A notable trend has emerged in the European Parliament this term: a substantial 30% of newly elected MEPs have a background in city government, many of whom held leadership roles as mayors or city councillors.
This growing presence of urban champions in Europe’s house of democracy aligns with Eurocities’ long-standing vision: to see the European institutions address pressing urban issues with place sensitive policies.
As European cities face increasing pressures – from climate change to social inclusion and housing – these new MEPs bring local experience that directly relates to EU cities’ agenda, as recently echoed at the European Mayors Summit, through a dedicated political declaration targeting the work between mayors and MEPs.
Zooming into the numbers: understanding our urban champions
This cohort of former urban leaders is significant for the representation of city perspectives within the EU. For Eurocities, this is not just a statistic – it is an indicator of the huge potential for European policymaking to become more responsive to local realities.
Who are our urban champions?
These urban champions are MEPs who have held elected office at the city level, rather than broader regional roles. Their experience spans a wide array of urban contexts and roles, with former city leaders from major metropolitan centres, mid-sized cities, and even smaller towns. Together, they bring diverse insights into the challenges and strengths of urban governance.
Leadership diversity: This group comprises 72 former mayors, 131 city councillors, and 31 deputy mayors, reflecting the depth of experience among those who now hold seats in the European Parliament.
Urban representativeness: These urban champions come from cities of all sizes, with 38% representing cities over 250,000 inhabitants, closely aligning with Eurocities’ membership base; another 27 from mid-sized cities (50,000-250,000 inhabitants, including many Eurocities associated partners); and 35% from smaller towns (5,000-50,000 inhabitants).
The map below includes all those urban areas over 50,000 inhabitants, illustrating the geographical breadth of urban experience now in the European Parliament.
Diversity in gender and national delegations
Our analysis shows that these urban champions reflect and are aligned with the broader gender composition of the Parliament, with 64% men and 36% women.
At city level, this gender imbalance is often more stark in top positions, with only around 19% of women being represented at mayoral level in Europe’s cities, but in line with city councillor positions at 34.5%.
This is why Eurocities has recently launched initiatives like the Women Leaders Mentorship Programme to help balance representation in top positions at city level.
The relevance of urban champions in national delegations reveal trends that speak to the broader political and electoral landscape across the EU.
Italy and Germany lead with the highest numbers of urban champions, indicative of Italy’s strong tradition of local-level political pathways and its unique electoral preference system that often elevates former mayors to higher office. Meanwhile, smaller countries like Hungary and Slovakia have fewer city-level representatives.
Political group representation: Strong presence from EPP and S&D
In terms of political families, the European People’s Party (EPP) and the Socialists & Democrats (S&D) groups feature the most former mayors, particularly those from larger cities (15 out of 19 mayors from cities above 100k). This reflects Eurocities’ own findings on political representation in city governments, where the EPP and S&D are frequently in power, often leading city governments on their own or leading coalitions with other parties.
Meanwhile, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) are well represented by former councillors from smaller urban areas. This spread across parties illustrates a wide recognition of the value city-level experience brings to EU policymaking.
From our list of MEP urban champions, we excluded those MEPs from the Patriots group (22 in total, mainly from Italy and France) who have not shown willingness to champion and work constructively on urban matters – as made clear in a recent debate in the European Parliament on cities and regions.
Urban Champions in European Parliament committees
These urban champions are highly represented in key European Parliament committees that deal with urban matters. Notably, the Committee on Regional Development (REGI) has the largest share, with 17 of 43 members (42%) bringing city-level experience – a promising sign for cities, as this committee directly deals with Cohesion Policy and funding, crucial for urban development, but also with wider EU urban matters.
Similarly, urban champions represent close to 35% of the Transport Committee, which should help align local perspectives with EU policies on sustainable mobility.
By contrast, their presence is lower in committees of the European Parliament, such as on Economic and Monetary Affairs, and on Fisheries, where the proportion is closer to 17% and 13%, respectively. Overall, representation across most committees ranges between 20-35% of the full members.
A strong foundation for urban priorities in the European Parliament
With 75% of Europe’s citizens living in cities, the strong representation of urban champions in the European Parliament should not come as a surprise and reflects an important recognition from the EU electorate and party leaders to those politicians who drive change locally and tackle concrete urban challenges.
This critical mass of MEPs with first hand city government experience has an important role to play to ensure that urban matters are considered in the work of the European Parliament.
With an ambitious new policy agenda for cities being proposed by the new European Commission to better coordinate urban matters, it provides a strong basis for coordinated action on urban matters across European Parliament committees on cross sectoral and integrated issues such as Cohesion Policy, green transitions, housing and social inclusion.
Eurocities has been an important partner to the European Parliament over the past legislature. As such, it is ready to support this collaborative effort, as outlined in the recent declaration of 10 priorities for European citizens and cities signed in Strasbourg, ensuring a constant feedback loop between current city leaders and EU legislation for a truly urban-responsive European policy framework.
