After a long summer break I am returning back to this EU-CO-LOGIC blog with the prospect of having more to write about in the next months when the Portuguese Presidency will start new debates on the “Reform Treaty” [see EurActiv LinksDossier].
Not that I have many illusions though. The kind of fundamental changes that I am advocating (in search of an Eco-Europe) will for sure not get that much attention but I hope we can help with this blog at least to stir up the debate a bit. But to do this, I will need the help of anyone who believes to EU should re-engineer itself.
For those still not convinced of the need for serious EU reform, read the interview EurActiv did with Martin Konečný of CEE Bankwatch Network. The EU’s structural funds programmes are actually contributing to “unsustainable development”, says Konečný, and some projects are in clear contradiction with the EU’s climate change policies.

With more than half of the world population living in mega-cities, the miracle key to opening the door of a low-carbon Europe lies in these cities. Therefore, the C40 initiative, led by London, and supported by the Clinton Foundation, probably does more for the fight against climate change and energy insecurity than all UN climate diplomacy. More on this week’s meeting of the C40 in New York can be found in The Guardian and the New York Times.
In this context, it is regrettable that the current EU architecture provides no real instruments to leverage cities’ potential contribution to a new “energy prosperity”. As long as cities are not really involved in the European Union’s governance, is this surprising? If cities would have more of a voice in EU policy-making, it would also bring citizens closer to the EU.
Maybe the architects of a new Eco-Europe architecture should think about redefining the role of the Committee of the Regions and the Council of European Municipalities and Regions? Who has any good suggestions?
Further reading:

• Sustainable cities and towns campaign
• 24-25 May: German Presidency to present Leipzig Charter on Sustainable European Cities