The new ECF office in Brussels was opened on the 29th of November 2006 in the location just next door to the EU Commission, rue Joseph II, 166. More than 60 participants as EU MEP´s, VIP´s from the lobby work and cylists´ activists joined the extraordinary ceremony. Official speakers from the event were Pascal Smet, Minister of the Brussels Region, and Manfred Neun, ECF President. The Minister announced that the Brussels Region and the ECF will organize the world’s largest biennial bicycle planning conference Velo-city in 2009 in Brussels.

The Velo-City conference is widely respected as the premier international cycling planning conference series in the world, attracting more than 500 participants. The series name is owned by the ECF.  Velo-City began in 1980 and seeks to encourage cycling as a part of daily transport and recreation. The Velo-City events do not just attract one type of profession, but bring together all those who are involved in the policy, promotion and provision for cyclists. This mixture of people, professions, skills and experience is a valuable component of the events success.

“Two years ago I announced my bicycle plan with a series of measures to encourage the use of the bicycle,” said Pascal Smet. “Two years later the daily use of the bicycle already increased from 1% to 4%. It should be possible to double this before Velo-city 2009. Velo-city and the special attention should help us to promote Brussels as a bicycle city and to invest in cycling even in the years after 2009. Because you must work permanently on a bicycle friendly city,” Pascal Smet said. The ECF president emphasized that organizing the Velo-city conference will help to improve and to promote cycling in Brussels, in whole Belgium and in Europe. “We bring all the expertise on cycling to the capital of Europe!”.

For the forthcoming Velo-city 2007 in Munich the ECF President invited the Minister to present Brussels there in June next year and to promote the Velo-city Brussels to the audience of the conference in Munich.

Please find the Opening Speech of the New ECF Office by ECF President Manfred Neun:
Download (Pdf, 327 Kb)

Some pictures from and around the opening ceremony:

From left: Manfred Neun, ECF President and Bernhard Ensink, ECF Secretary General in front of the office	Horst Hahn-Klöckner,  ECF Vice-President, Manfred Neun and Bernhard Ensink
Bernhard Ensink, MEP Michael Cramer,  ECF Founder Burckhard Doempke, Paul Beeckmans, EP transport adviser	Pascal Smet, Minister Brussels and Manfred Neun on the bike
Pascal Smet, Bernhard Ensink and Manfred Neun by Signing Velo-city 2009 Brussels	Pascal Smet, Bernhard Ensink and Manfred Neun by Signing the Visitor´s Book
Bernhard Ensink, Annick Roetynck, ETRA and Michael Cramer	Manfred Neun, Hans van Vliet, Shimano Europe and ECF Founder Jean Chaumiens
Greet Engelen, COLIPED, Hans van Vliet, Bernhard Ensink, Isabelle Lesens, European Greenways and Manfred Neun Further pictures Photos made by Christoph Rasch	Christmas and a brighter future for cyclists in Europe is coming