The second week of this year's #EURegionsWeek is dedicated to the thematic cluster Cohesion and Cooperation. Taking place from 12 to 16 October, this week includes the Citizen’s Dialogue - a live debate and exchange between Commissioner Ferreira and young EU citizens, the awarding Regiostars ceremony of the excellent and innovative projects financed by cohesion policy, the Megalizzi – Niedzielski prize for aspiring journalists, and the take aways of #EURegionsWeek at the Closing ceremony.

Do not miss the opportunity to watch them live, the webstreaming link will be made available closer to each session.

On Monday 12 October - 11:00 (CET), the President of the European Committee of the Regions, Apostolos Tzitzikostas will give his annual address on the State of the Union from the regional and local perspective, presenting the #EURegionalBarometer report.

The speech will address the most pressing challenges for the years ahead at presence of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. This will be followed by a debate with the members of the European Committee of the Regions.

Participants will have the opportunity to raise their questions and comments on the EU Annual Regional and Local Barometer during the Opening session of the #EURegionsWeek 2020 on 12 October - 14:30 (CET).

Do not miss the key moments of the #EURegionsWeek 2020!

The President of the European Committee of the Regions, Apostolos Tzitzikostas will welcome Angela Merkel, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, at the European Committee of the Regions' plenary session on Tuesday 13 October - 14:30 (CET).

Chancellor Merkel will present the priorities of the German EU Presidency, discuss the role of local and regional authorities in the EU's recovery plans and start a reflection on the future of Europe. The statement will be followed by a discussion with members of the European Committee of the Regions.

The debate will be web-streamed live on the #EURegionsWeek - LIVE & REPLAY video portal, the CoR webpage or EbS.

The Publications Office of the European Union organises in close collaboration with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy the EU Datathon 2020.

This year, participants were invited to develop applications that use open data made available by the EU institutions, agencies and bodies and address one of the four key priorities set by the European Commission:

• Challenge 1: ‘A European Green Deal’
• Challenge 2: ‘An economy that works for people’
• Challenge 3: ‘A new push for European democracy’
• Challenge 4: ‘A Europe fit for the digital age’

Meet and visit the virtual stands of the 12 finalists , vote for the best project and register to the online awards to discover the winners on October 15!

In response to the Covid-19 crisis and restrictions put in place around the world and to limit the spread of the virus, this year edition is a virtual-only event.

Live and recordings of the sessions are available throughout the 3 weeks via a dedicated Live&Replay platform.

All main sessions will be web streamed in real time and open to public via the WATCH LIVE NOW section.

Do not miss the HIGHLIGHTS of the event and seize the opportunity to REPLAY your favorite sessions or those you might have missed.

All sessions are recorded and will be available 48h after.

As the participation to all #EURegionsWeek sessions is fully digital this year and from time to time we are all facing some technical issues when logging in to the different platforms of the working sessions (Interactio, Zoom or Webex), please find below a few useful tips how to avoid them as much as possible:

• do not use a smartphone (desktop or laptop computer recommended)

• use a stable internet connection (cable connection recommended)

• use Google Chrome browser

• use headphones / headset (to avoid echo; for speakers or active participants; do not use wireless headphones)

• use the same equipment for testing and for attending the meeting

• test your connection and equipment before joining the session

If you have issues:

• press F5 or refresh your browser window

• if refreshing does not help, close and reopen the browser and come back to the meeting

• try to use incognito mode in your browser

• try to restart the computer

See you online!