Ahead of the European Council meeting on 18-19 June 2026, the Local Alliance sent a joint letter to national leaders calling for the next EU budget to better support cities, regions and municipalities in delivering Europe’s priorities.
Signed by Eurocities and other major local and regional government networks, and supported by more than 50 municipalities, regions, provinces, associations and agencies, the letter underlines that EU investment works best when local governments are recognised as key partners in turning European ambitions into visible results for people.
The letter urges national leaders to back the European Parliament’s position for a place-based Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).
The Local Alliance calls on EU leaders to:
- Make the next EU budget place-based, so it reflects the needs and priorities of Europe’s cities, regions and municipalities.
- Strengthen multilevel governance, by ensuring local and regional governments are directly involved in designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating EU-funded plans.
- Back the European Parliament’s position on the next MFF, including clearer budget allocations for Cohesion Policy, ERDF, ESF, LIFE and other key programmes.
- Ensure final beneficiaries are not punished if EU funds are suspended to member states over rule of law concerns.
- Include mandatory regional and territorial chapters in National and Regional Partnership Plans, so all territories can benefit from EU investment.
- Protect dedicated funding for integrated territorial and urban development, including a minimum ERDF share for local strategies.
- Strengthen the administrative capacity of local and regional governments, including through technical assistance, to improve delivery and absorption of EU funds.
- Recognise cities, regions and municipalities as eligible beneficiaries and implementation partners in the future European Competitiveness Fund.
- Connect territorial innovation tools to the Competitiveness Fund, including smart specialisation strategies, local innovation ecosystems and EU Mission projects.
- Safeguard Coordination and Support Actions, which help cities and regions with market uptake, capacity building, replication, standardisation and clean technology deployment.
- Include local and regional authorities in the governance of the European Competitiveness Fund, especially in shaping work programmes and deciding which tools are needed on the ground.