2025 in review: National EuroVelo Coordination Centres

News from network coordination and development

In 2025 and as every year, National EuroVelo Coordination Centres are at the heart of EuroVelo development and growth, country by country.

to become a candidate EuroVelo route. The process involved NECCs in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (established in 2023, with this application in mind) and Serbia, representing the four countries crossed by the Sava River. The four NECCs are civil society organisations (in Bosnia and Herzegovina), public authorities (in Slovenia and Croatia) and an agency (in Serbia). The successful application shows a willingness to cooperate among different sectors – tourism, regional development, environment – and types of organisations, and we can only but support similar initiatives everywhere in Europe.

Similarly, the extension of EuroVelo 15 – Rhine Cycle Route to Liechtenstein and Austria was undertaken with the support of the Austrian NECC, of SwitzerlandMobility and local authorities for Liechtenstein. A considerable section of EuroVelo 15 – Rhine Cycle Route was also re-certified using the European Certification Standard methodology.

In other countries, we must mention completed signage of EuroVelo 13 – Iron Curtain Trail in Norway, the inauguration of a significant stretch of EuroVelo 1 – Atlantic Coast Route in the Coimbra region of Portugal, between Mira and Figueira da Foz, the integration of EuroVelo 13 – Iron Curtain Trail in the German national cycle route network (Radnetz Deutschland) with the number 13, the first edition of the Spanish Cycling Tourism Fair held in the framework of the Pedal Spain project and coordinated by the Spanish NECC, and a survey on cycling tourism and EuroVelo in Belgium led by Pro Velo.

Some work for and by ECF

This year saw the usual services being offered to National EuroVelo Coordination Centres – regular dedicated newsletters and communications, four online workshops, and the organisation of the EuroVelo General Meeting (more of this later). 2025 also brought a new and more attractive format and template of the carefully-crafted NECC mailings.

On the ECF side, the main highlights were the finalisation of the EuroVelo Brand Kit, which includes a variety of items such as icons, logos, route and country maps. As national guardians of the brand and supervisors of EuroVelo signage and communications, the new Brand Kit is particularly useful for NECCs, adds new elements and simplifies access to other ones. Another highlight was the publication of a revised and expanded version of the NECC Manual, a document designed to guide aspiring NECCs in preparing their applications, as well as inform about EuroVelo governance, NECCs, and their structure.

It was also an important year for strategy and governance. As we are halfway through the period covered by the EuroVelo Strategy 2030, the team, EuroVelo Council and NECCs were busy with the review of the Strategy, assessing the progress made in the past five years, considering context changes and setting clear priorities for the next five years. The report of this mid-term review exercise is publicly available in its short form following approval by the EuroVelo General Meeting and serves as a clear compass to guide our shared work.

Considerations from the EuroVelo General Meeting

The annual meeting of National EuroVelo Coordination Centres is the EuroVelo General Meeting. This year, it took place in Balatonfüred, Hungary, on 24 September, as usual in the framework of the EuroVelo & Cycling Tourism Conference. The Hungarian NECC kindly hosted this year’s event, which deservedly showcased the extensive work done on EuroVelo, cycling and active travel in the country. It was again a well-attended meeting – but as record attendances are broken year after year, here we will focus on what was new.

elections were held. National EuroVelo Coordination Centres re-elected Christian Weinberger and Pinar Pinzuti for a second mandate, and elected Wanda Nowotarska, from Poland, as a new member.

This year’s EVGM also included five thematic workshops with the goal of sharing experiences, challenges and results related to varied topics, from governance and EuroVelo development to business cooperation. NECCs could discuss with their peers and exchange useful perspectives – a successful format that will definitely be repeated.

And we are keeping the best for the last, with one of the biggest achievements of the year for the network! Two new NECCs were approved by the EVGM assembly: SwitzerlandMobility, the current Swiss NECC, has taken on the EuroVelo coordination role in the Principality of Liechtenstein, too, following the aforementioned extension of EuroVelo 15 – Rhine Cycle Route. The Polish Tourism Organisation, in turn, is now leading the National EuroVelo Coordination Centre for Poland, in a consortium with the Association of Polish Regions.

As a concluding remark, the positive impact of the work to establish an NECC in Poland is worth considering: as explained in the Route Development Status Report (2025), the work towards putting together an application produced results even before submitting it. Polish partners could centralise the collection of data and the awareness of the development status of the almost 5,000 km of EuroVelo routes, as well as start the work on establishing a unified system for a national cycle route network with EuroVelo at its backbone.

Article by Jessica Casagrande