplication des catastrophes naturelles la réponse individuelle des États n'est aujourd'hui plus suffisante ma génération réclame une action collective et rapide pour l'environnement c'est l'objectif du pact vert qui ambitionne la neutralité carbone de l'Union d'ici 2050 la récente dans ma région a d'ailleurs été l'achat grâce à l'Europe de plus de 300 nouveaux bus propres pour moderniser les mobilités le défi sanitaire ensuite auquel nous avons tous dû faire face ces 2 dernières années a montré l'importance de co-construire une réponse européenne de la santé une réponse commune et solidaire qui s'est illustrée par des commandes mutualisées par l'entraide hospitalière entre les régions ou encore dans ma région par l'aide européenne à l'achat de la vaccination enfin, évidemment une attention particulière doit être portée sur les jeunes générations et c'est d'ailleurs l'enjeu de cette année 2022 dédié à la jeunesse rien n'est possible, aucun défi n'est surmontable si l'Europe n'est pas capable d'assurer son avenir et sa cohésion il ne saurait y avoir d'Europe sans européen pour que les jeunes aiment l'Europe ils doivent apprendre son histoire pour leur être utile très concrètement, c'est en partie grâce à l'Europe que nous avons pu fournir, avec le conseil regional d'Ile-de-France, un ordinateur à tous les lycéens c'est aussi pour renforcer le sentiment d'appartenance à l'Europe que dans ma ville à anir sur scène nous faisons découvrir aux jeunes les institutions européennes l'Europe doit continuer à investir sur sa jeunesse pour conclure, je dirais que mon propos aujourd'hui est autant un témoignage qu'une invitation pour l'Europe avec nos institutions locales, nationales et européennes travaillons dés aujourd'hui pour bâtir ensemble une Europe prospère, ambitieuse et surtout tourner vers l'avenir je vous remercie Merci beaucoup So when I come back to you President Vasco Alves Cordero and Commissioner Elisa Ferreira what I hear is that the youngest I think among us are passionately the importance of climate change and environmental policies also in the context of the cohesion policy combined with a social angle of course we were alerted to the fact that we shouldn't or Europe shouldn't lose the perspective of women out of sight nor a young person's perspective and bear it in mind and I remember the express solidarity from Poland and Latvia both countries with a special relationship if I may say it's our history rather with our eastern neighbour and in that regard closing or keeping ties with Ukraine quite close in practical terms and with an eye on the future but the question is of course what do you remember from what these people say and where do you feel yes we should take this to heart and do something with it Yes I think I think this kind of testimonies are essential because this is a cohesion policy in practice in reality in fact I on Ukrainian refugees I was absolutely I mean moved and it was very emotional and to see what Polish people and others across Europe are doing in relation to this incredible effort to welcome refugees I was in Chechov and we saw I mean and we met there so I was there I saw it and in fact what we are doing now and the European Parliament already voted fast care the council is going to vote it I hope very soon in a couple of days or just voted I don't know is exactly the agenda of the council but in fact there is reinforcement of the possibility to reprogram funds in this proposal 30% of what is reprogramming reprogrammed namely from the European Parliament and the European Parliament because the European Parliament fund has got to be redirected to local entities to actors to NGOs to municipalities to people on the ground and we are prolonging this possibility that companies doubling the period on which refugee can be supported without invoices to support these people so we are reinforcing this agenda but it is also important that internally the member states organize themselves in a way to be able to redirect to the ones that really bear the cost and often it is at the local and regional and civil society level that the heaviest burden is felt on climate I think it is important and one of the speakers I don't know who mentioned it but there is in fact the best way to combine an emergency with structural is in fact when we invest and we are asking for an investment of a minimum of 30% of the funds in climate and environment related investments so when I just came from Romania I visited a hospital this hospital just by refitting the building that was a very old building they estimate they are saving and putting solar panels and heat pumps they are they saved immediately in their bill between 30 and 40% of their energy bill so if we think that we can support this kind of actions in all the public buildings in affordable housing in private houses we can and this is a win-win because we save we don't have to import also the effort to do renewables we are insisting a lot on that and we are doing a lot of that so this is this kind of win-win and of course we are asking for make sure that you don't harm environment but also that we don't harm cohesion when we invest so these are two basic lines the third point I would like to address is what was mentioned about our representative also from Poland saying look what is happening when you do any measure make sure you understand who is suffering from it you are very very right to name women but I would add to it look also at elderly people that are retired sometimes they are in rural areas they don't have access to access to digital I mean look also at young people they are suffering a lot so we have got to look at the diversity of situations and be aware of them also from a regional perspective we saw examples from urban areas and the president was saying okay we have got to adapt the policies so that we have a sense of proportionality because we have areas urban areas that are using the funds for most intelligent things artificial intelligence fantastic things but we still have regions in Europe where you don't have running water and where you don't have sewage and children don't go to school so we have got to adapt the policy in a proportionate way to the level of challenges that each sub-region in Europe is facing and be sufficiently flexible and we have got to have at the regional level a sufficient capacity technical and political to prepare to organize and to use the funds in the way that we need them to be used so diversity recognizing diversity adjusting to diversity bottom-up partnership these are the ingredients that we want to keep together with awareness of horizontal policies and of the RRP to the spatial impacts because no horizontal policy has the same impact across different regions and this is the lesson I take also from you thank you President Cordero would you like to add? of course you can first I think those are more examples that stress the importance of cohesion funds to address the challenges that were mentioned here some of those challenges are emergencies and I would like to address one of the ideas that was already mentioned here before that we cannot we must be very careful because the risk is to consider that cohesion policy is the money pot where you can have money at hand to address those emergencies first and secondly to address them in some cases that in a way that is not structural for example about the energy prices the temptation is high to use funds to address this challenge but we must stress the importance at least from the point of view to have a structured approach that favors more energy transition favors more creating the conditions that after this emergency we have a completely different landscape more prepared to face other emergencies than the one we have today third stressing the importance of cohesion policy starts not with the european institutions starts with with us local and regional authorities and I think there is a good margin of progression or of improvement for promoting cohesion policy that is one of our communities to say it in another way to make citizens the main defenders of cohesion policy because when citizens are aware that in health in qualification in accessibility and in so many areas the difference or the improvements in their condition comes not from other source than european funds or european decisions they will become alongside with the institutions the local and regional authorities they will become one of the main defenders of cohesion policy and in this specific area I am convinced that we all local and regional authorities have a big margin of improving and promoting cohesion policy thank you Mr Cordeiro for a ambitious goal set out there something to be discussed among you in the following days thank you very much I want to bring in you again Alejandro because what are you doing on social media? I can tell you that we have more than 800 mentions 300 more than the previous intervention and that's using the hashtag EU regions week and for the second question on how is cohesion policy most supporting your city and region the most popular answer is it supports social inclusion now for one last time one last question so this is the one that maybe could be more open for everyone if there is one thing we could improve about cohesion policy in the future what would it be? so once again on slido.com applications on your socials sorry application on your mobile phone the tablet or your computer and using the code EU regions week for now that's everything I got and let me ask you isn't this an incredible opening of the week of regions NCCS in its 20th anniversary yes Alejandro for sure this kickoff meeting of minds provides participants with lots of food for thought in the next couple of days so far we've been looking back on what the EU's cohesion policy made possible to begin with we've discussed what difference it makes here and now in practice at a time of crisis of war as well in this next third last session will address the future and think about what cohesion policy might or should mean unity in diversity is a very noble goal but how does one put it into practice the 8th cohesion report that has been mentioned before gives an overview of the variety of differences that exist between regions and cities on many many different levels it highlights the challenges embedded in the idea of cohesion in and of the EU at large the final version of the report came out however just before the beginning of the war in Ukraine which of course added extra dimensions, extra fissures also to the mix since the question arises where do we go from here what does cohesion mean after 2027 how can it be reinforced across all EU policies what are the pitfalls what are the possible conflict zones opportunities and priorities how does it take shape more efficiently and more effectively of course those are questions that will be hotly debated and shaped in the next couple of days of this week but to kick off that debate here and now we will hear from a couple of key players and the first I'd like to invite to share his ideas this is Yunus Omarji chair of the Committee of Regional Development at the European Parliament welcome to you and the floor is yours Mr. Omarji thank you very much next to the president I would like to welcome to all members of the Committee of Regional Development Salute the commissioner Elisa Ferreira and highlight the excellent cooperation that exists between the Committee of Regional Development and the Committee of Regional Development and we are mobilized to the same objectives and I believe that this unity of the European institutions European Council also European Commission and European Parliament in this time of crisis is extremely precious secondly I want to remind that the policy of cohesion is a policy born by the solidarity of the member states and for solidarity and in this time of crisis and in particular during the COVID pandemic and today during the war we understand very well that Europe can die by lack of solidarity and by lack of cohesion and more than ever therefore we need a strong policy of cohesion and more than ever we are aware that cohesion is a great policy very reactive in the face of the crisis nobody here I believe will put back what we have accomplished during the COVID pandemic and of course I understand this dichotomy between emergency response and long-term policy that our policy is a great policy of long-term but understand that it is not possible to maintain the great objectives of a long-term policy if we do not fix the emergency questions and if we are not at the meeting of the crisis that is present in front of us and we have been and we are today during the war of Ukraine the war of Ukraine is one of the biggest movement of population since the Second World War and it was the responsibility of the European Union and our policy of cohesion to help both the Ukrainian refugees but also in the regions and cities to take the welcome of these refugees and then today are of course multiple impacts that are completely vertiginous and that are fighting in a very fast time and there too I believe that the good dialogue between the European Commission and the Regi Commission will allow in the weeks to come a certain number of responses to come in help to the most vulnerable families but also and above all to the collective regions and communities who have difficulties to pay their energy bills and then to come in help to small companies who are in a moment of great fragility of great insecurity and if we do not take immediate measures for small companies then there will be an epidemic of closing companies and an aggravation of unemployment in this context we keep long-term objectives but I want to mention a very important question for the Regi Commission which has not been mentioned it is the question of natural disasters these natural disasters today have become a permanent gift they are a factor of destabilization of all regional politics and we have to engage much more again for a real European strategy of adaptation to global warming with the means in the regions in the communities to think about the future thank you very much thank you Mr. Omar Emil Boc I would like to invite you to address the audience your chair of the Court of Commission European Committee of the Regions and Mayor of Cluj-Napoca am I pronouncing it correctly Bonjour à tous I will start putting in this way the future of cohesion policy is the future of the European Union and from my perspective the cost of no cohesion is the cost of no Europe as Commissioner Ferreira said the single market cannot alone assure a balanced development of Europe we need cohesion policy to make a balanced Europe a balanced development and to be sure that we have a win-win situation in every corner of the European Union so if you are going to talk about the future of Europe definitely we have to talk about the future of the cohesion policy the second element would be that the cohesion policy is not a technicality it's a very political principle of our treaties and of our union because we cannot assure the implementation of the principles from the treaties if we do not emphasize the importance of the cohesion policy the third element we have to avoid in the future the fragmentation of the cohesion policy it's a must from my perspective in order to achieve the real aim of the cohesion policy is one of the oldest policy of the European Union and it's making the difference in every corner of our Europe we have been discussing with Commissioner Ferreira in the morning and she mentioned look for Latin America for example the cohesion policy the cohesion policy is one of the difference which is making the difference in our world so we have to keep our cohesion policy if we want to keep a very competitive Europe and the quality of life in every corner of the European Union the fourth element is that in very moment we are a little bit late 2021-2027 so we are eager to work together for simplification of the cohesion policy and for the future of Europe thank you thank you and next up is Radim Shren Radim Shren Radim Shren Radim Shren Radim Shren Radim Shren Radim Shren Radim Shren Radim Shren if mayor of the municipality of Dorni Sudenki and deputy minister of regional development in the Czech Republic the floor is yours good afternoon, it's a great pleasure for me to represent this whole honourable forum Rulerias as a proud citizen of Rulerias as a proud mayor of Rulerias and we all know that Europe starts in Rulerias because we where we go to Europe we come through Rulerias we also know that the eighth cohesion report shows that the Rulerias are left behind and we all know that those crisis we have been facing made Rulerias even more vulnerable but on the other hand I believe that every crisis brings opportunity and now I feel that we have a great opportunity for the transformation of Rulerias and the Rulerievival but we need to do for that first of all we need a new kind of approach to the Rulerias development policies because the Rulerias need to be approached across all the funds, all the policies all the instruments we do have secondly we do need to make the Rulerias as a part of regional development interconnected to urban development we need much more to foster the rural urban linkages thirdly we need much more to use integrated place based approach because we have data we have evidence based policies we can tailor make solution for each and every area in Europe and we should use also innovative instruments like community level development rural proofing or smart villages for example so to sum it up if we really want to use this opportunity for transformation and Rulerievival we must use those instruments and then I think our dream and our visions we have on the European level will come through and we can move the Rulerias by 20 years, thank you thank you and again last but not least a young elected politician Ilaria Capano welcome to you member of the city council of Scandicci in Italy what do you want to share with us well thank you as a young elected politician I believe that our cohesion policies should now more than ever especially after the pandemic prioritize digital innovation some progress has been made however not enough across all European regions there remain issues like guarantee equal access to internet updating worker skills and digitalization of businesses therefore it is essential to develop for better digital infrastructure for increased connectivity between people, workers and businesses leading to smarter regions we must continue to invest in high speed networks and 5G coverage across Europe because greater connectivity is a necessary condition to create smarter cities and improving our lives in education at all levels from primary school to university at work for private users and businesses making it easier to adhere to bureaucracy and let me add if I may as president of the equal gender commission in my council as a young woman that a successful cohesion policy should also lead to a more cohesive society at the micro level European union funds should push for a greater gender equality and guarantee equal pay for women not only between women and men who undertake the same tasks skills and studies but also between women from different European regions and transparency is the most efficient tool to tackle the gender pay gap I think like investment or incentive for promoting the risk-killing of women for new jobs on promoting the right to work remotely for new parents because and I conclude two years of COVID that digital access in our interconnected world is fundamentally important and we young Europeans cannot be unprepared for this challenge. Thank you very much Ilaria Capano so a lot of talking points again natural catastrophes should be taking into account importance of cohesion the urban rural divides should be diminished and also gender equality should be top of mind as well as the digital transition should be speeded up is what I understand is being said here among many other things Alejandro how are you up there by now I think you must have the answers to your slide though on the future of the cohesion policy am I right? That's right and sadly we have come to an end but not before I give you the results of our last question if there is one thing we could improve about cohesion policy in the future what would it be? The most popular answer is simplification now before I say goodbye I just want to say thank you to everyone who was involved in the preparation of the week of regions and cities to your participants to our guests to everyone in here and I wish you all a wonderful day this is bye for me and Annalis what a pleasure working with you till next time bye bye Bye bye Alejandro thank you very much and me too I liked working together we've come to the end almost the end don't go anywhere yet just yet hold on as I said much food for thought has been provided has been shared many questions have been raised lots of angles for discussions have been offered here for the next couple of days to round off this session however I would like to invite the distinguished high level guests here on the podium still with us thank you for that to share your final remarks on what has been said here and also before anything else I want to thank everyone who has spoken today for sticking to the timetable you've made my work very easy so thank you for that but final words let me start with you What do you think is of the essence of what has been said so far First of all I want to tell you that I am very impressed by this plenary of the European Parliament and the regional committee which has been mobilized for the policy of cohesion for its defence and for its promotion and we have a battle the battle that we all lead here together which concerns the future of the policy of cohesion and each one and each one of you are ambassadors for military everywhere in your region everywhere in your member states everywhere in European institutions so that we keep a policy of cohesion big and a policy of cohesion strong because all the debates have shown that more than ever we need a big policy of cohesion to continue to reduce the territorial fractures at the scale of the European Union because our policy of cohesion concretises the fulfilment of the European Union concretises the fulfilment of the promise to the European Union so continue to reduce the territorial fractures and then of course to be able to project the whole region of Europe the whole of Europe to the new challenges that are waiting for us the digitization of the economy we have talked about the Europe much more green climatic in short, a Europe turned towards the challenges of the 21st century and we need a lobby and this lobby is in front of us it is that of the alliance for cohesion promised by the regional committee and I think the European Commission European Parliament we will have a program in 2027 that I hope will be ambitious thank you very much Commissioner Elisa Ferreira your final words on this please well first of all thank you to everybody that is so engaged and I think this was very important and very very useful session of work because we understand that we are really united for a certain objective and this objective solidarity and cohesion secondly maybe some figures I don't like to quote figures but maybe some figures will help you to have a broad aggregated view of for instance what the period of cohesion that is now finishing is delivering with 2014-20 1.4 million small companies were supported it can be in capital in special loans in assistance this means that more than 230,000 jobs were created in those enterprises when we talked about climate support has together with the national counterpart reduced the equivalent to 4.4 million tons of CO2 so this is quite significant and answering Ilaria 5.5 million additional households were able to have broadband and 22 million people benefited from improved health services so this gives you a dimension of what we are doing but I don't like these broad figures because they have to materialize in the right and adequate policies at the level of each region at the level of each municipality and this is the secret of the whole thing is to adapt to come from the general view into the place based adapting to the realities I'm very very happy to see so many young politicians in charge because we need their energy we need their vision I mean our generation has done what we could some things we did right some things we did wrong but now it's up to them to bring forward and we have to look very carefully at the situation of young people at the situation of women at the situation of elderly and at the situation of children because children went through a very traumatic period some of them were dropped into poverty and when you have a poverty situation as a child it will affect you throughout your own life so this is also to be taken care of and also in the sense of proportionality the role of cities the role of rural areas the role of peripheral areas the role of violence the role of ultra-peripheral areas so regions in transition in industrial or other transition and each requires a mix of policies that need to be developed through the technical and political capacity and knowledge of the leaders but because we are aware of these difficulties and of the margin of for improvement we are starting from commission and DG Regio in particular open discussion of how we can improve regional policy we are starting this, we'll have a kind of a think tank a very small think tank but there will be moments to listen to all of you and to get much more than this and I thank you for this overall impressions ok we need simplification what exactly does that mean where are the bottlenecks we need more efficient policy how to do it so we are opening this discussion in the follow up of the 8th commission report and bearing in mind everything that we have been discussing here we hope to be able to develop this work, this reflection throughout 2023 to have by the end of 2023 kind of summing up to be offered to all of us so that we can make the best of taxpayers money dedicated to this European glue that keeps us together and going so thank you very much once again. Thank you and last final word is for you President Cordero but what I hear from the commissioner is reaching out to all of you working together for better, even better policies you must be happy to hear that Ayman? Yes yes very happy but in my final remarks I would like to start by thanking the speakers and thanking everybody that made this session possible and makes this week possible from the European Commission from the Committee of the Regions to the European Parliament the second message I would like is in a very maybe in a very specific way but I think it's very very important Commissioner Ferreira introduced do no harm to cohesion principle I think this needs to start being implemented now so it's very simple this territorial approach to a lot of European policy should be something that needs to be implemented needs to be considered right now third about the future and some of the ideas that Commissioner Ferreira left and some of the ideas that we are working we the Committee of the Regions is and I think Commissioner Ferreira knows that very very well we are eager and interested in being part in all the efforts that can lead to discussion and a debate about the future of cohesion policy but the future of cohesion policy starts now and I think it's very very important to be aware that this debate and this discussion is already in place is already taking place on Wednesday I will have the opportunity as President of the Committee of the Regions to announce the launching of a new cohesion alliance for new challenges that specifically wants to address the importance of this moment and the importance of raising the awareness of cohesion policy wills mobilizing protagonists for this fight in favor of cohesion policy but I think we should be all aware that we cannot take the risk of preaching to the converted it's very important that this discussion goes out of the Committee of the Region of the European Parliament goes out of the European Commission because as we've seen today I don't think the need to convince anyone of the importance of the cohesion policy lies here in the session or in the organizations that make part of the session the need to convince others of the importance of the cohesion policy lies for example in national governments in the public that needs to see that speaking of cohesion policy is speaking about Europe itself but I think we will succeed I think everybody here is mobilized and eager to convince others that are not still convinced that cohesion policy equals this European dream equals this European ambition it's the way to achieve it and it's not a question of conviction of believing it's a question of looking to proves looking at evidence looking of what European cohesion policy has already achieved and thinking of how much more it can achieve considering the current challenges we are facing and I would like to conclude with this word of confidence of profound conviction that we are in the right track of history in the right track of fulfilling our founding fathers dream of the future of the world and unite in diversity and the way to do that is through cohesion policy thank you so I would like to thank indeed Reggie chair Eunice Amargi commissioner Lisa Fajereira and co-president Vasco Cordero thank you very much for helping starting this discussion to the end of what's happening here this plenary session in the European parliament for here and now but as I said it's only the beginning really for all of you for the discussions and the debates during the EU regions week from me I can only say that I wish fruitful discussions and exchanges thank you for being here joining in and goodbye