Nature of the Duties and Profile
The Renew Europe Group aims to increase its outreach throughout the subnational network of its political family, in particular by further developing its network of mayors, which is rapidly approaching its first decade and is now ready for the next stage of development. Several European capital cities, currently including Bratislava, Bucharest Sectors 1 & 2, Luxembourg, Tallinn, and The Hague are led by Renew Europe mayors, while in several other capital cities governed by a coalition, the deputy mayor is from our political family. The same applies in thousands of large and small municipalities all across the Union. As political leaders, mayors face a unique set of challenges, frequently taking decisions that immediately impact people's daily routines, regularly interacting in person with demanding citizens as well as with an active and diverse civil society, facing often hostile political opposition and intense media scrutiny, sometimes running a large public administration and being politically responsible for large budgets, and having a high level of visibility in their local community at times also having a national profile. Showing that we understand the political environment of our mayors is essential to the next stage of development of our network, and in doing so, Renew Europe will increase its capacity to gather evidence from the ground for its policy work in the CoR, and will increase its ability to bring Europe closer to the citizens.
The successful candidate will work reporting directly to the RENEW EUROPE Secretary General (SG), under the political authority of the Group's President and Bureau, and will be responsible for developing, maintaining, and animating the mayors' network, including:
1. Communication with mayors via various means, including formal correspondence;
2. Managing databases and contact details;
3. Monitoring policy activities of mayors in their municipalities;
4. Proposing political actions and activities for the network;
5. Helping prepare summits and other relevant events/meetings;
6. Maintaining relevant contacts in other EU institutions, and in the wider Renew Europe political family, in Brussels and around Europe.
The successful candidate will also help develop other nascent networks of Renew Europe, namely:
7. the Renew Europe network of Regional Ministers,
8. the Renew Europe network of young elected politicians, and
9. the Renew Europe members of the CoR's "EU councillors" network;
Finally, the successful candidate will support the Renew Europe SG with contacts and activities with external partners at EU level, especially the Networking Unit of Renew Europe in the European Parliament.
The successful candidate will contribute to the good functioning of the group's secretariat, including assisting other colleagues, as required, and in the wider context of the CoR, which is a large and complex public administration, will also be required to maintain good working relations with counterparts in other political groups and within the general secretariat of the CoR.
The duties require a high degree of availability (frequently heavy meetings schedule, sometimes irregular working hours, occasional-to-frequent travel), a pro-active and positive approach to problem-solving and creative thinking, excellent diplomatic and interpersonal skills, excellent drafting skills (formal correspondence), flexibility, ability to adapt to a changing workload and to tight deadlines, and an ability to work as part of a team in an international environment.