One-stop shop for urban affairs - Main contents

How important can a formality be? The Pact of Amsterdam is listed on the agenda of the General Affairs Council’s meeting on 24 June for adoption without debate. So there’s nothing earth-shaking about it? According to Nicolaas Beets, the Netherlands’ special envoy for the Urban Agenda for the EU, this is a formality that packs a punch. For him it is the culmination of three years’ work. ‘The year 2016 will go down in history as the year the cities came on board the European ship,’ he says.

The Pact of Amsterdam was agreed on 30 May at an informal meeting of EU urban affairs ministers. That makes it a done deal before the General Affairs Council even meets - something that rarely happens, says the special envoy. Since October 2015 he’s been leading a team at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that handled the Netherlands Presidency’s preparation of the Pact. He also chaired the European working group where the Pact was negotiated.

Pots boiling over

How does EU decision-making usually work? Beets explains: ‘Working groups made up of stakeholders and experts put a policy pot on the fire and simmer it for a while. Then it goes to a series of political meetings with representatives of the member states. Usually it boils over at some point with unresolved problems. These are sent up to a higher level - if necessary to the Council of member states’ ministers. If an issue is really important, complex and sensitive, it goes to the European Council, where the heads of government have to reach an agreement.’

The Pact of Amsterdam is certainly important, complex and sensitive. But the working group that prepared it was set up in a unique way. It included associations of cities that between them represented all the cities in the EU, as well as the appropriate EU institutions - the Commission, the Parliament, the Investment Bank - and all the member states. In all, 38 bodies formed the Urban Development Group. It was a big group, but that allowed it to work on two different tracks at the same time: on content and on politics and procedure. The upshot will be the Pact’s adoption without debate on 24 June.

A big box of ideas

It wasn’t easy. Beets briefly tells the story of the Urban Agenda for the EU, which led to the Pact of Amsterdam. ‘After its founding in 1957 the European Economic Community went through several growth spurts,’ he explains. ‘Each time it became more diverse. In 1992 this growing diversity prompted the creation of the Committee of the Regions. Cities came into the picture in 1997 - the Netherlands held the Presidency that year, and launched the discussion. Our cities are where the big challenges are being met. Local government has to deal with EU policy all the time, but has had no influence in the EU.

‘We’ve been holding informal meetings of EU urban affairs ministers for 15 years now. In 2014, during the Italian Presidency, the Council decided to start work on the Urban Agenda. The Riga Declaration in 2015 was a big step forward. It made clear that the Agenda shouldn’t be a plaything for big Western European cities. Towns and medium-sized cities in the rest of the EU had to have an equal chance of joining in. That got Eastern Europe on board.

‘Meanwhile everyone was interpreting the Agenda in their own way. There were a few major preconditions: no new legislation, no new institutions, and no extra money. The other member states began looking to the Netherlands again, expecting us to make a breakthrough during our Presidency in 2016. That became my task. But when I started last autumn, all I had to work with was a big box full of all sorts of ideas. Plus a long list of things that were off limits.’

Strict deadline

Right away the special envoy stepped up the pressure to get the Pact drafted. In December the relevant Dutch ministries agreed a proposal. That was sent to Brussels with a strict deadline: by 15 January at 17.00 sharp, all 38 bodies in the Urban Development Group had to have submitted their responses. ‘And would you believe, we got input right on time from 35 of them. The Dutch input was coordinated among Dutch municipalities, provinces and water authorities. That gave us a clear picture of how varied the different situations were.’

A seven-member team took all the responses and used them as the basis for a new draft. ‘If you look at the Pact that emerged from the process, 25% of it is Dutch, and 75% comes from the other parties,’ says Beets. ‘In the next couple of months the text sailed through the Urban Development Group and the Commission. The deadline for objections to the package was 18 May. And then the Pact could go to the printer.’

As a result, on 30 May Dutch interior minister Ronald Plasterk was able to proudly hold up a copy of the agreed Pact. So when the General Affairs Council formally adopts it on 24 June, what will have been achieved? ‘At that point the Pact will take effect and officially become part of the EU acquis,’ says Beets. ‘This will have a big impact. The EU won’t be imposing more rules on cities; it will be the other way around: cities will get more influence on EU policy and more access to money and knowledge. And the European Commission will have a one-stop shop for urban affairs. These are huge gains.’

Partnerships between cities, member states, institutions and networks will be crucial now in showing that the Pact is working. Ultimately they should include every level of government in the EU. Beets is optimistic: ‘In the end the Pact was adopted more quickly than anyone imagined. And I’ve been surprised again and again by the depth of this discussion in Europe. Everywhere I go in the EU, I can see that people are talking about the Pact.’

Cities on board

‘We still have a lot of work to do, but the enthusiasm is there,’ Beets says. ‘I’ll keep leading the team until mid-2017, since my job as special envoy has been extended for another six months. Soon our Bulgarian colleagues will be coming to the Netherlands to talk about the Urban Agenda - they’ll hold the EU Presidency after Slovakia, Malta and the UK.

‘In October we’ll be presenting our plans for Europe to the rest of the world at the Habitat III Conference in Ecuador. Because this is part of a trend: cities are becoming international hotspots. The Pact of Amsterdam is a milestone on this road. I think that 2016 will go down in history as the year the cities came on board the European ship.’