#fit4future

Every year, in January – the month of good wishes-, our editorial coincides with the Davos Forum. And every year, the analysis of the risks (See the picture below) we face globally takes on a darker hue. What strikes me is that short-term risks seem entirely avoidable (apart from weather-related disasters). But we probably do not have the right systems in place to be able to make the necessary decisions within a limited time frame. What also strikes me is the big difference between priorities for the next two years and for the next decade. Yet we need to be prepared for all these risks, whether long-term or short-term.

The new European Commission is working on a “Preparedness Union” strategy, focusing primarily on our military capabilities. But how does the Commission intend to help each local authority to be better prepared for all risks? Will there be a chapter on regions and their capacity for resilience in the future adaptation strategy?  Or in the European Parliament’s opinion on securing energy supply? These are all blocks that will shape the Europe of tomorrow, and they need to be brought into line with each other.

What we and the Local Alliance hope and wish for is that the future European budget, to be proposed this year by the European Commission, will be #fit4future. All local authorities need to be ready. They must have new governance bodies in charge of local resources to manage conflicts of use, to make soils porous and fertile, to reduce our need for heating, mobility and materials. They must guarantee access for all to decent living conditions and protection from climatic hazards.

The President of the European Commission has chosen to ask citizens, via a panel, to propose guidelines for the future 2028/2034 budget. I welcome this initiative! And I hope that it can be rolled out at all levels, and that every new Municipal Council will be inspired and supported by a local citizens’ panel whose job it will be to define what a multi-year “fit4future” budget would look like.

We need to put democracy at the heart of the projective approach, and not just list the new risks emerging at the global level year after year.
We need to put the planet and the living world at the heart of local strategies, as a non-negotiable condition for our collective resilience.

Energy Cities was founded on this assumption. 35 years later, it’s more relevant than ever!