??This month we are celebrating the wrap-up of almost 2,5 years of working together as a European network of national platforms supporting the implementation of the #EUCitiesMission???? in our national contexts and looking forward to our promising future. ??With the final meeting in Brussels yesterday, at Stockholm Region EU Office, 40 partners took the opportunity to reflect on what we have learnt together across our 15 countries, what could be done differently and how we plan to sustain the ambition of our current network to expand to the entire Europe. ?? We are grateful for the continuous support to the European Commission team, Philippe Froissard, Laura Hetel and for the great guidance received from Thiago Tavares (CINEA - European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency). ??We would like to thank also to NetZeroCitiesEU and to our partners from ERRIN for co-organising workshops together, such as the mutual learning one in the afternoon of 19th?of March, where we jointly explored the?role of the national level in the implementation of the #EUCitiesMission. ? ??Few key takeaways:? ??Due to our national and regional authorities partner profile, we acknowledged the political factor as a strong influencer in the set-up and maintenance of the national platforms ??Stronger involvement of the cities in the national platforms’ work strengthens a bottom-up approach that can overcome different implementation barriers ??Human resource is key both to the national platforms and cities ??We need more innovative thinking in the governance models ??Champions are needed to reach out to a broader stakeholder range and spread the national platforms’ aims in each country ??The 'power' of a EU network can facilitate a tailored knowledge exchange, mutual learning and the networks’ joint efforts can sometimes overcome difficult national contexts. ??The coordination team from the Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding - UEFISCDI, Adrian Curaj and Elena Simion, and from FFG, Margit Noll, Orsolya Küttel, Elli B. Tzatzanis-Stepanovic, is grateful for the engagement of our management team: Gudrun Haindlmaier - AIT, Olga Krajewska - ICLEI Europe, Olga Kordas ????????, Albert Edman, Maria Tengvard - Viable Cities, Paola Clerici Maestosi – ENEA, Rachele Nocera – MUR, Monica Salvia - CNR, Julio Lumbreras - UPM/citiES2030 and to all the partners for making wonders together. ??During the 2,5 years of our project across our 15 partner countries, we have witnessed together successful cases of national platforms advancing their work for the #EUCitiesMission in Sweden or Spain, Austria, France, Finland or Greece and we supported the launch of new ones such M100 HUB in Romania????. Other countries are about to launch their own initiatives to support their cities: Netherlands, Portugal or Türkiye. ?? Cheers to a sustainable future and thanks to all our partners for their commitment towards our common goals!
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