On June 13th, 2022, we have attended the largest ever edition of the annual meeting of the National EuroVelo Coordination Centres and Coordinators (NECC/Cs) that took place in Ljubljana, Slovenia, coinciding with the Velo-city 2022 Conference.
As with last time, this year’s edition was a hybrid event with over 50 international participants registered – 28 joining in-person and 25 joining online. This represents a new record for the number of representatives of NECC/Cs, EuroVelo Council members (and candidates) and the EuroVelo Management Team taking part.
During main part of the meeting, the 2021 Annual Report and 2022 Workplan were presented.
The EVGM was also an occasion to bid a fond farewell to Käthi Diethelm and Lukas Stadtherr who have been members of the EuroVelo Council since it was established with Käthi serving as chair all that time.
It was also the last EVGM of Ed Lancaster, who will be stepping down as EuroVelo Director in the summer after 11 years with ECF.
Our Austrian colleagues upgraded from having a National EuroVelo Coordinator to a National EuroVelo Coordination Centre – congratulations!
After traditional voting procedure, three new members to the EuroVelo Council were elected: Christian Weinberger, Pinar Pinzuti and Spiros Papageorgiou.
Host NECC/C then had the opportunity to present the latest developments on the EuroVelo network in Slovenia.
During last part of the meeting, each NECC/Cs had the opportunity to share recent successes and current challenges with the rest of the group – related to Serbia, recent reconstruction of Belgrade – Novi Sad railway (and new bike-friendly trains) and challenges with our cyclists’ counters were mentioned.
After lunch, a bike ride was organised by the Slovenian NECC with the support of a guide throughout Ljubljana. A networking dinner also took place afterwards, the perfect occasion to share more ideas on best practices and cycling tourism in general in a less formal environment.