SoGreen Alliance congratulates presidents of the European Parliament and Commission
The SoGreen Alliance, a cooperation of eight European associations of urban green professionals (www.onthegreenmove.com), has congratulated Mrs Roberta Metsola and Mrs Ursula von der Leyen with their reappointment as respectively president of the European Parliament and president of the European Commission. In the congratulations letter to both, the Alliance expresses its great appreciation for the EU Green Deal initiatives in the past semester aimed at a green and sustainable development in the urban area and summarizes opportunities to work together in the upcoming semester 2024 – 2029.
In the letter to Mrs Roberta Metsola, the SoGreen Alliance refers to the societal challenges in the urban area. “Our mission is to design, create and maintain green projects and nature-based solutions in the urban area that contribute to better climate, biodiversity and public health. The EU Green Deal has delivered great opportunities for us. It acknowledges the value of these green solutions and we appreciate it very much that they are included in for example the Climate Law, the Renovation Wave, the EU Taxonomy and the Skills Agenda. We look forward to the implementation of the Nature Restoration Law in the urban area and hope to be involved in the elaboration of the format for the national and local restoration plans and the way reporting and monitoring will be organized.” The letter continues: “We have also thought about the perspective for the coming five years and were we as Alliance can contribute. In our whitepaper ‘We want to pass on a liveable and greener world to our children and next generations’, we have summarized our suggestions to move forward to a greener future. We recommend an urban chapter in the EU Green Deal with special focus for urban soils and rainwater storage/management, support for the green transformation at local level, research and innovation to develop the city into a carbon sink, attention for biodiversity in the urban area and skills development for our green professionals”. The Alliances hopes that these ideas are taken into account in debates regarding a sustainable continent and a good place to live for our citizens.
Von der Leyen The letter to Mrs Ursula von der Leyen links to her political guidelines ‘Europe’s choice’ for the new European semester 2024 – 2029. The SoGreen Alliance writes in this letter: “Your political guidelines for the new semester offer again new perspectives on where we can cooperate. We welcome and are enthusiastic about amongst others the continuation of working on the goals of the Green Deal, the attention for the role of small and medium sized companies at local level, the elaboration of the Union of Skills, the initiatives of the New European Bauhaus and the development of a European Climate Adaptation Plan. In all these topics, we want to take up our responsibility and be actively involved in policy making and implementation. Since our green solutions have their benefits at local level, we feel that it is also important to be part of EU-initiatives that focus regional and local effects on for example climate resilience, healthy urban soils and rain water storage and management. The Alliance wants to be your partner in realizing ‘Europe’s choice’ to make our continent and citizens prosper”.
The partners in the SoGreen Alliance are:
· European Arboricultural Council
· European Federation of Green Roof and Living Wall Associations
· European Interior Landscaping Organization
· European Landscape Contractors Association
· European Nurserystock Association
· IFLA Europe, International Federation of Landscape Architects
· International Organization for Natural Bathing Waters
· World Urban Parks Europe
More information on: www.onthegreenmove.com
