EurActiv ‘Special Week’ coverage of the European Commission’s Open Days

Brussels, 8 October 2009

EurActiv, the independent media portal specialised in EU policies, will be running special coverage from 6-9 October on Europe’s cities and regions.

With 37.8 billion euro of funding per year, regional policy has become the second largest item in the EU budget after the Common Agricultural Policy (55.8 billion).

The accession of ten new member states in 2004 has doubled the development gap between the bloc's wealthiest and poorest regions. As a result, most beneficiaries of the cohesion policy are now located in Central and Eastern Europe, which calls for a major re-think of how regional policy is shaped.

EurActiv’s ‘Special week’ coverage will take place around the European Commission’s Open Days event, which brings together regional authorities and cities from across the continent to debate topical policy issues.

During the Special Week, EurActiv will take a closer look at the issues that will be addressed during the Open Days, drawing on its network of media affiliates in Central and Eastern Europe:

• Future prospects for the EU’s regional policy.
• Innovations that can help restore growth in Europe’s regions and cities.
• Initiatives that regions and cities are undertaking to tackle the twin challenges of energy and climate change.

EurActiv already covers a number of topics relevant to Europe’s cities and regions in its Sustainable Development section, sponsored by Dow, Veolia, Syngenta, The Nickel Institute and United Technologies. The section is accessible at the following address: http://www.euractiv.com/en/sustainability.

The Sustainable Development section covers some relevant topics in-depth thanks to special EU policy briefings (LinksDossier). These include the following which are relevant to Europe’s cities and regions:
- Sustainable Cities
- Towards a recycling society
- Public Procurement: Buying Green?

EurActiv has several policy sections relevant to the future agenda of the EU institutions. These include three ‘CrossLingual Sections’ (with coverage across its 10 country network and localisation in 10 languages):
- Enterprise and Jobs [FR] [DE]
- Innovation & Creativity [FR] [DE] (Official media channel for the European Year of Creativity and Innovation 2009)
- Enlargement [FR] [DE]

Media contacts:
Frédéric Simon, Editor, Tel. +32(0)2.788.36.78, editor2@euractiv.com
Daniela Vincenti-Mitchener, Managing Editor, Tel. +32(0)2.788.36.69, news@euractiv.com
Christophe Leclercq, Publisher, Tel. +32(0)2.226.58.13, publisher@euractiv.com

Note to the editor:
www.EurActiv.com is the network of independent policy portals on EU Affairs, counting 590,000 unique visitors together with the Web2.0 platform Blogactiv.eu (CIM certified figures – October 2008). Set up in 1999, the portal is an important working instrument for the majority of EU Actors (institutions, industry federations, NGOs, think tanks, the press and others) involved in defining or influencing EU policies.

National policy portals of the CrossLingual network in 10 countries and 10 languages are accessible here www.euractiv.com/en/Fixed/about/crosslingual.htm

In order to provide free services and ensure independence, EurActiv's services are financed from four sources: corporate sponsoring, EurActor membership, online advertising and EU projects.

EurActiv's CrossLingual network is sponsored by Visa Europe, the European Year of Creativity and Innovation and the European Commission’s Small Business Act / SME week campaigns. General sponsors of www.EurActiv.com are: CEFIC, Honeywell, ExxonMobil, TNS, INRIA, Enel, Syngenta, Veolia and the Nickel Institute. Section sponsors of www.EurActiv.com are: Air France/FNAM, Dow, Nike, IBM, Kellen Europe and the European Publishers Council. Further supporters include: Shell, McKinsey & Company and Organisation International de la Francophonie. EurActiv also has 60 “content partners” (NGOs & think tanks) as well as ca. 500 “contributors”, providing their policy positions for free publication, up to the editorial team. Input welcome: editor@euractiv.com.

EurActiv content extracts can be re-used freely by other media, subject to clear attribution, and copy sent to content@euractiv.com.