As the summer break begins, here is an update on some of the recent EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK changes and developments across the region.

Since the start of 2016 Belarus, Ireland, Moldova, Montenegro and the Netherlands have all appointed new coordinators while in Denmark the campaign has a ‘national reference point’ for the first time, represented by Camilla Rosenhagen at Local Government Denmark. There have also been changes in national coordinators in Austria, Estonia, Hungary and Poland.

The campaign is especially happy to welcome UNDP's support as national coordinators in Belarus and Montenegro and to congratulate UNDP Russia on the success it has already seen in 2016, with 44 cities registering. Dmitry Beschetny explains: "I believe this result has been achieved mostly due to successful promotion of EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK in Russia by the Ministry of Transport. To make the event more attractive, the Ministry provides an award for participating cities." Other national coordinators have also been working to make the campaign visible in their countries. Germany has launched a EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK webpage as well as a Facebook page, while the development of a webpage for Bosnia-Herzegovina is underway.

Registration is also now available in almost all official EU languages and in a number of languages from non-EU countries. New additions include Belarusian, Croatian, Danish, Montenegrin, Norwegian, Polish, Slovenian. There is also a registration option for Bosnia-Herzegovina. Of the official EU languages, the only registration languages that are not currently offered are Gaelic and Maltese. Moreover, cities in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan can opt to register in commonly-used languages in those countries, such as English, German, Russian, or Turkish.

Registration ahead of the week in September is surging forward and it is exciting to see over 400 towns and cities from 26 countries having signed up, including over 100 communities in Spain. Especially noteworthy is the fact that Ireland has already doubled last year’s participation, while the Netherlands too has eclipsed its 2015 performance. In a typical year around 2000 towns and cities participate from around 45 countries.

To register your Car-Free Day, permanent measure and campaign activities, click here

A new campaign supported by the European Commission aims to make progress on reducing deaths and injuries on the road, after statistics show two successive years with little improvement.

The campaign, European Day Without A Road Death (EDWARD), asks all in Europe from individuals to national governments, charities, and private organisations to make a pledge, to organise awareness-raising activities and register them to make Europe's roads free of road deaths on Wednesday 21 September, which takes place during EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK. The campaign is led by the European Traffic Police Network, or TISPOL and supported by the European Commission.

TISPOL says that driver behaviour remains the biggest barrier to progress on the EU's target of a 50 percent reduction in road deaths and injuries by 2020 compared to 2010 figures. Drivers can help improve safety on the road by ensuring they are not distracted while driving, keeping their vehicles in good condition, and respecting infrastructure designed for other road users.

However, cyclists and pedestrians also make unsafe decisions, such as by ignoring the rules of the road or taking risky shortcuts. Organisers hope that in the lead up to EDWARD on 21 September, all road users take some time to think about the risks they face and the risks they may pose to others, and what they can do to reduce these dangers.

For more information and to make a pledge or to register an event, visit roadsafetydays.eu and tispol.org

A kick-off event for EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK in Luxembourg attracted delegates from more than 40 municipalities on 13 May.

The event was organised by Verkéiersverbond, the National Coordinator for the campaign in Luxembourg. The importance of the campaign was highlighted in presentations from François Bausch, Luxembourg's Minister for Sustainable Development and Infrastructure; Camille Gira, State Secretary for the same ministry; Madeleine Kelly-Tychtl representing the European Commission's DG MOVE; Peter Staelens from EUROCITIES; and Luxembourg National Coordinator David Everard, from Luxembourg's transport community Verkéiersverbond. The event attracted 112 delegates who came to get information on and debate how to organise a good or a better EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK in 2016.

Mr Staelens and Mr Everard presented international best practice examples that could be implemented by small and medium-sized municipalities, such as a street-painting campaign from Austria or rewarding cyclists with vouchers and small gifts from Norway. As well as municipalities, delegates from groups such as Luxembourg's national cycling lobby and organisations working with and for people with disabilities attended. The event aimed to identify local coordinators and have them appointed by the municipalities.

Almost half of the Luxembourg's 106 municipalities were represented at the conference, who wanted to know how the campaign could help with the mobility problems they face. As jobs are mainly concentrated in Luxembourg City, the country’s capital, this means commuters living in other parts of the country and in neighbouring Belgium, France and Germany travel by car, resulting in daily traffic congestion. Public transport in the country also suffers from overcrowding. This means that the urban mobility problems in Luxembourg are of a different character to those in other countries, especially as the average population of Luxembourg municipalities is quite small, between two and five thousand inhabitants.

To view photos from the event click here. For more information about the event, visit mobiliteit.lu (in French).

Photo: Verkéiersverbond Lëtzebuerg

Cooperation is a key to success. That has been the consistent theme during visits by the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK outreach coordinator, Jerome Simpson, in Warsaw (Poland) and Chisinau (Moldova).

In both countries, the environment and transport ministries have realised that a truly successful campaign depends on their collaboration. All concerned made their intention clear to establish inter-ministerial working groups that would seek to involve NGOs and international organisations besides municipal associations and the private sector.

Fortunately, neither country is a stranger to EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK, and both aim to involve a large number of cities in the campaign in 2016. Adrian Mazur of Poland’s Ministry of Infrastructure and Construction looks forward to increasing the number of town, city and community registrations in 2016 than in the previous year. In Moldova, Viorica Staver, at the country's Ministry of Environment, stated that she would convey the responsibilities of a national coordinator to her respective minister, recognising that a formal appointment will boost Moldovan participation.

The week’s outreach also highlighted the importance of allying more closely with those campaigning on matters of road safety and equitable access. Chisinau's streets currently cater to cars moreso than cyclists and pedestrians, while those with impaired mobility face even greater challenges.

The first European Day Without A Road Death (EDWARD) on September 21 2016 will be a welcome boost to the campaign. It is a joint initiative of the European Commission and the European Traffic Police Network (TISPOL). Transport ministries in various countries are showing increased interest in this topic, while Moldovan NGOs were eager to register their activities under the campaign's MOBILITYACTIONS series saw NGOs eager to register their activities. There is much to look forward to in these countries as this year’s EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK gets underway.

After almost three years of working with municipalities and SMEs to develop electric mobility action plans, the EU-funded E-MOBILITY WORKS project will hold its final conference in Brussels (Belgium) on 14 June 2016.

The conference will draw conclusions from the work of the project, outline the e-mobility policies of the EU, and discuss the future of e-mobility in cities. Municipalities from Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Romania, Estonia, Finland and Greece took part in the project.

The conference is held as part of the EU’s Sustainable Energy Week and is free of charge. Speakers at the event include Jose Fernandez Garcia, Innovative and Sustainable Mobility Directorate, and Helmut Morsi, Principal Advisor to the Director-General, both of the European Commission’s DG MOVE; and Thelka Heinel, Head of Department, B.&S.U. mbH, Berlin.

The project helped municipalities to construct and deliver plans to enhance the uptake of e-mobility in cities. Through the project local leaders were empowered to improve urban air quality, and had the chance to build partnerships with business stakeholders such as energy supply companies, car-sharing providers, and charging station providers. Registration for the conference can be completed online.

For more information, visit emobilityworks.com. To download the programme, click here.