Opinion of the European Committee of the Regions – The renewal of the Leipzig Charter on Sustainable European Cities
Date: 2020-10-14
Institutions: Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy and EU Budget, European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: EU regional policy, regional development, sustainable development, town, town planning








C_2020440EN.01011901.xml










18.12.2020   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 440/119






Opinion of the European Committee of the Regions – The renewal of the Leipzig Charter on Sustainable European Cities
(2020/C 440/20)












Rapporteur:



Juan ESPADAS CEJAS (ES/PES)









POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

From the Pact of Amsterdam towards a renewed Leipzig Charter









1.


notes the intrinsically different nature of European cooperation when it comes to urban issues: on the one hand, there is the renewed Leipzig Charter, which is directly related to national urban policies and will require greater political coordination at national, regional and local levels; on the other, the supranational dimension of the Urban Agenda for the EU, which has proven to be an innovative multilevel governance tool and helps involve cities in European policies;












2.


welcomes the idea of renewing the Leipzig Charter during the German EU presidency in the second half of 2020, and supports the inclusive working method launched by the German government in order to involve as many actors as possible;












3.


recalls that the Bucharest Declaration adopted by the ministers in charge of urban matters on 14 June 2019, recognised the need ‘to develop a functional relationship between the New Leipzig Charter and the Urban Agenda for the EU, and the Territorial Agenda 2020+’;












4.


calls on the European Commission, in this regard, to show greater political commitment to the Urban Agenda for the EU and to incorporate it into its flagship initiatives, such as the Green Deal and digital initiatives. In order to implement the Green Deal, concrete actions will need to be strengthened in partnership with the local level, combining top-down approaches with key bottom-up approaches with a view to achieving targets year-by-year until 2050;












5.


calls on the European Commission to establish a much closer link between its future Better Regulation Agenda and the Urban Agenda for the EU, so that the recommendations issued by urban partnerships are taken into account. To this end, territorial and urban impact assessments should be directly integrated into pre-legislative consultation mechanisms as well as forming part of the evaluation of European policies and administrative simplification (REFIT);












6.


recalls the necessity to adapt the European Semester to better reflect the challenges for cities. The country-specific recommendations, together with Cohesion Policy, will be the main implementation tools for the Green Deal; the specific issues of urban areas such as affordable housing, growing inequalities and long term investments must therefore be reflected at the level of coordination of economic policies across the European Union and the strategies for smart specialisation, integrated urban development and for just transition should be harmonised at regional or local level by means of territorial tools like integrated territorial investment strategies;












7.


calls on the European Commission to develop the concept of ‘active subsidiarity’ as an additional step in the process of strengthening dialogue with cities, as well as with metropolitan areas and regions, and linking the Urban Agenda for the EU with the Better Regulation Agenda. In this regard, synergies with the European Committee of the Regions’ Network of Regional Hubs (RegHubs) should be strengthened;












8.


supports the European Parliament’s declaration of a climate emergency and recognises that achieving carbon neutrality demands a collective effort and specific measures at local level, where cities play a key role. 75 % of Europe’s population lives in cities and some 70 % of CO2 emissions in Europe come from cities. Cities are part of the problem, but a renewed Leipzig Charter should acknowledge cities’ capacity as motors for change and as active players in implementing solutions to the global challenges of the 21st century;












9.


considers that the renewed Leipzig Charter should be seen as a political opportunity, enabling cities to act as a benchmark for the practical implementation of various urban policies in all Member States, and thus helping to strengthen the credibility of the European project from the point of view of the people that are closest to it. The renewed Charter must also lead to monitoring of the Urban Agenda for the EU, as established by the Pact of Amsterdam (2016) and both must be part of the process of implementing the 2030 Agenda in local government in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this respect, local and regional authorities in the European Union are faced with a range of new, global challenges that can only be tackled through an integrated and multi-level approach, and EU support provides indispensable added value. To this end, the principles of the Leipzig Charter must be included in the Council conclusions of the German Presidency of the EU (second half of 2020), which will be adopted by the General Affairs Council and the European Council. The Leipzig Charter itself must be endorsed by the Member States, the cities and the European Committee of the Regions;





The transformative power of European cities to fast-track the 2050 targets









10.


points out that a proper balance must be ensured between the three proposed dimensions for European cities: increasing productivity and wealth and employment creation in cities and their regions, distributing this wealth more fairly among citizens, while at the same time improving the quality of our environment and taking advantage of the opportunities provided by urban living;












11.


considers it important to promote the work carried out by the various urban partnerships and to build bridges between the current Urban Agenda for the EU and the future renewed Leipzig Charter; Examples of this are the work carried out by partnerships such as the Urban Academy on Integration, or the Committee of the Regions’ ‘Cities and Regions for Integration’ initiative, which provides a platform for EU mayors and regional presidents who want to highlight best practices;












12.


recalls that regions and cities are at the forefront when it comes to welcoming and integrating migrants and refugees in Europe. Therefore, the CoR asks that the new European Urban Initiative proposed by the European Commission provide sufficient funding to support the partnership ‘Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees’ and the CoR initiative ‘Cities and regions for integration’ and make a difference for Europeans in their cities;












13.


considers that, in order to achieve the goals set by the Paris Agreements and the Covenant of Mayors on climate change, one of the main objectives of the renewed Leipzig Charter should be to promote innovative mobility, by combining the use of private electric vehicles in cities with encouraging an alternative, multi-modal, low-emission form of mobility based on sustainable public transport like biking and walking, together with both sustainable land-use policies that seek to contain urban growth, and sustainable energy efficiency improvement of the European housing stock;












14.


considers still of the utmost importance that the European Commission, through the Urban Agenda, and the Member States, through the Leipzig Charter, support, with financial incentives, the development of sustainable urban mobility plans as the CoR already requested in 2010 in its opinion on an Action plan on urban mobility;












15.


similarly, it is necessary to consider the important topic of the energetic rehabilitation of the housing stock, together with the network of business and industrial workplaces and buildings;












16.


reiterates its request for an action plan at European level in favour of affordable housing in Europe;












17.


considers that efforts to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals in urban areas provide a strategic framework for improving the quality of people’s lives, which must be taken into account by cities and regions when developing their policies. Cities, as the administrative layer closest to the public, implement policies that affect the social conditions of urban areas and are key to improving compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goal 11, which is focused on cities, and Goal 17, which advocates alliances between governments, the private sector and civil society;












18.


notes that waste management and integral management of the water cycle, management of emissions and industrial waste, reduction of consumption and better energy exploitation, together with the production of clean, zero-carbon energy, management of the impact of extreme weather events, development of green corridors and promotion of biodiversity are key to improving the sustainable development of urban areas. The promotion of the circular economy must be driven by local administration in order to transform our production model and generate new green jobs that support the paradigm shift that will lead us to the city of the future. This paradigm shift cannot happen without training programmes at local and regional level to adapt jobs to the green transition;












19.


considers that boosting biodiversity and reintroducing nature to urban spaces by means of green infrastructure and nature-based solutions, thereby fostering ecological connectivity and landscape quality both within cities themselves and between cities and their immediate surroundings, is crucial to coping with some of the alterations and impacts generated by global change;












20.


stresses the importance of promoting inclusive cities that take into account the fight against social inequalities, the digital divide, the current ageing of the European population and demographic changes such as depopulation in some areas. This inclusive dimension must also incorporate actions aimed at improving access to affordable housing, ensuring universal accessibility, fighting energy poverty, effectively integrating migrants into the host population, and reconciling the mobility of people, especially young people, between Member States with the creation of career development opportunities in countries with lower per capita income. It must also ensure access to a health protection and care system and to a system of guaranteed nutrition, including water supply and sanitation, which are basic needs of the entire population. These systems must take account of the circumstances of each individual or group with regard to the ability to meet the costs entailed;





Principles underpinning the renewed Leipzig Charter









21.


agrees with the following operating principles for the renewed Leipzig Charter: integrated approach; place-based approach; and multi-level governance and participation and co-creation. They all relate to the principles guiding the EU’s cohesion policy;












22.


points out that it is crucial for the future Leipzig Charter to be familiar to cities and municipalities across the European Union and for its principles to define the general framework for national, regional and local urban policies and strategies, as well as the corresponding European initiatives, in particular those with funding that could be set up ex novo within the framework of the Green Deal;












23.


while acknowledging the flexibility needed to tailor the objectives of the Urban Agenda for the EU to the realities of each territory, supports the proposal to take action at neighbourhood scale, as this could be an appropriate way of addressing global challenges from the local level. However, each level of governance should take on its share of responsibility and competence in relation to urban challenges (air quality, housing, digitalisation, financing instruments), in full respect of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality;












24.


agrees that functional urban areas or metropolitan areas are recognised in the renewed Leipzig Charter as spaces that contribute to implementing an integrated territorial approach and achieving a balanced territorial development that is consistent with EU strategies. Recommends acknowledging functional urban areas and metropolitan areas that have their own institutional framework as well as those that have used cohesion policy to boost working dynamics at metropolitan level as the CoR mentioned in 2019 in its opinion on The challenges of metropolitan regions and their position in the future cohesion policy post-2020;












25.


likewise agrees with the principle of participation and co-creation and calls for the renewed Leipzig Charter to take account of the different types of urban settlement, respecting the cultural and administrative context and particular powers of each Member State. Moreover, it is crucial that the renewed Leipzig Charter ensures that citizens can take part in framing and evaluating urban policies that affect them, including citizens living in the hinterland of urban or metropolitan areas;





Empowering cities to address global challenges









26.


indicates that 2020 has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Cities and regions have had to serve as bulwarks against the health crisis, which has now become a social and economic crisis. In consequence, cities and regions must be at the heart of managing the recovery fund, and they need greater European financial support so they can continue to show that they are finding solutions to the problems caused by the pandemic;












27.


calls for an ambitious and practical roadmap to be put forward enabling cities to implement the renewed Leipzig Charter, as well as for local urban agendas to be used within the framework of the SDGs, particularly in relation to the 6 % ERDF reserve earmarked for integrated sustainable urban development (ISUDS). In addition, the European Structural and Investment Funds should finance the implementation of the SDGs by cities and regional governments at the local level, in particular with regard to sustainable mobility and public transport policies, as well as renovating buildings to combat energy poverty, ensuring universal accessibility, countering social vulnerability and promoting social inclusion in disadvantaged parts of any urban areas. Local authorities must be able to manage the funds allocated to states and regions more quickly and directly. Boosting training efforts in conjunction with the academic world and the business sector is a precondition for achieving this goal;












28.


calls on the European Commission to develop a new common frame of reference with shared terminology, indicators and methodology that can facilitate coordination between administrations, mutual learning and benchmarking between territories, with a view to following up on investments and achievements by the numerous national, regional and local urban agendas. Likewise, cities should be involved in preparing the budgets for their development;












29.


calls on the European Commission to take into account the fact that the ambitious social and ecological transformation policies that are advocated by the Green Deal should be prioritised and implemented by means of concrete actions in urban and regional areas, so that the associated investments do not count towards the public deficit of the Member States and are not subject to constraints regarding the ceiling for expenditure imposed by the Member States on local government within the budgetary stability and deficit control programmes currently in force;












30.


welcomes the recognition in the renewed charter of the essential role played by urban spatial planning in order to achieve sustainable urban development and especially the focus on the reduction of land-take, mixity of functions for new forms of production, diversification of production and new forms of living, affordable housing, and the use of public land-use policies;












31.


believes that digital transformation should lead to better ‘digital cohesion’ in Europe, both for its citizens and for its territories. We need to shift the perspective from a technology-dominated approach towards a more citizen-centred approach, as set out in the Declaration ‘JOIN, BOOST, SUSTAIN: join forces to boost sustainable digital transformation in cities and communities in the EU’. We need to move towards a more holistic conception of the digital city where digital innovation is a means and not an aim driven by the entrepreneurial capacity of the public sector and by private companies that provide solutions which are adapted to existing and new technology. While digitalisation provides good opportunities for cities and their citizens, there is also a need to help cities to better anticipate and tackle the negative side-effects of digitalisation processes;












32.


proposes that the renewed Leipzig Charter encompass the need to implement, within the framework of the smart specialisation strategies prepared at regional level under cohesion policy, local smart specialisation processes and integrated agendas for economic and territorial change, enabling the development of smart cities and smart villages;












33.


considers that cities, including small and medium sized towns are key actors in tackling Europe’s great social and environmental challenges (health, nutrition, energy, transport, climate change, biodiversity, inclusion and security). It is however crucial to modernise the role of the local public sector in economic development, based on an approach to fostering entrepreneurship that seeks to provide a role for this sector in the face of the new challenge of global governance;












34.


welcomes in this regard the fact that the new Structural Reform Support Programme (SRSP) falls within the remit of the Commissioner for Regional Policy, as this should enable the SRSP and its proposed budget for 2021-2027 to become the main tool for improving the institutional capacities and structural reforms of cities in all those aspects that are not eligible for Structural Funds;












35.


points out that a major part of the added value of the Urban Agenda for the EU lies in its support for the exchange of know-how on urban issues between European, national, regional and local institutions, which is seen as a mechanism for exchanging best practices;












36.


also considers that it is necessary for the renewed Leipzig Charter to include sustainable urban development mechanisms and methods that already exist around the EU but are usually unconnected to each other, as in the case with the EU initiative on Smart Cities and Communities, the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy and the Reference Framework for Sustainable Cities, among others;





An enhanced Urban Agenda for the EU that supports the new Leipzig Charter









37.


notes that the three pillars of the Urban Agenda for the EU are better regulation, better funding and better knowledge, as identified by the Pact of Amsterdam, and that the principal aim is to implement the process of applying these pillars. It is also necessary to develop the role of the various stakeholders;












38.


underlines the need to strengthen the urban-rural linkages and address all urban areas along with their surroundings, including their often rural functioning areas, in order to achieve a more holistic and integrated approach and offering development opportunities for all living in the urban or metropolitan area;












39.


considers that the efforts made by all cities and local authorities involved in the 14 urban thematic partnerships should be recognised in the renewed Leipzig Charter. Moreover, the willingness of some partnerships — such as those on migration and refugees, and on urban mobility — to continue working beyond the three-year period should be welcomed as a clear sign of the success of the Urban Agenda for the EU. However, the necessary resources must be ensured, as must the impact and consistency of future initiatives;












40.


proposes a list of practical recommendations for overcoming these challenges and improving the implementation of the Urban Agenda:






—


the membership of future partnerships must be established in a fully transparent way, with the involvement of cities and based on the size of the city as set out in the renewed Leipzig Charter. Likewise, actions should be grouped around the three pillars: better regulation, better funding and better knowledge;










—


the current list of cross-cutting themes is still valid and could be implemented by means of pilot actions in which a member of each partnership would be involved, striking a balance between European institutions and national, regional and local governments. It is essential here that Commission departments and Member-State ministries be more closely involved in thematic partnerships, particularly at the start of a new partnership. This would enhance the much-needed sense of ownership on the part of the Commission and Member States;










—


synergies need to be strengthened between the different actions of the future partnerships, with the aim of avoiding a silo approach and coordinating the implementation of the actions;










—


one way of strengthening political support at local level could be to organise a summit of local governments involved in the Urban Agenda, which would act as ambassadors and would be able to contribute to political discussions with the European Commission and the Member States;










—


under the better regulation pillar, the European Commission should undertake to consider recommendations arising from urban partnerships. In this regard, partnerships could organise workshops in which professionals address specific changes to EU directives, regulations and policies; the outcome of the partnerships should be regularly presented and discussed in the European Parliament and the Council so that it is given greater consideration in European lawmaking;










—


the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 and the European Urban Initiative proposed by the European Commission under the future ERDF Regulation should guarantee stable funding to cover the operational costs of cities participating in the Urban Agenda for the EU;










—


Eurostat should be more involved in the work of partnerships which could encourage a debate on qualitative data available at regional, functional urban area and local level, as well as on the production of such data;










—


the Urban Agenda and partnerships should also be better integrated with the work of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) and its Knowledge Centre for Territorial Policies in Seville, on projects such as the ‘Future of Cities’ report, or Urban Data Platform Plus;










—


in addition to the Structural Funds and with a view to the post-2020 programming period, the European Commission could also consider developing a financial programme with pilot actions for the development of proposals arising within the framework of the urban partnerships;










—


the European Commission should launch a communication campaign to disseminate the results of the Urban Agenda for the EU, including better communication of the benefits of these partnerships on the Futurium online platform. It should also invest in knowledge production, disseminating best practices, guides, tools and roadmaps developed under the Urban Agenda for the EU;









Follow-up to the implementation of the renewed Leipzig Charter









41.


calls on the German Presidency of the EU to officially recognise the role of the Committee of the Regions in the renewed Leipzig Charter, in line with the Pact of Amsterdam, which invites the Committee of the Regions, ‘as the Union’s advisory body formally representing regions and municipalities at EU level, to contribute to the further development of the Urban Agenda for the EU’;












42.


proposes that the Member States — or the governance level responsible for urban policy when it is not a national level competence — produce reports every three years on how they have integrated the Leipzig Charter into their national or regional urban policies in cooperation with the European Commission, highlighting how European policies and funding, in particular cohesion policy, have facilitated the achievement of the principles and objectives of the Charter;












43.


highlights the importance of the European Commission continuing to play a significant role in coordinating and applying the Urban Agenda for the EU and the Leipzig Charter. In this regard, it is worth recalling the suggestion to appoint the vice-president for interinstitutional relations and foresight as coordinator of the Urban Agenda, which would also ensure a close link with the Better Regulation Agenda. Coordination in this area would also counter the fragmented vision of cities and the urban dimension of policies arising from the specialist outlook of the individual directorates-general;












44.


in order to ensure that the Leipzig Charter is, as far as possible, binding on the EU, the Member States and local and regional authorities, calls for the mandatory conclusions of the General Affairs Council to be adopted following the adoption of the renewed Leipzig Charter by the Informal Council of Ministers of Urban Development on 30 November 2020. This should be combined with a call for future Council presidencies to continue the debates on the Urban Agenda in their respective work programmes.





Brussels, 14 October 2020.


The President of the European Committee of the Regions

Apostolos TZITZIKOSTAS