Delivering the Green Deal on the ground with Vincent Chauvet and Mirja Vehkapera
To influence the thinking of other European institutions and to ensure that concrete ideas are taken up from the local level, a Green Deal Going Local Working Group was launched within the European Committee of the Regions with our members Vincent Chauvet (FR/Modem) and Mirja Vehkaperä (FI/Keskusta) as full members and Manuel Alejandro Cardenete (ES/Ciudadanos) and Jeannette Baljeu (NL/VVD) as our alternates.
The Working group will ensure that cities and regions can bring the European Green Deal off the ground with concrete projects and direct funding to local and regional authorities. Both the European Green Deal and the EU’s recovery strategy should translate into tangible projects and direct funding for local and regional authorities.
During its inauguration, Vincent Chauvet introduced this idea of direct funding of local and regional authorities, asking for support during an exchange with Aurore Lalucq MEP (FR/S&D), chair of the Green New Deal intergroup.
“The reduced economic activity, in combination with tax reliefs and deferment measures offered by LRAs to support citizens and local businesses, caused local revenues to drop dramatically. To counteract a potential drop in investment, to correct the fiscal imbalance and to ensure that cities have adequate resources to undergo the Green, as well as the digital transition, we have to look for solutions” said Chauvet.

Vincent Chauvet asking for support for his idea of direct funding during an exchange with Aurore Lalucq MEP (FR/S&D), chair of the Green New Deal intergroup
Chauvet continued:
Another proposal from Chauvet is based on a best practice from his constituency that could be shared more widely:
The Working Group had an exchange with Diedrik Samsom, head of cabinet of European Commission Vice-President Franz Timmermans, who said that the Green Deal will only become a reality if local and regional authorities are able to carry it out on the ground. Our other member of the Green Deal Working Group, Mirja Vehkaperä, said:
The ‘Green Deal Going Local’ working group is composed of 13 local and regional elected representatives. Its objective is to guarantee that EU cities and regions are directly involved in the definition, implementation and assessment of the numerous initiatives under the European Green Deal, the EU’s sustainable growth strategy to reach climate-neutrality by 2050. It has has three specific objectives:
• To bring together the numerous policy initiatives within the European Green Deal, under the viewpoint of cities and regions
• To facilitate EU institutions working together in order to place cities and regions at the heart of policies promoting carbon-neutrality;
• To convey the challenges that local and regional authorities face while implementing the green transition locally and to highlight their achievements and best practices, so as to facilitate their replication across the European Union.
The working group will meet on a regular basis and feed the plenary sessions of the European Committee of the Regions. Current priorities of the working group include the European Climate Law and Climate Pact, the Just Transition Fund, a new industrial strategy for Europe, clean air and water, hydrogen, the new Circular Economy Action Plan, bio-diversity and forests.
.@vincentchauvet, part of the new @EU_CoR #GreenDeal Working Group launched today, suggests buying natural assets such as forests, as they have an important role to play in #biodiversity:
➡https://t.co/ysScs1Yb7f pic.twitter.com/9k01dQkdtS— Renew Europe CoR (@RenewEuropeCoR) June 15, 2020