Thursday 8 March 2018: EU Mayors' Conference on "Building Urban Defences Against Terrorism" in Brussels*

The news:

On 8 March, the European Commission and the European Committee of the Regions are jointly organising the EU Mayors' Conference on "Building Urban Defences Against Terrorism: Lessons Learned From Recent Attacks". The conference will focus on lessons learned from recent terrorist attacks and the sharing of best practices and useful solutions to enhance the protection of public spaces, including the implementation of "security by design" solutions. Participants will also discuss measures to enhance the prevention of radicalisation at local level, public-private cooperation - building on the recently established Operators Forum - as well as funding opportunities under the different EU financial instruments.

The background:

Delivering on the EU Action Plan to support the protection of public spaces, presented by the Commission in October 2017, the conference will gather mayors and representatives from a number of European cities, together with national policy makers representatives from networks of cities and members of the EuropeanCommittee of the Regions Commission for Citizenship, Governance, Institutional and External Affairs (CIVEX). Among others, the conference will be attended by the French Interior Minister, Gérard Collomb, the Mayor of Nice, Mr Christian Estrosi, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Mr Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Mechelen, Mr Bart Somers, the Mayor of Oslo, Marianne Borgen and the State Secretary of Berlin, Mr Torsten Akmann. As a follow up to the Nice Declaration of 29 September 2017, the conference will draw lessons from recent attacks and identify good practices emerging in cities across Europe.

The event:

The conference is taking place at the European Committee of the Regions in Brussels. Journalists are invited to attend the opening session from 9:00-9:45, including the opening speeches by Mr. Karl-Heinz Lambertz, President of the European Committee of the Regions, Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos, Commissioner for the Security Union Julian King, French Interior Minister, Gérard Collomb and Mr Christian Estrosi, the Mayor of Nice. Closing remarks will be delivered by Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Crețu and Commissioner Julian King at 16:45, and will also be open to journalists.

A press conference with Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, Commissioner Julian King, the Mayor of Mechelen, Mr Bart Somers on behalf of the European Committee of the Regions, and the Mayor of Nice, Mr Christian Estrosi will take place at 8:40 and will be available to watch on EbS.

The agenda of the conference and registration details can be found here: https://eumayorsconference.eu

*updated on 7 March 2018

AGENDA/18/1407