BISE Forum on "Intelligent Energy in Municipalities of the New Member States and Candidate Countries"

The year 2004 was the most important date in the process of enlarging the EU and a historic year for the countries which will join the EU and for the entire European region.

It is for this reason that Energie-Cités decided to give since then a significant stimulus to its activity directed to these countries and to start a process designed to strengthen local capacity and support local activities.

Local authorities from Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) need to be organised at national level to be able to work efficiently on sustainable energy issues. Therefore Energie-Cités wants to stimulate:

• the creation of national “energy cities networks” having a staff capable of providing technical and methodological support to municipalities (in close relation when possible with national associations of municipalities, national agencies, national networks of local energy agencies)

• “regional” networking of the national “energy-cities” networks to take advantage of the experiences of other countries, already involved in such national networks, and to discuss on quite similar issues.

Energie-Cités organise the BISE Forum once a year, alternately in a country of the current EU and in a New Member State or Candidate country. After Grenoble (FR), Sofia (BG) and Riga (LV) the last BISE Forum took place in Krakow (PL). (more information).