“We look to the future with many questions, a few fears and a great many expectations”. This is how the then Mayor of Prague, Pavel Bém, summed up his intervention in the closing event of the first Open Days, in October 2003. Czech Republic was not even a member state yet.
Fast forward to 2022, Czechia holds the presidency of the EU Council, and Europe celebrates 20 consecutive editions of the European Week of Regions and Cities. In these 20 years, thanks mainly to the support of Cohesion Policy, many of these expectations have been met, while new fears and new questions arose. But as EU Commissioner Elisa Ferreira notes, one thing remained the same: “Cohesion Policy has stayed faithful to its mission, and the partners of ESPON and the European Week have been key to this mission”.
But how did the event that started with the participation of some 1800 participants became the most influential gathering of politicians, researchers, policymakers and experts on regional and territorial issues? “The secret of its success”, writes the President of the CoR, Vasco Alves Cordeiro, “is its capacity to constantly evolve, adapt to new priorities and at the same time influence the policy-making debate”.
You can read about this evolution in our flashback article that navigates us from 2003 to 2022, through quotes - selected from their opening or closing speeches - of the protagonists: presidents of the Commission, presidents of the CoR and EU Commissioners.
You can also read testimonials and some of this year’s participants and speakers that share their views on Youth empowerment, Green transition, Territorial cohesion and Digital transition - the four themes of this year’s European Week of Regions and Cities.