Title: UBC EU Coordinators Network
Author: Charlotte Pedersen
Last saved by: Paweł Żaboklicki
Company: Aalborg Kommune

VI UBC GENERAL CONFERENCE

UBC EU COORDINATORS NETWORK

Activity Report October 1999 – September 2001

Mission
One of the main aims of the UBC network is to prepare the member cities for the EU enlargement in the Baltic Sea area. 

The overall mission of the EU Coordinators network is therefore to be the main facilitator for UBC to reach this goal. 

The UBC EU Coordinators Network is addressed to those persons who are responsible for co-ordinating the work related to the EU within the local authorities. The central issue for the network is to create a forum for the exchange of information, knowledge and experiences between the EU co-ordinators within the UBC. The EU co-ordinators have a vital role in the integration process to the EU.
The following network meetings have been organised:
•	Tartu January 2000: 
Seminar on The role of the EU Co-ordinator in the local authority. 
•	Vilnius May 2000: 
Seminar on The integration process to the European Union. 
•	Jekabpils September 2000: 
Seminar on Development of EU-projects.

During the 4^th and 5^th of May 2001 the fifth meeting of the EU Coordinators’ network was held in Kotka, Finland. The City of Kotka hosted the meeting and proposed an interesting program for the participants. The main objective of this meeting was to decide on how to continue the network and what activities the network should focus on. A result of the meetings in Kotka was the agreement to define a strategy and action plan for the EU Co-ordinators’ network. The EU Co-ordinators’ network is of great importance for cities involving in EU activities, and the meeting discussions proved that there is a strong wish to further develop the network structure.
A working group of 3 persons will therefore work on a proposal for a strategy for the network activities. The working group met in June, and the participants are Kotka, Tallinn, and Aalborg.   

The meeting in Brussels resulted in a first draft of ideas for the network’s continued work. The approach will be based on three “pillars”, i.e:

One political approach will be to focus on the political framework in which the cities are operating.

The second approach is to initiate common development projects in order to reach the political objectives specified by the individual countries in their preparations for EU membership.

Finally, the network will support the UBC network (presidency, board, etc) in its EU policy formulation.

The mission of the EU coordinators work will be reached through the following fields of work:
o	Facilitating a platform for learning processes among the network members
o	Strengthening the position of the EU coordinators in the cities and hereby promoting new cross-sectoral network-based working methods.
o	Setting up partnerships between cities in the network.

ACTION PLAN 2002 – 2003

Activities and tools
Based on the proposals from the network meeting in Kotka and the working group meeting in Brussels in June, the following activities should be initiated within the network.

•	Information and training activities
Tools: ICT, workshops

•	The national contact persons identified in Kotka should initiate the creation of national advisory groups 
Tools: Presentation packages from the EU coordinators network, ICT, direct meetings

•	Direct meetings, (the network should meet twice per year). Drafting of annual report based on input from the national advisory groups including list of project ideas and proposals for joint development (“partenariat”).
Tools: Dissemination of information through the network’s web site or e-mail lists. 

•	Circulation of relevant information within the network (e.g. funding opportunities, calls), partner searches
Tools: ICT, direct contact

•	Facilitate EU training courses by means of e.g. TAIEX, “mentor-arrangements”, and thematic workshops at annual meetings. The training will be based on needs and   requests by the network members (“bottom-up”).

The reasons behind the new strategy planning is based on the fact that the last network meetings had too few participants and it was judged necessary to review the action plan for the network. One main obstacle to carry through the above mentioned proposal for future activities is to identify financing. The Swedish programme Swebaltcop sponsored earlier activities of the network, but those funds are no longer available. A priority for the network partners will therefore be to seek funding for the planned activities. 

The next EU Coordinator network meeting will be held in Aalborg. A final date for this meeting has not yet been decided. 

25th September 2001

Charlotte Pedersen
Chairman of the EU Coordinators Network