European and local leaders join forces to make local communities stronger.
On 15-16 June, over 450 participants representing EU, national, and regional policy makers along with local authorities, social and economic stakeholders gathered for the first Rural Pact conference . They agreed on the governance of the Rural Pact and committed to achieving the long-term vision for the EU’s rural areas. Over these two days, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) together with other participants and members of the Rural Pact community started making commitments to make the EU’s rural areas stronger, more connected, resilient and prosperous by 2040.
The new UK regulatory regime for goods: New UKCA transitional measures.
The UK left the EU (European Union) single market at 11PM on 31st December 2020. The United Kingdom (UK) Conformity Assessed or UKCA mark is being phased in from 1st January 2021 to replace the CE (Conformitè Europëenne) mark in Great Britain, although for most goods the CE mark will remain acceptable for a transition period ending on 31 December 2022. The UK Conformity Assessed mark is a mandatory mark on a product to indicate that it conforms to GB (Great Britain) legislation. The manufacturer or, if mandated, their authorized representative will be responsible for affixing the UKCA mark to the product, which is the same principle as CE marking but for the GB market.
Agriculture
FarmDemo is a collaboration between Horizon 2020 projects working on peer-to peer learning with a focus on farm demonstration as a tool to boost innovation uptake. Starting with PLAID, AgriDemo F2F and NEFERTITI, this collaboration is now federating NEFERTITI with IPMWORKS and future Horizon Europe demonstration projects to come. FarmDemo has recently produced a training kit to help farmers organise successful farm demonstrations. Tools, guidelines and videos are compiled on a dedicated website. There are materials for both online and on-farm demonstrations. More: here
Industry
As part of the Transition Pathway for Tourism, 112 tourism, organisations have already committed to the transition of EU tourism. 186 pledges were published today and more should follow. With 186 pledges the first batch of commitments shows the strong interest and willingness of EU tourism players to work on the transition of EU tourism. Overall, 112 organisations from 20 EU countries, the United Kingdom and Switzerland have responded to the call to renew EU tourism. The pledges cover 25 out of 27 topics of the Transition Pathway for Tourism, including areas such as policy and governance, sustainable mobility, green transition, digital transition, skills, resilience and inclusion, and stakeholder support. More: here
Education
New insights into what education authorities across Europe can do to strengthen student motivation, raise achievement, and help those falling behind, especially in mathematics and science learning.The report ‘Increasing achievement and motivation in mathematics and science learning in schools’, published by the European Commission’s Eurydice network, examines how mathematics and science teaching and learning are organised in Europe, how learning outcomes are assessed and how students are supported when facing difficulties in the learning process.More: here
Culture
The Festival took place from the 9th to the 12th of June as a hybrid event—in Brussels and online. The Festival was the first of its kind since the European Commission launched the New European Bauhaus in 2021. The event aimed to bring people from across Europe to debate and discuss how to build a more sustainable, beautiful, and inclusive world. In order to do so, the Festival fostered synergies between the arts and science, politics and technology, as well as nature and society. 29 research and innovation projects managed by the European Research Executive Agency (REA) participated at the Fair section of the Festival. These projects were selected because they live up to the ideals of the New European Bauhaus: beautiful, sustainable, together. Some of the topics the 29 projects are researching include building a circular economy, reducing water and food waste, advancing public health, and regenerating urban areas. More: here
Environment
Delegates representing more than 100 Parties to the Paris Agreement met in Bonn, Germany, to prepare key decisions for the upcoming UN Climate Conference (COP 27) in Sharm el-Sheikh, and for the years to come. The meeting was the first time the international community has gathered since COP26 in Glasgow, where Parties committed to develop a work programme to speed up cuts in their emissions in this critical decade before 2030, with the aim of keeping global average temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees Celsius. More: here
