Sustainable City integrates the municipalities of Megalopolis and Elassona in the European Commission's “Coal Regions in Transition Platform”

The mission to the European Commission, on Monday 17th of December 2018 in Brussels, was a big success. The goal was to form a framework of cooperation to support the energy transition of coal dependent regions by planning and financing actions with the aid of relevant EU funds.

The first meeting was held among the EU Network "Energy Cities", the Greek "SUSTAINABLE CITY" Network and the Mayors of the Municipalities of Elassona and Megalopolis.

The participants were:

• Dionysis Papadopoulos (Mayor of Megalopolis)
• Nikos Evangelos (Mayor of Elassona)
• Ioannis Georgigas (General Manager of SUSTAINABLE CITY Network)
• Panagiotis Michail (representative of the Energy Cities network in Greece and Cyprus and partner of Sustainable City)
• Claire Roumet (Executive Director of Energy Cities)
• Frederic Boyer (Head of the Covenant of Mayors)

The actions undertaken with the cooperation of the two municipalities and the coordination of SUSTAINABLE CITY were analysed. These actions aim at designing and managing solutions, based on financing potential, for the issue of energy management and transition towards clean energy. There was a fruitful exchange of views and the deepening of cooperation was agreed with the aim of joint submission of project proposals to the European Commission.

The second and very important meeting was held between the directors of the European Commission's Directorate General for Energy (DG Energy), the Greek SUSTAINABLE CITY Network and the Mayors of the Municipalities of Elassona and Megalopolis.

The participants were:

• Dionysis Papadopoulos (Mayor of Megalopoli)
• Nikos Evangelos (Mayor of Elassona)
• Ioannis Georgigas (General Manager of SUSTAINABLE CITY City Network)
  
• Panagiotis Michail (representative of the Energy Cities network in Greece and Cyprus and partner of SUSTAINABLE CITY)
• Brieuc Posnic (Policy Officer - Coal and Carbon-Intensive Regions in Transition, European Commission)
• Alexandra Tomczak (Coordinator of Policy)
• Eero Ailio (Counselor on Energy Transition and Local Government)

It included an extensive briefing about the Municipalities of Megalopolis and Elassona regarding the problems and the comparative advantages of the two regions. Existing activities towards clean energy were examined as well as the need to strengthen them in order to ensure a successful transition and protect the regions’ production and their character as a tourist destination.

The EU officials expressed their interest and agreed on the inclusion of the two Municipalities in the European Commission's Coal Regions in Transition Platform.