Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona

On June 14th, Salvador Milà, director of the Presidency Area of the AMB, participated in the 25th anniversary of the Metropolitan Area of Oporto. In his speech at the session on "Metropolitan Areas in Cohesion Politics", Milà demanded a metropolitan dimension in European policies, and more participation in the management of the structural funds.

He mentioned as an example of success the agreement between the AMB and the Government of Catalonia to directly manage 30 million Euros from of ERDF that will be invested in metropolitan projects involving innovation, ICT, low carbon economy and natural and cultural heritage.

Collaboration in various projects

An international seminar was also held in Oporto on June 27th, within the framework of the MEANING project (Metropolitan Europeans in Active Network, Inducing Novelties in Governance). The partners in this project are, together with the AMB, the metropolitan areas of Milan, Gdansk, Zagreb, Riga, Bari, Lisbon and Porto. They all work to define the decisive role of metropolitan areas as international brands.

The MEANING project, in the European programme "Europe for citizens", is designed to face the European Union political, institutional and social crisis. It is also intended to discuss issues such as massive migration in Europe; in a context where local governments' role is becoming more and more important in the seizure of decisions: 70% of European laws are currently implemented through regional, provincial and municipal levels.

The AMB and the AMP have strengthened their relationship in recent years: they collaborate in various European projects—such as the MEANING or the SMART-MR, the latter on sustainable mobility—, they work together in initiatives such as the EMA (European Metropolitan Authorities) and have held various joint institutional and technical missions.