Programme

9:30 | Opening

moderated by Francesca Whitlock, ECOLISE Co-President 

  • Video - Communities for Future (CfF)
  • Dubravka Šuica, Vice-president, European Commission, Commissioner for Democracy, Demography & the Future of Europe | Keynote speech
  • Peter Schmidt, President of the European Economic and Social Committee's Sustainable Development Observatory

Panel 1 | How Communities for Future can contribute to the Climate Pact to inspire citizens’ engagement

moderated by István Komoróczki, Member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)

  • Salima Yenbou, Member of the European Parliament
  • Elena Višnar Malinovská, Head of the Adaptation Unit and the Climate Pact team, DG CLIMA, European Commission
  • Presentation by rapporteurs of regional workshop outcomes
    ▪ Thomas Meier - Germany
    ▪ Ana Armano Linta - Croatia
  • Q&A
  • Inspiring testimony: Roland Tomi, Vice President, Jeune volontaire pour l’environnement (JVE)

Panel 2 | National recovery plans that enable inputs from local communities to be more transformative 

moderated by Jason Nardi, RIPESS EU

  • Niklas Nienaß, Member of the European Parliament
  • Sophie Dewispelaere, Recovery & Resilience Task Force, Secretariat-General, European Commission
  • Presentation by rapporteurs of regional workshop outcomes
    ▪ Rehama White - GEN/Etia
    ▪ Mieke Elzenga - Netherlands
  • Q&A
  • Inspiring testimonies:
    ▪ Aliette Lacroix – Transition-citoyenne
    ▪ Abdul Otman – Baltic Ecovillage  & Suderbyn Ecovillage

11:00-11:15 | Networking Meet & Greet sessions (break)*

Panel 3 | How can the EU empower local communities

moderated by Meera Ghani, ECOLISE

  • Keynote video address by Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commission, Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries
  • Silke Karcher, German EU Council Presidency, Head of Unit, European Climate and Energy Policy, BMU
  • Seán Kelly, Member of the European Parliament
  • Presentation by rapporteurs of regional workshop outcomes
    ▪ Andy Goldring - UK
    ▪ Gil Penha-Lopes - Portugal
  • Q&A
  • Inspiring testimony: Adina Maria MoiseTransition projects in Romania

12:00 | Closing

moderated by Céline Seince, RURENER

  • Baiba Miltoviča, Member of the European Economic and Social Committee | Keynote listeners’ summary/concluding remarks
  • Satisfaction survey on the webinar (Zoom poll)
  • Davie Phillip, ECOLISE Co-president | Thank you note

 

* The Meet & Greet or the art to informally learn from and inspire each other will aim to enable EU and national stakeholders to directly share their actions and solutions regarding climate action, sustainability, and social inclusion with the participants. This will be a space for participants to directly interact with the stakeholders, providing them with their perspective. We hope that this space will encourage all participants to start building critical connections and together advocate for a transformative and social Europe which better fits the local needs and context of its citizens and communities.

List of meet & greet sessions

  • European Youth Forum, Lead: Jan Mayrhofer
  • ICLEI, Lead: Lucia Di Paola
  • Transition Network, Lead: Nicola Hillary
  • ECOLISE, Lead: Eamon O’Hara
  • Inspirational Action - Dovoj za vse (Enough for all), Lead: Jonas Coordinator for Umanotera
  • Inspirational action - Jardin Prangeleu, Lead: Nina Klein, co-founder of Jardin Prangeleu
  • Inspirational action - Ecodorp Boekel, Lead: Ad Vlems, Chairman of Ecodorp Boekel
  • European Parliament - Lead: MEP Irena Joveva
  • RIPESS, Lead: Jason Nardi
  • RURENER, Lead: Céline Seince
  • EESC - Sustainable Development Observatory, Lead: Stella Brożek-Everaert

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