SolidarCity Policy Group – Policies affecting employment andentrepreneurship in towns and cities

National and European employment objectives cannot be achieved without the active involvement of actors at the regional and local level. The idea of the project SolidarCity has been developed in continuity of 3 EQUAL Projects implemented during the period 2001 – 2006 by EFXINI POLI / Network of 30 Local Authorities and in collaboration with multidimensional partnerships all having experience in working within the existing employment policy framework and tailoring programs to local needs, influencing the employment development policy itself by becoming an integral part of policy design and appliance. SolidarCity as a decisive intervention from all local actors (regional & local authorities, civil society) for employment rate increase at local level appears as a need to contribute to the economic modernization and increased competitiveness of Europe. Main objective of the SolidarCity project is to improve the effectiveness of regional development policies by enhancing the role and involvement of local & regional authorities and civil society in employment rate increase through exploring the parameters which burden the active participation into the local labour market and finding ways to create more and better. This paper will present the outputs of SolidarCity project concerning policies affecting employment and entrepreneurship in towns and cities from several countries as: Greece, Bulgaria, United Kingdom, Finland, Italy and Romania. This project was financed by European Union, European Regional Development Fund through INTERREG IVC (www.i4c.eu) program.