On Monday 18th of July 2022, Patrick Child, Deputy Director General of Environment at the European Commission, gave the inaugural speech of a four-day summer course organized by the Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo (UIMP) in collaboration with the Center itdUPM.

This intensive course, which took place from Monday 18th to Thursday 21st of July 2022, aimed to introduce the European Commission’s Cities Mission and initiate the dialogue about its implementation in Spain. The course gathered political leaders and staff from the selected Mission Cities in Spain (Barcelona, Madrid, Sevilla, Valencia, Valladolid, Vitoria, and Zaragoza), as well as a range of stakeholders actively working on urban transformation projects from various sectors.

The following Q&A is adapted from the live Q&A that followed Child’s speech.

How will the Mission be financed? How can we mobilize private financing?

The starting point of financing is the City Climate Contract, which are work plans that each city needs to develop and implement to reach its objectives by 2030. This Climate Contract needs to be related to a detailed Investment Plan that indicates potential financing sources. These sources need to be a combination between financing from the European Union, from regional and national financing, as well as from investments by the private sector and regional development banks. Additionally, the Mission Cities will receive a “Mission City Label”, which will build trust and attract investors, who will be reassured by the public funding backup that reduces the investment risks.

How will the citizens participate in these processes?

The success of the City Climate Contract highly depends on the support and participation of the citizens. The cities, as local democratic authorities, are in direct contact with the citizens, which puts them in a good position to lead the conversation.

Is the European Commission planning to reinforce the competences of municipalities?

The Mission aims to empower municipalities to reach their objectives. The local governments are organized differently in each Member State - some are more decentralized whereas others are centralized. Therefore there needs to be a way that is sufficiently flexible to guarantee the different governance models in the Member States.

How can we assure that the transition is just?

The dialogue with all the actors is key to the success of the transition. It must be a collective process of debate and participation to incorporate the different actors in society, otherwise there would be stakeholders that would be left aside.

When are the Climate City Contracts expected to be signed?

There is no fixed deadline. Only once the Climate City Contract is set up can the implementation start. The work is expected to evolve rapidly. If some cities are capable of finishing their Climate City Contract by the end of 2022, it would be remarkable progress.

How will the regions be involved in the Climate City Contracts?

Regional authorities are very important in the process, since they are a source of regulation and manage significant budgets. It would be very desirable that they participate both in the Climate City Contract preparation and in the implementation. It is also desirable to go beyond the interests of the different political parties to converge the work towards the objectives of 2030.

Will the European Commission be part of signing the City Climate Contracts?

From an operational perspective, it is a challenge for the European Commission to sign the City Climate Contracts because it requires a complex legal decision-making process. But this does not mean that the Commission would be stepping aside from the work. The Commission aims to give validation and approval to the Contracts and Investment Plans.

How is the Mission going to work for the cities of less than 50,000 inhabitants?

For the Mission, the 112 selected cities will be the primary focus (100 cities which were selected from EU Member States and 12 other cities from partner countries). However, the secondary objective of the Mission is to guarantee that the best practices and the experience of the selected cities could be shared with other cities in the region. In that sense, national platforms of cities are important to share the experience of the Mission cities with other smaller ones.

How will synergies be created with the Climate Adaptation Mission?

Many cities that are working on their City Climate Contracts for the Cities Mission also want to simultaneously include synergies with the Climate Adaptation Mission about mitigation and adaptation to climate change. The opportunity to create synergies under both Missions is something that the European Commission would like to develop through the Mission Platform as well as through the Secretariat of the Mission.

How can we finance the national platforms?

The European Commission aims to provide support however it can and more work needs to be done in that regard. There are a series of pilot actions that will be launched in September 2022, that will help cities receive subventions of around 1 million euros to implement projects in cities - and not only in the cities that were selected for the Mission. There would be a competition to receive these funds. It is important to keep in mind that the Horizon Europe funds aim to be directed for investigation and not only to support administrative coordination, but it is true that national platforms are essential for the development of the Mission.