On 21 April, mayors and local leaders from across the EU joined the launch event of the new Covenant of Mayors. In an online ceremony, the Political Board presented the Covenant's vision "for a fairer, climate-neutral Europe", the new pledge for cities and regions aiming to step up climate ambitions.

ECR Vice-President, Mr Juraj Droba, and ECR Member, Mr Roberto Ciambetti, underlined the honour for them to participate in this first launch meeting of the Second Chamber of the Covenant of Mayors as ambassadors for Slovakia and Italy respectively.

Mr Droba emphasized that his region of Bratislava "is proud to be a signatory of the Covenant of Mayors initiative and we take our commitment to fight climate change very seriously". He gave some examples of actions being taken in Bratislava such as the creation of "an inclusive ecological centre for domestic and foreign visitors with environmental education programmes", and explained how the region will be also "supporting mobility based on rail". The ECR Vice-President sees it as "the solution for our overpopulated region".

The President of the Bratislava self-governing region also drew attention to the activities of the region in the field of environmental protection: "The Bratislava self-governing region has been actively involved in preparation and is currently involved in implementing the Catalogue of Climate Change Adaptation Measures, providing practical recommendations for measures and interventions to be implemented at local level". Mr Droba also mentioned the planned Environmental Education Center in Čunovo, whose task will be to "increase the environmental awareness of the population".

​Mr Roberto Ciambetti, President of the Veneto Regional Council in Italy, referred to the high number of signatories Italy has to the Covenant - currently 4859. For the ECR member, it shows "how much Italian citizens and local governments care about environmental and climate protection". The creation of this second chamber is a concrete response to the call for strengthening national strategies and strengthening the political dimension of the Covenant of Mayors and Mr Ciambetti said he strongly believes "that the coordinating regions of the Covenant such as Veneto can play a key role in supporting municipalities on the one hand and strengthening their links with national and European policies on the other".

He continued to say that their commitment is "not limited to encouraging our mayors to support the Covenant, but also to effectively implement on the ground the various objectives we hope to achieve". Mr Ciambetti highlighted the importance of "coordinating the experiences spread across our national territory", and concluded that "as head of the Italian delegation to the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), I will commit myself to the make sure that the whole delegation will proactively respond to this call".

The Covenant of Mayors was launched in 2008 by the European Commission to support cities and regions with delivering the EU's 2020 climate and energy targets. The Covenant is now reinforcing its role by aligning its climate pledge to the EU's objective of reaching climate neutrality by 2050 together with the launch of a new Chamber of National Ambassadors to support the rollout of the Covenant in each Member State.