{"id":1944,"date":"2026-07-03T09:40:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T09:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/?p=1944"},"modified":"2026-07-03T09:40:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T09:40:45","slug":"housing-local-leaders-and-the-european-investment-bank-act-together-while-the-message-from-harghita-county-is-clear-planning-must-be-done-from-the-bottom-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/housing-local-leaders-and-the-european-investment-bank-act-together-while-the-message-from-harghita-county-is-clear-planning-must-be-done-from-the-bottom-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Housing: local leaders and the European Investment Bank act together, while the message from Harghita County is clear \u2013 planning must be done from the bottom up"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Brussels, the housing crisis came to the centre of the European Union\u2019s attention.<\/strong> During the plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), local leaders discussed European housing policy with Nadia Calvi\u00f1o, President of the European Investment Bank, Members of the European Parliament Irene Tinagli and Borja Gim\u00e9nez Larraz, as well as Marco Corradi, President of Housing Europe.<\/p>\n

At the end of the plenary session, CoR President Kata T\u00fctt\u0151 and EIB Vice-President Marek Mora signed a new cooperation agreement between the two institutions, identifying housing, cohesion, the climate and energy transition, and social infrastructure as common priorities.<\/p>\n

In his intervention, Csaba Borboly received a clear answer to his question: housing action plans must be place-based and developed from the bottom up.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Housing at the centre of the European debate<\/h2>\n

In Brussels, during the 172nd plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions, a special debate was held on the housing crisis.<\/p>\n

During the discussion, local and regional leaders underlined that the time has come to turn political will into concrete investments, into new, affordable and environmentally friendly homes. Housing is not a secondary issue, but a European matter that affects social cohesion, the climate and energy transition, the future of young people and territorial inequalities at the same time.<\/p>\n

The plenary debate included contributions from Nadia Calvi\u00f1o, President of the European Investment Bank, Irene Tinagli, Chair of the European Parliament\u2019s Special Committee on the Housing Crisis, Borja Gim\u00e9nez Larraz, rapporteur of the European Parliament, and Marco Corradi, President of Housing Europe.<\/p>\n

Participants stressed that Europe\u2019s housing crisis is deep and structural, and that addressing it requires coordinated action by EU institutions, Member States, regions and cities, as well as significant long-term investment.<\/p>\n

From political will to concrete investment<\/h2>\n

Expanding the housing supply, carrying out energy-efficient renovations, simplifying permitting procedures and ensuring access to financing are all essential conditions to prevent housing from becoming an inaccessible luxury.<\/p>\n

The European Investment Bank indicated that it will significantly increase financing for housing investments and will play a central role in implementing the European housing action plan.<\/p>\n

Through the Pan-European Investment Platform, the aim is to mobilise public and private resources together, so that new, affordable and sustainable homes can be built and the existing building stock can be modernised efficiently.<\/p>\n

The role of the European Housing Alliance<\/h2>\n

The Brussels debate is also closely linked to the work of the European Housing Alliance, established by the European Commission.<\/p>\n

The aim of the European Housing Alliance is to bring together, within an open European platform, all those who have a role to play in solving the housing crisis: Member States, regions, cities, professional organisations, housing stakeholders and civil partners.<\/p>\n

According to the official information provided by the European Commission, the Alliance is intended not merely as a consultation forum, but as a framework for cooperation that supports, coordinates and strengthens local, regional and national efforts.<\/p>\n

From principles to practice<\/h2>\n

The inaugural meeting of the Alliance took place in Brussels on 19 June 2026 under the motto \u201cFrom Principles to Practice\u201d<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

More than 120 participants attended the event in person, while around 700 joined online. The meeting sent a clear message: Europe must not only formulate principles on housing, but also turn them into concrete action, investment and locally functioning solutions.<\/p>\n

Further details are available in the European Commission\u2019s news item: Shaping the European Housing Alliance: turning principles into action.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why this matters for Harghita County<\/h2>\n

The principles of the European Housing Alliance are particularly important for Harghita County as well.<\/p>\n

The Alliance is based on subsidiarity, multi-level governance, open and transparent participation, flexibility, and the need to connect political decision-making with realities on the ground.<\/p>\n

This is exactly the approach that mountain, rural and smaller communities need: not general plans written from the centre, but housing policies that take into account local living conditions, architectural traditions, the potential of the wood industry, energy-efficiency challenges and the conditions needed for young people to remain at home.<\/p>\n

Further information about the Alliance is available on the European Commission\u2019s page: The European Housing Alliance.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A new cooperation agreement between the CoR and the EIB<\/h2>\n

At the end of the plenary session, an important step was taken: Kata T\u00fctt\u0151, President of the European Committee of the Regions, and Marek Mora, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank, signed a new Memorandum of Understanding between the two institutions.<\/p>\n

This agreement provides a new framework for cooperation in the fields of housing, urban and territorial development, cohesion policy, the just transition, climate and energy, innovation, competitiveness and social infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The key objective is to ensure that local and regional authorities have easier and better-targeted access to the EIB\u2019s financial and advisory instruments.<\/p>\n

The message from Harghita County: planning must start from local realities<\/h2>\n

In his intervention, Csaba Borboly started from the experiences of Harghita County.<\/p>\n

He pointed out that in Romania, housing measures are too often drafted exclusively in ministerial offices, without territorial partnership, without local experience and without real knowledge of the situation on the ground. In such cases, documents may look good on paper, but they do not work in practice.<\/p>\n

There is no genuine place-based planning, no strong regional role, and the result is that young people leave mountain and rural areas \u2013 including Harghita County.<\/p>\n

The central question<\/h2>\n

The central question of his intervention was:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWill housing action plans be place-based \u2013 co-designed with local and regional authorities and embedded in the new National and Regional Partnership Plans \u2013 or will we again leave it to a ministry to draft something that works on paper and fails on the ground?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Through this question, Csaba Borboly made it clear that housing action plans can only deliver results if they are developed together with local and regional authorities, from the bottom up, and are not defined exclusively at central level.<\/p>\n

The responses given during the debate confirmed this approach: both the European Parliament and the CoR support a territorial perspective, partnership-based planning and the consideration of local realities.<\/p>\n

Housing, wood industry and local identity<\/h2>\n

Csaba Borboly also recalled that in Harghita County he had already initiated the idea that housing, forest management, the wood industry, the \u201cLet\u2019s Build with Wood\u201d<\/strong> programme, the vision of the New European Bauhaus, the protection of built heritage and the preservation of the traditional landscape should be addressed in an integrated way, within a common development framework.<\/p>\n

It is not enough to wait for a general plan to be drafted in Alba Iulia or Bucharest, one that does not see the realities of mountain areas.<\/p>\n

Harghita County must develop its own place-based package of housing proposals and bring it into the national and European processes.<\/p>\n

Housing as a question of staying at home<\/h2>\n

In Harghita County, housing is also a question of staying at home.<\/p>\n

Young people will remain at home if they feel that accessible and dignified housing is available, that local know-how has value, that the wood industry has a future, and that traditional architecture and the local landscape are respected.<\/p>\n

The Brussels debate, the launch of the European Housing Alliance and the agreement signed with the EIB all point in the same direction: at European level, there is political will and financial support.<\/p>\n

The task now is for Harghita County to enter this process from the bottom up, building on its own experiences, and to become not merely a passive beneficiary, but an actor shaping European housing policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Brussels, the housing crisis came to the centre of the European Union\u2019s attention. During the plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), local leaders discussed European housing policy with Nadia Calvi\u00f1o, President of the European Investment Bank, Members of the European Parliament Irene Tinagli and Borja Gim\u00e9nez Larraz, as well as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[82,1,84],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cor","category-hirek","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1944"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1946,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1944\/revisions\/1946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}