16.10.2025
Local leaders urge next EU budget to empower cities and regions
At the European Parliament this week, mayors and regional leaders joined Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), the European Committee of the Regions and the European Commission to insist that the EU’s next long-term budget (MFF 2028–2034) must empower local governments to deliver Europe’s priorities. The debate, organised under the banner “Shaping the Next EU Budget with Cities”, was convened by the European Urban Forum in cooperation with the Local Alliance of eight networks for regional and local governments, of which Climate Alliance is part.
Opening the discussion, Hugo Sobral, Deputy Director General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy, underlined that the Commission’s proposal aims to simplify rules and bring together funding streams, while also building in more flexibility to respond to the “permanent crisis” of recent years. He pointed to the EU’s Agenda for Cities, due in December, as a tool to create a permanent dialogue with local leaders. “We want the same: to make cities thrive,” Sobral said. Yet across the room, local and regional leaders expressed deep concern that rather than achieving flexibility and simplicity, the current proposal risks sidelining local governments. Pascal Smet (Member of the Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region and the European Committee of the Regions) warned that the current set up of the budget, and particularly the National and Regional Partnership Plans (NRPPs) risk creating “a Europe of nation states.”
During the meeting, mayors from Slovenia to Germany representing both large metropolises and small towns emphasised the crucial role of cities in defending democracy and building cohesion. The message: local and regional governments are closest to citizens, responsible for implementing the bulk of EU legislation and mobilising most climate-relevant investment. Without their leadership and partnership, Europe cannot succeed in meeting its green, digital, social, and competitiveness ambitions. In the words of Eckart Würzner, Mayor of Heidelberg (DE), “We are a team; we are a partnership,” the national level cannot achieve more sustainability and more growth without its cities, towns and regions.
With budget negotiations just beginning, the European Urban Forum showed clear momentum: local leaders, the European Committee of the Regions, and Members of the European Parliament are aligned in demanding that Europe’s budget must support local governments, safeguard cohesion, and deliver tangible results for people in every territory. As part of the Local Alliance, Climate Alliance is championing the message that the way forward is not less Europe, but a stronger Europe empowering and working in real multilevel governance and partnership with its towns, cities and regions.
