EUROCITIES Interview on the Urban Agenda for the EU Coordinator Role with Sabina Kekic

Interview with Sabina Kekic from the Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees Partnership for the Urban Agenda, carried out by EUROCITIES:

What was the added value of coordinating the UA partnership?

It means you create the agenda and steer it towards concrete results beyond the partnership, i.e. improving access to funding for all local governments or for the migrant advisory board.

Were your expectations met?

I did not know what to expect. At the beginning there was no format or budget and the objectives were very abstract. Everyone seemed to want something different and that there was a lack of trust. I remember thinking ‘this multi-level-governance thing is never going to work’. Three years later, I can’t believe how much we have achieved and how normal this method has become.

What future possibilities do you see for developing this?

My ambition is to make this a structural and institutionalised way of working between cities, member states, the Commission and important stakeholders like EUROCITIES. We are now developing a plan on how to move ahead after 2020.