With the Opening Session "Regions and Cities working for a better future" on 9 October 2017 (European Parliament Hemicycle), some 900 participants had the opportunity to share their thoughts on cohesion policy to a panel consisting of Corina Creţu, European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Iskra Mihaylova, Chair of the Committee on Regional Development of the European Parliament, and Karl-Heinz Lambertz, President of the European Committee of the Regions.

The three themes were introduced by citizens addressing their questions to the panelists: 1/ the future of Europe, with Sofía Rodríguez Pascual (ES), member of European Youth Parliament and participant in a CoR citizens dialogues; 2/ Youth4Europe - Europe4Youth, with Wietse Van Ransbeeck (BE), a young social media influencer, and Theodoros Plessas, a young Interreg Volunteer under the European Solidarity Corps (GR), and Wietse Van Ransbeeck, start up enterpreneur, (BE); 3/ the future of EU cohesion policy and the launch of #Cohesion Alliance, with Dr Bettina Horster (DE), involved in a EU-funded project. The subsequent discussion stressed the importance of Cohesion policy, concluding on the necessity to build a 'Daily' Europe and launch a #CohesionAlliance.