A welcome dose of Euro-realism

Last week, I went to Brussels to attend one of the grandest events in the EU calendar: the Open Days – European Week of Regions and Cities. The city was alive with dozens of events representing the views and experiences of scores of countries and hundreds of regions and cities, both within the EU and beyond (including Russia, Brazil and China). There’s such a range of events, ideas and policies on offer at these things it’s difficult to know where to start.

Plenty caught my eye, ranging from cross-border co-operation initiatives and health through to PPP in transport, skills, science and innovation. It was a fascinating experience. On the one hand, there’s a lot of lessons learned that we could take home with us; on the other, there are also plenty of opportunities to share our own British models overseas (Demos, for example, have recently been working in France). So, we’re now brainstorming to see how we can use our experience and expertise to contribute to pan-European policy-making.

It was also heartening to see another ‘launch’ that was taking place in Brussels last week – the North East England Office has re-opened with new, impressive premises and equally impressive and energetic staff. This is a pleasing move forward: regions like the North East may still struggle to utilise the EU, but they are gradually moving beyond their traditional role as recipients/consumers of structural funds, and are taking other opportunities provided by the EU more seriously.

This includes all sorts of joint initiatives with regions in other countries that face similar challenges. Hopefully this will unlock vital funding for things such as energy saving measures, infrastructure projects, skills enhancement, and science and entrepreneurship.

Let’s hope this re-opening to Europe will bring new prospects and opportunities to the region. Certainly, we’re keen to step into this field, which has sometimes been unjustly ignored or condemned. In the UK, even the EU’s fans tend to be struck by regular bouts of Euro-pessimism, we hope to bring a bit more Euro-realism to the debate at the regional level. After all, the reality is that we are going to be members of the EU for the foreseeable future, so we need to make the most of the chances it brings…