The Partnership for Security in Public Spaces conducted its 8th Partnership meeting on 11-12 May 2021. The first day consisted of the plenary session, divided into three parts:

• Part I: Sustainability Through Collaboration
• Part II: Relevant EU Developments
• Part III: Sustainability of the Partnership

The second day of the meeting discussed the status implementation of the six Actions of the Partnership.

Plenary session, 11 May

The meeting was opened by the Partnership Coordinators (City of Nice) and the Technical Secretariat. The importance of ensuring continuity and creating synergies for cooperation within the Partnership and with (EU) initiatives beyond was highlighted as a way to move forward beyond the end of 2021. 

In the first part of the meeting (Sustainability through Collaboration), three UIA-funded initiatives were presented. The first is ToNite, a project on urban inclusion; the second was BSFS, ‘Be Secure – Feel Secure’; and finally, SURE, a project focused on smart urban security and event resilience. The collaboration of the Partnership with the UrbSecurity network was also presented.

In the second part of the plenary (Relevant EU Developments), Gabriel Calin Onaca (DG REGIO) and Andrea Volkmer (DG HOME) discussed the future of the Urban Agenda and other relevant developments including the EU fora on the protection of public space and EU law enforcement networks.

In the last part of the plenary (Sustainability of the Partnership), Sébastien Viano, the Coordinator of the Partnership (City of Nice) gave an overview of the State of Play of the Partnership. The conclusions are very positive. All the Actions are making great progress and most of them are at an advanced stage of implementation.

Before ending the session, Mark Boekwijt (City of Amsterdam) offered some lessons learned on the Partnership’s sustainability from his experience as Coordinator of the Partnership on Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees

Action sessions, 11-12 May

On the second day of the meeting, six Action Leaders presented a brief status on their Action and presented the next steps. 

The main outcomes of the debate were on how to identify synergies and expand them, on how to keep testing and implementing deliverables, and the challenges faced. 

For more information on the Actions, please visit the final Action Plan of the Partnership.