Put Europe in Your Projects is an internal challenge launched in October 2021 that invites Lille Metropole public officers to develop project ideas in line with the priorities of Lille Metropole’s President Damien Castelain and the EU priorities defined by the Von der Leyen Commission. They focus in particular on the Green Deal, especially on mobility, environment, climate and circular economy issues but also on digitalisation, employment, industry or citizen inclusiveness.

Every public officer of Lille Metropole could register and enlist in a team of maximum eight members and choose a category in which their project falls into. Ten teams were created and they were given six months (from October 2021 to April 2022) to develop their proposals. The three categories of the challenge are (i) openness and European spirit, (ii) influence and (iii) development projects. The first one aims to develop a proposal to broaden Lille Metropole’s exchanges with European partners and contacts and to strengthen the European spirit of our metropole. Under the influence category, teams are committed in lobbying activities and try to develop different levers to put a subject, which is important for the team and Lille Metropole, on the European agenda. The last category allows enriching one project within a European framework, including it in a partnership with other European cities that could possibly lead to European funding!

In the beginning, 10 teams registered for the challenge and had support from our Lille Metropole EU Office team in Brussels to help them get in touch with the six international and European networks in which Lille Metropole plays part. This support was of greatest help to push them realise European activities that could provide them with extra marks. Alongside these extra marks for European activities, all teams had to submit within 6 months a final project formulary, which was analysed by the final jury in late April! The jury focused on evaluation criteria that took into account the team composition, the involvement of external and European partners in the proposal, the originality and innovative aspects of the proposal, its inclusion in the European strategies and Lille Metropole priorities and finally the number of beneficiaries during and after the implementation of the project.

Presentation of Lille Metropole’s Challenge: Put Europe in Your Projects!

The first three teams who got the best score by adding up the marks for their European activities and the marks after the final evaluation are awarded three special prizes. The 1st prize is a 2 to 3 day study and discovery trip to an European city that will be chosen in relation to the theme developed by the winning team. This trip will be organised in the 2nd half of 2022. The 2nd prize is a 2-day European trip to Brussels organised by Lille Metropole EU Office, including meetings with European partners and visits to European institutions. For the 3rd prize, each member of the team receives an original book on Europe.

If you are interested in the challenge, you can find here the article about our winning team and discover their project!