News

PURPLE has been constituted as an international not for profit organisation (AISBL) under Belgian law since 2015. Updated legal requirements have necessitated all such bodies to update their statutes under this provision with effect from the beginning of 2024

A new version of PURPLE's memorandum of association was arrived at over the course of 2023, based upon legal advice and with input from all member regions and subsequentally formally agreed upon at the 37th General Assembly.

So with the new year comes a new and updated series of statutes, designed to bring new flexibilities and possibilities to the way in which our network operates. Details will be made public soon.

PURPLE's Working Group met again in Brussels on December 12 and 13 - it was the sixth and final time that the group had come together face to face during the course of 2023. Once again, the meeting was hosted by the Flemish Land Agency (VLM), and chaired by PURPLE Secretary General, Vincent O'Connell.

Agenda items under discussion included two identified opportunities under the Horizom Europe programme as well as an update on other funding options under consideration by various member regions. The meeting also including a planning session for a public event on the topic of nature restoration in peri-urban areas which is being explored with a view to arranging such a thing in Brussels during the Belgian EU Presidency in 2024.

Of, potentially, the greatest longer-term significance was the launch of an officer debate around PURPLE's future working arangements once its new and updated statutes are formally in place come 2024.

PURPLE convened its General Assembly (GA) for the 37th time - in Brussels in early November 2023. The event was an auspicious one, hosted as it was in the newly opened Representation Office of the South Moravian office, it was the first occasion upon which the chair was taken for a full GA meeting by the network's recently elected President, Mr Petr Springinsfeld.

In his first presidential keynote, Mr Springinsfeld reminded those present that autumn 2023 saw PURPLE in a "good place", that a new Work Plan in respect of 2023-24 had earlier that same day been endorsed by the Executive Board and that a key point of business was to formally ratify a new and updated series of organisaation statutes around which he was very much looking forward to a lively discussion with a clear focus on future opportunities.

Late October saw the first Practice Case Meetings (PCMs) held as part of the initial delivery stage of the Horizon Europe project Plus Change and chaired by PURPLE Secretary General Vincent O'Connell.

The meetings were the first in a series designed to extend over the project's four-year lifespan and addressed issues of shared interest to the 12 local/regional Practice Case (PC) partners such as forthcoming local launch events, the public sessions planned for next year, and the ways in which the core teams in each PC will collaborate with PLUS Change research partners in establishing local stakeholder groups and collating relevant data and evidence.

The next PCMs are scheduled to take place in early 2024.

The 37th edition of the PURPLE network General Assembly has been announced to take place in Brussels on Tuesday 7th November.

It will be held in the premises of the South Moravia Representation Office to the EU on the Tuesday afternoon, chaired by PURPLE President Petr Springinsfeld.

Meeting papers and other details are available on the members-only area of the website.

The PURPLE Network is absolutely delighted to announce that it has been successful in its application to be a member of the newly constituted EU CAP Network.

In thanking PURPLE for submitting a response to the formal public call for applications, DG AGRI Director General Wolfgang Burtscher wrote "The responsible Commission services have assessed all the applications in accordance with the procedure and selection criteria laid down in the section 4 of the call. In light of the results of this assessment, I am pleased to inform you that I have decided to appoint the PURPLE as a member of the EU CAP network Assembly".

PURPLE therefore becomes one of only two European-level bodies appointed to represent the interests of regional or local authorities in the new EU CAP Network Assembly 2021-27.