EU countries are already making choices that could shape billions of euros in investment, while the cities responsible for turning many of those choices into results remain largely excluded. A new Eurocities survey finds that national preparations are under way across most countries covered, but more than three quarters of respondents able to assess their involvement say it is limited or non existent.
Mayors and city leaders in the Eurocities Mayors’ MFF Coordination Group yesterday (14 October) presented the preliminary findings of the survey to Raffaele Fitto, European Commission Executive Vice-President for Cohesion and Reforms. They warned that informal decisions taken now could lock cities out before the rules are settled, weaken the quality of national plans, make poorer investment choices and repeat the governance failures of the EU recovery funds, instead of maximising the impact of every euro spent.
Mayors are calling for cities to be involved from the outset and for each plan to include a clear urban dimension.
Plans are moving before the rules are settled
The National and Regional Partnership Plans, or NRPPs, are expected to become a central delivery architecture for the EU budget for 2028-2034. They would combine reforms and investments across areas including cohesion, social policy, agriculture and rural development, with payments linked to agreed milestones and targets.
The NRPP regulation establishing the plans has still to go through trilogues. The European Parliament is set to finalise its position, based on a draft which considers stronger provisions on partnership, multilevel governance and stronger safeguards for cities.
At the same time, national governments are identifying lead ministries, establishing preparatory structures and, in several countries, drafting priorities and chapters.
From the perspective of the 37 cities surveyed by Eurocities, national preparation is ongoing across most of the countries represented, but the process is often informal and difficult to access:
- 81% can identify some form of national preparation.
- 54% report that a formal structure has been established, priorities or chapters are being drafted, or consultation has begun.
- Only 19% report a formal consultation, and only 8% report participation in a preparatory working group.
Starting early is necessary if the plans are to be ready by the end of 2027. But early preparation can become early exclusion if national choices are shaped informally, entry points remain unclear and cities are consulted only after the main priorities and investments have been set.
Rafał Trzaskowski, Mayor of Warsaw, states: “National plans are moving ahead while the rules are still being negotiated and the participation arrangements remain unclear. Starting early is sensible, but it must mean starting the partnership early as well. Cities cannot be brought in only when priorities, reforms and investments have already been decided. In my own country, we have been asked to provide a list of our priorities and investment needs, but we are an exception.”
Presenting the survey findings to Executive Vice President Fitto, the delegation of city leaders called for cities to be involved before national priorities, reforms, investments and milestones are fixed, and for every national plan to contain a clear and identifiable urban dimension.
The intervention comes as EU member states begin a decisive week of negotiations on the size and priorities of the next EU budget.
While national leaders debate the overall financial settlement, mayors state that the effectiveness of the budget will depend equally on how investment priorities are designed and delivered. Cities must be involved early if European resources are to translate into workable reforms, investable projects and visible results for citizens.
Emil Boc, Mayor of Cluj-Napoca, explains: “Too often, cities are brought in once the key decisions have already been made. But local governments are the ones expected to deliver many of these investments and achieve the results attached to them. If cities are responsible for delivery, they need to be involved when targets are set, and implementation choices are made.”
The risk of repeating the RRF governance gap
For Europe’s cities, the situation recalls the experience of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RFF). The RRF directed substantial investment towards measures delivered in cities. But Eurocities’ research found that cities frequently entered as beneficiaries and implementers of nationally designed measures, rather than as partners shaping reforms, investment priorities and governance.
The concern is that the new national plans could reproduce the same imbalance on a broader and more permanent scale: cities may receive funding and implementation responsibilities without helping to design the reforms, milestones and delivery conditions attached to them. Without cities’ experience and local knowledge, national plans risk failing to get the best results for every euro spent.
Matteo Lepore, Mayor of Bologna, says: “The recovery plans showed that funding reaching cities is not the same as cities having a say. Money may eventually flow to the local level, while cities remain excluded from the decisions that determine the plan’s priorities Yet cities know where housing is most needed, where public transport bottlenecks exist and which skills shortages are holding back local economies. If that knowledge is missing when priorities are set, Europe will not get the best results from its investment.”
The urban dimension is appearing, but remains fragmented
The Eurocities survey also shows that an urban dimension is beginning to emerge in different forms but has not yet become a clear feature of most national processes. Almost six in ten respondents report either that their government has no clear position or that it is not supporting a specific urban or territorial approach. Only a very small minority shares indications of a dedicated Urban Chapter.
Measures may be dispersed across different chapters and ministries without a coherent territorial strategy or clear accountability. However, mayors’ top priorities, such as housing and climate action, need to be addressed in an integrated manner.
Henna Partanen, First Vice Chair of the Espoo City Board states: “An urban dimension is about connecting reforms and investment with the challenges on the ground,” stated “Finland’s largest cities are already coordinating their expertise and developing concrete proposals. What cities now need is a formal route for that knowledge to shape the national plan.”
Cities are putting solutions on the table
Cities are not waiting passively for national governments to define the process. Almost half of respondents to the Eurocities survey report that urban proposals, investment pipelines or related material have already been shared with national governments, are being prepared or are planned.
André Sobczak, Secretary General of Eurocities, explains: “Cities are bringing evidence, practical proposals and delivery experience to the table. Executive Vice-President Fitto has shown a genuine willingness to champion cities and their contribution to Europe’s priorities. The next step is turning that support into a clear expectation that member states engage cities while these plans are still being developed.”
Mayors bring practical proposals to the Commission
The Eurocities Mayors’ MFF Coordination Group brought forward practical solutions that can improve the quality and deliverability of the plans without imposing one institutional model on every member state.
This includes:
- Making the formative stage transparent by publishing the lead authority, timetable, chapter architecture and official participation routes.
- Treating cities as public delivery partners, rather than grouping them into general stakeholder consultation.
- Including an identifiable urban dimension through an Urban Chapter, an urban component within territorial chapters, or an operationally equivalent structure.
ENDS//
Notes to editors:
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- The preliminary Eurocities briefing – Cities are mobilising on the NRPP. Will they have a seat at the table? – contains the principal findings, five country perspectives and operational recommendations. It is available to journalists from the Eurocities press team at the following link. More granular information and insights are available upon request.
- The preliminary analysis draws on 37 responses from cities and city organisations in 17 EU countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden. Responding cities and organisations include Mannheim, Netwerkstad Twente, Berlin / Berlin Liaison Office to the EU, Lyon MEtropole, Munich, Espoo, Toulouse Metropole, Stockholm, The Hague, Ghent, Nuremberg, Tallinn, Stuttgart, Marseille, Bruges, Prague, Gothenburg, Leuven, DUsseldorf, Antwerp, Nantes MEtropole, Brainport Eindhoven, C6 Six Cities, Terrassa, Riga, Parma, Budapest, Bratislava, Nicosia, Timișoara, Sofia, Brno, Baia Mare, Bologna, Milan and Lodz. It provides early evidence of emerging national processes and is not intended as a representative EU-wide poll but an indication on trends as they are perceived by cities.
- The Eurocities Mayors’ MFF Coordination Group brings together more than 25 mayors and political leaders working to secure a European budget closer to citizens.
- Participants in the meeting with Executive Vice-President Raffaele Fitto were: Rafał Trzaskowski, Mayor of Warsaw; Hanna Zdanowska, Mayor of Lodz; Matteo Lepore, Mayor of Bologna; Ioan Doru Dăncuș, Mayor of Baia Mare; Emil Boc, Mayor of Cluj-Napoca; Christophe Jacquemain, Deputy Mayor of Lyon responsible for international and European relations; Myriam Bencharaa, Vice-President of Lyon Metropole for European affairs; Audrey Pulvar, Deputy Mayor of Paris for international and European relations and Francophonie; Anna Lisa Boni, Deputy Mayor of Bologna responsible for EU and recovery funds, International relations and the Climate Mission; Susanne Schilderman, Deputy Mayor of Utrecht; Luuc Dekkers, Deputy Mayor of Rotterdam responsible for European affairs; Henna Partanen, First Vice Chair of the Espoo City Board; Tiit Terik, Deputy Mayor of Tallinn; André Sobczak, Secretary General of Eurocities.
- Eurocities brings together more than 200 major European cities, representing around 150 million people across 38 countries. Eurocities works with city leaders and experts to shape European policies that enable cities to deliver for people and for Europe.
Contact for more information:
Pietro Reviglio, Policy and Research Advisor at Eurocities: pietro.reviglio@eurocities.eu
