POLIS was present at the European Parking Association General Assembly
On 26 September 2024, POLIS attended the European Parking Association General Assembly as part of the speakers' programme with a presentation focused on bringing cities and regions closer to EU policy priorities.
As part of the activities planned between EPA and POLIS under the POLIS-EPA MoU, signed during the 2023 POLIS Conference, POLIS participated in the EPA Annual General Assembly. Ivo Cré, POLIS’ Director of Policy and Projects, delivered a presentation in a panel session titled “Urban Renaissance: How shaping strategic priorities at the EU level helps cities and regions achieve their local policy objectives”. As the title suggests, POLIS’ presentation focused on its efforts to bring EU policy closer to its city and regional members, specifically regarding parking-related policies and regulations, and how these measures can help cities and regions achieve their sustainable urban mobility goals.
The presentation began by outlining POLIS’ policy priorities for the next term of the European Parliament, as summarized in the POLIS Manifesto for the European elections, launched earlier this year in February. This document presents the organisation’s priorities on several pressing topics related to sustainable urban mobility and innovation, with a strong emphasis on making EU transport systems more resilient.
The POLIS manifesto served as a framework for discussing, from POLIS’ perspective, how various EU policy instruments and initiatives impact cities and regions. It also addressed how these instruments and initiatives relate to topics such as parking and how cooperation can be fostered across local, regional, national, and EU levels. The discussion also included the Just Transition dimension, aligning EU initiatives with various aspects affecting vulnerable groups and territories within the transport sector.
The list of relevant EU instruments and initiatives mentioned included the TEN-T regulation and the role of the newly defined urban nodes, particularly regarding the development of SUMPs as a framework for parking policies. Other topics included the climate-neutral cities initiative, which focuses on issues such as electromobility and parking (charging infrastructure) and the downsizing of vehicles; the connected and smart mobility initiative, emphasizing the importance of a clear digital ecosystem based on road network data exchange regulations (ITS directive – Parking data – Traffic circulation plans); the need to manage public space dynamically, for example, through common parking data exchange standards; and the Just Transition dimension, which addresses the urban-rural aspect and how urban mobility (and parking) can be integrated into EU initiatives such as the Social Climate Fund and the Cohesion Policy.
The presentation concluded with a call for stakeholders across the transport sector, including those in the parking industry, to take note of the newly elected EU Commission's mandate. It encouraged them to address the mission letter for transport and tourism to foster an open dialogue at the local level with parking stakeholders, thus creating an opportunity for associations such as EPA to act as an interlocutor between the EU institutions and local parking stakeholders.
