Looking for data journalists – European Week of Regions and Cities

The European Week of Regions and Cities will again bring together some 6000 regional representatives and experts in Brussels from 6-9 October.

We’ll be hosting a couple of hundred journalists from across the EU at the event, which includes a specially designed media programme. Given the strong focus on the use of statistics to report about European regions and EU Cohesion Policy, we will be extending a special invitation this year to a limited number of data journalists.

Participatory budgeting – “giving ordinary people real power over real money”

US cities like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle have all experimented in recent years with initiatives designed to give local people a direct say in decisions on public spending.  These initiatives are inspired by the concept of participatory budgeting, which was originally developed in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre.

West Coast Model EU

The University of Washington hosted the “West Coast Model EU” in Seattle on 22-23 February 2013.

More than 60 students attended, representing Universities from across the Pacific North West.  They had an opportunity to deepen their understanding of the European Union by participating in simulated negotiations.  The themes chosen for the 2013 edition included the reform of EU Cohesion Policy, Banking Union and EU own resources.