The French city of Marseille (image), the Italian city of Taranto and the Spanish city of Valencia are the newest members of the European cities network Eurocities. Their applications were approved by Eurocities’ Executive Committee on Wednesday.

Le Havre, France, is joining as a partner city.

The Portuguese city of Guimaraes extends its existing cooperation as an associated partner.

Eurocities has now 202 cities from 38 European countries in the network.

“It’s great to see our community of cities growing,” said Anna Lisa Boni, Secretary General of Eurocities. “City-to-city collaboration is more important than ever and the voice of cities needs to be heard even louder in Europe. I am looking forward to working with all our new members and partners.”