In 2023, many cities continued to develop city governance structures that promote partnerships and are better able to adopt a whole-of-society approach to governance.

As highlighted in the Eurocities Pulse Mayors Survey 2024, improving city governance continues to be an important ambition for many city leaders, including developing public services, tackling inequalities and building more sustainable urban areas.

However, mayors outline several ways in which the EU needs to improve how it works with local authorities. This includes providing a framework for cities to work with the EU institutions to develop effective urban policies, reinforcing local administrations’ technical and administrative capacity, and increasing direct access to EU funding for cities.

Nearly half (49%) of mayors responding to the Eurocities Pulse Mayors Survey say they want the next European Commission to develop a long-term strategy to work more effectively with cities, and 39% said the EU needs to recognise the importance of building the capacity of city administrations.

There are many examples of how the EU is working effectively with cities to overcome challenges such as economic recovery, the housing crisis and climate action.

Well-known initiatives, such as the Covenant of Mayors and the Urban Agenda for the EU have been complemented by new approaches, including the EU Mission for 100 Climate Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030 and the EU strategy on adaptation to climate change, as well as the Living-in-EU movement.

However, the Eurocities policy paper, How the EU can work better with cities, says the growing landscape for engagement between cities and the EU has led to a lack of clarity about the role and impact of some of these initiatives. As a result, the policy paper says a single governance framework on urban matters should be established.

Building on this position, the Eurocities European elections manifesto calls for a transparent and coherent EU governance strategy for urban policies, which increases cities’ capacity to improve public and private services and ensure a green, prosperous future for their residents.

This includes establishing a regular and direct dialogue between the EU and city leaders and giving cities a greater role in the development of EU policies.

To improve the relationship between cities and the EU, Eurocities and its members are calling for the creation of an Urban Envoy, centrally placed in the European Commission, with a mandate to oversee and coordinate all EU policies and initiatives for cities and urban areas.

Adding to this message, city leaders from across Europe also joined the Belgian Presidency of the EU to sign the Brussels Declaration in January 2024, which further underlines the need for an ambitious EU urban policy.

The declaration, developed with input from Eurocities, outlines the need for local governments to have greater involvement in EU decision making, for urban issues to be better integrated at European level, and for more city-friendly European regulations and funding.

When it comes to EU investment, Cohesion Policy, the EU’s main public investment tool, has historically supported the development of all territories across Europe, including urban areas. However, in recent years, the policy has developed a full-fledged urban dimension, making it one of the key EU policies supporting cities.

Multi-level governance, based on the partnership principle that considers the role of local governments, is at the core of Cohesion Policy, which means there is a clear role for cities in its design and implementation.

In the current programming period, for example, Gothenburg helped to draft the new Swedish national programme, while Ghent and Antwerp have been involved in the selection of urban projects focused on sustainable development.

This partnership principle is supported by the policy’s urban dimension, which ensures funding is specifically available to urban areas, through investment tools such as the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund.

It allows cities to develop sustainable urban development strategies that address their local needs, including the development of clean urban transport infrastructure, energy efficient buildings, cycle tracks and footpaths.

Looking ahead, the outlook for the current cohesion programme, running from 2021 – 2027, looks stable, with the EU planning to set aside €24 billion to support sustainable urban development and many more billions invested in urban areas.

However, as programme implementation speeds up, cities have cited several issues that need to be improved in relation to the implementation of the partnership principle, with formal consultations sometimes lacking depth, member states taking centralised decisions without consulting local authorities, and bureaucracy and red tape often leading to complications for cities.

Malmo, for instance, highlighted potential gaps in the effectiveness of communication between local entities and managing authorities, while Tallinn says political differences are undermining effective partnership implementation. The city planned to use cohesion funds for its green deal objectives but these priorities were not considered in the national operational programme.

As debate gathers pace on design of the policy after 2027, there is also uncertainty about whether the current level of multi-level investment will be maintained. For example, there are concerns that the European Commission may view the centralised approach of its NextGenerationEU recovery plan as an alternative delivery model for cohesion funds.

In a joint call in April 2024, Eurocities and its partners in the EU Cohesion Alliance stated that the next European institutions must keep Cohesion Policy as the main pillar of the EU’s next long-term budget.

Along with Cohesion Policy, another key focus of cities’ work to ensure strong multi-level governance has been the EU’s Covid-19 recovery plan, NextGenerationEU. Around €720 billion is available through the plan’s main funding instrument, the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

The recovery plan has the potential not only to support economic recovery, but also to accelerate Europe’s just, green and digital transformation and put Europe on the path to climate neutrality.

Eurocities and other stakeholders have continued to advocate for rules that would make the involvement of cities in the design and implementation of the plans a requirement for national governments.

“The green transition will not be achieved with isolated investments, but with long-term, transformational investments for cities,” said Laia Bonet, Deputy Mayor of Barcelona.

However, the Urban Recovery Watch report, published in January 2024 by Eurocities and the Global Cities Programme at CIDOB (Barcelona Centre for International Affairs), says the Recovery and Resilience Facility is not effective enough to drive the urban actions required to reverse the effects of austerity.

The report has found that the design and governance of EU member states’ plans have been centralised at national level, with a lack of consideration for local governments’ needs.

In Budapest, for example, the initiatives proposed by the city’s administration have largely been overlooked, including the city’s plans for electric buses and energy independence. This is due to a highly centralised national government that has prevented funding from reaching the local government.

“A political clash at national level can prevent cities from accessing EU funding. We need to look at how this can be prevented,” said Benedek Jávor, Head of the Representation of Budapest to the EU.

In addition, most national plans have focused on distributing resources through competitive calls, rather than giving cities a say or empowering them based on their needs.

In Barcelona, the city devised a plan aimed at addressing local green transformations, including cycling lanes, low emission zone control mechanisms and initiatives to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. Even though the plan was adopted much earlier than the Spanish recovery strategy, Barcelona was not invited to take part in the design or evaluation of the overall country plan.

However, although bureaucratic issues have occurred, when cities did receive funding they delivered urban transitions. Bologna, for instance, is hoping to receive up to €1 billion to develop hundreds of projects focused on sustainable development. This involves building the new green infrastructure needed to become a carbon-neutral city, investing in the regeneration of urban areas, and constructing two new tramway lines.

Despite the positive experience of some cities, local administrations are calling for their stronger involvement in the implementation of future public investment schemes, as well as recommending more direct access for cities to RRF funding.

“If we think we can achieve sustainable economic growth by only having national governments defining what is good for people, we will lose the belief in a strong Europe,” said André Sobczak, Secretary General of Eurocities.

At all levels of government, including city administrations, increasing recognition is being given to the important role of cooperation between cities and their surrounding municipalities and rural areas.

According to Eurostat data, around 50% of the rural population of the EU lives close to a city, often as part of wider metropolitan areas.

Rural-urban cooperation is a crucial means of tackling inequalities across all of the EU’s territories, as well as achieving the objectives of the European Green Deal.

With this in mind, in 2023 Eurocities published its Connecting Territories report, highlighting the need to better recognise metropolitan governance as an essential part of the management of complex urban-rural relationships. It also reflects the message in the Eurocities European elections manifesto, which outlines the importance of territorially balanced development to ensure a good quality of life for everyone.

A particularly noteworthy case in the report is that of the Czech city of Brno, which has developed an innovative €300 million integrated strategy to ensure links between the city and its surrounding 180 municipalities and rural areas are maintained. The strategy, which is improving transport links and tackling inequalities, is an excellent example of how EU funds and support from the Cohesion Policy can build effective urban-rural partnerships.

Another innovative example is the Living Lab project involving the Finnish capital Helsinki and 14 surrounding municipalities. The project was set up through the EU research project ROBUST, together with 11 other similar living labs across Europe.

The living lab was an experimental collaboration that brought together policymakers, researchers, city officers, businesses and citizens in one location to test new ways to solve problems in a specific geographic region. The aim of the lab was to introduce new networks that could find solutions to issues such as transport links and housing issues, as well as boost opportunities for innovation and growth.

The project has achieved very positive results, including boosting opportunities for local entrepreneurship, recognising the need to ensure the protection of the environment when it comes to building planning, and creating long-lasting links between everyone involved.