The number of people attending the 15ht European Week of Regions and Cities, that took place in Brussels on October 9-12, proves the success of the initiative. Indeed nearly 6000 participants and over 800 speakers from all over Europe gathered in Belgium’s capital town to share ideas about the current and the future situation of regions and cities in Europe, exchange best practices and discuss cohesion policy. Therefore, 137 workshops and seminars took place for investigating how the above mentioned local actors can cooperate for a better future in Europe.
Kicking off with the opening ceremony held in the European Parliament’s Brussels Hemicycle, the debate focused on building resilient regions and cities and how they can be change agents. In particular, during the opening session, three specific themes were introduced by citizens addressing questions to panellists: “The future of Europe” with Sofia Rodriguez Pascual, European Parliament member and participant in CoR citizens dialogues; “Youth4Europe-Europe4Youth” with Wietse Van Ransbeeck, a young social media influencer, Theodoros Plessas, a young Interreg Volunteer under the European Solidarity Corps and Wietse Van Ransbeeck, start-up entrepreneur; “The future of Eu Cohesion policy and the launch of #cohesion alliance, with Dr. Bettina Horster, involved in EU funded project.