Democracy is under growing pressure across Europe. This year’s Eurocities Pulse Mayors Survey reveals growing concerns among local leaders about political polarisation, disinformation and declining trust in public institutions.
Social media and AI are also making these challenges more complex, allowing false or misleading information about issues such as migration, housing and public services to spread rapidly, deepen divisions and undermine trust in local authorities.
These pressures extend beyond Europe’s largest cities. Smaller and medium-sized municipalities face similar challenges, often with fewer resources to respond.
Yet their close relationships with residents put them in a strong position to encourage dialogue, strengthen democratic participation and bring their residents and communities together.
Giving smaller municipalities a stronger voice
Recognising their important role, Eurocities is working to ensure that municipalities of all sizes have the knowledge and support they need to respond to democratic challenges.
Through Local leadership for European democracy, a ten-month learning programme developed with the Generalitat de Catalunya, the network is supporting eight Catalan municipalities to strengthen local democracy, share experiences with other local governments across Europe and build closer links with EU institutions.
As André Sobczak, Secretary General of Eurocities, explains: “Municipalities of 30,000 to 100,000 inhabitants are often underrepresented in EU debates, despite governing the daily lives of millions of people. Helping them develop the political ownership and institutional capacity to engage with the EU strengthens the democratic base of the European project.”
Municipalities of 30,000 to 100,000 inhabitants are often underrepresented in EU debates, despite governing the daily lives of millions of people.
For the municipalities involved – Rubi, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Terrassa, Vic, Manresa, El Vendrell, Girona and Igualada – the programme offers opportunities to develop their involvement in European cooperation.
At the same time, many are already pioneering approaches to strengthening local democratic participation and trust, offering valuable experience that can inform EU policies and initiatives.
Tackling disinformation and rebuilding trust
In Sant Boi de Llobregat, a city of nearly 84,000 people, the municipality is helping residents, particularly young people, recognise digital manipulation and misinformation that can threaten peaceful coexistence.
Through educational activities and awareness-raising campaigns, it is providing tools to identify misleading information. Initiatives including school assemblies also give young people opportunities to engage with public issues and participate in civic life.
Meanwhile, in El Vendrell, a town of around 41,000 people, residents are helping shape local investment through participatory budgeting. In 2025, people aged 14 and over could propose projects and vote on how €80,000 should be spent. The winning proposal was to improve parking facilities at the town’s local railway station.
For Núria Rovira, Councillor for Projects and Planning in El Vendrell, it is important that the EU recognises the approaches municipalities are taking to strengthen democracy and draws on their local knowledge when addressing pressing challenges such as housing and education.
“We have to listen to the real problems,” she says, “and we need to make sure that the value of Europe is visible in our schools, neighbourhoods and local communities, so everyone can see its value.”
We need to make sure that the value of Europe is visible in our schools, neighbourhoods and local communities, so everyone can see its value.
Giving residents a stronger voice
Elsewhere in Catalonia, municipalities are developing new ways to make public participation more meaningful, from deciding investment priorities to shaping neighbourhood projects.
In Girona, for example, a structured participatory budgeting system gives residents opportunities to influence how municipal resources are invested.
The city of Vic has developed an online participation platform where residents can contribute to municipal processes and follow their implementation. One example concerns open-air exercise facilities, with residents able to track progress on the initiative.
The municipality is also exploring a citizens’ forum linked to its urban agenda, allowing residents to contribute to longer-term priorities beyond a single political mandate.
“We want to engage citizens in a framework that goes beyond a political mandate,” explains Anna Adroher Boada, European Projects Coordinator for Vic, highlighting the importance of building lasting connections between residents and local politics.
In Terrassa, the municipality is combining online and in-person engagement to revitalise its Sant Pere market, which has struggled with declining visitor numbers and empty stalls. Rather than presenting a ready-made plan, the municipality is asking residents, traders and local businesses to help identify the market’s problems and shape its future.
The process combines online surveys, discussions at the market and activities during a local public event. It also includes a feedback stage to explain how participants’ contributions have informed the next steps.
Together, these initiatives show how municipalities are involving residents in identifying problems, developing solutions and following the decisions that result.
They also offer valuable lessons for European efforts to strengthen democracy, showing how local experience can help shape policies that respond to the needs of communities.
How the European Commission is responding
Strengthening citizen participation and protecting local democracy are also priorities for the European Commission, particularly through its European Democracy Shield. This important initiative brings together measures to counter disinformation and foreign interference, protect democratic institutions and elections, support independent media and strengthen citizen participation.
The Commission is also developing guidance to better protect elected representatives from threats and harassment, while promoting public participation through citizens’ panels, digital tools and cooperation between national authorities.
For these European initiatives to respond effectively to challenges on the ground, the experience of municipalities is essential. “We can learn a lot from the local level,” explains Daniel Fleischer-Ambrus, Team Lead for Democracy at the European Commission’s DG JUST. “Municipalities have valuable experience in strengthening democratic participation and responding to threats against local politicians.
“We want to build on that knowledge and work more closely with local governments to ensure European initiatives respond to the challenges they face.”
Municipalities have valuable experience in strengthening democratic participation and responding to threats against local politicians.
Turning local experience into European action
Creating opportunities for these discussions between municipalities and the EU institutions is a central aim of the Eurocities learning programme.
As part of the programme, representatives visited Brussels in early October to learn more about EU policies and cooperation opportunities, while sharing their own experiences with the European Commission, the European Committee of the Regions, MEPs, and representatives from EU city offices from Lille, Barcelona and Enschede.
During a meeting with Italian MEP Dario Nardella, former Mayor of Florence, participants discussed how smaller municipalities can strengthen their influence in European decision-making.
“Even smaller cities need the capacity to engage with Europe. By building partnerships and working together, municipalities can strengthen their influence on EU decisions without needing large budgets,” he explained.
Nardella also emphasised the responsibility of local leaders to defend democratic values at a time when elected representatives and democratic institutions are facing growing threats.
Strengthening democracy through cooperation
For Catalan municipalities, the Eurocities learning programme provides an opportunity to better understand how the EU works, explore European funding and cooperation opportunities, and develop the partnerships and knowledge needed to address local challenges.
Equally important, it gives smaller municipalities a stronger voice in European debates on democracy, allowing them to share their practical experience of citizen participation, democratic resilience and local governance with EU policymakers.
Cooperation between cities through networks such as Eurocities is essential to preserve and strengthen the founding values of the EU.
As Agustí Fernández de Losada, Secretary for European Affairs, Multilateralism and Cooperation at the Generalitat de Catalunya, states: “Cooperation between cities through networks such as Eurocities is essential to preserve and strengthen the founding values of the EU.
“Supporting projects that strengthen local democracy is not only necessary, but strategic, as they are key tools to face the current context of democratic erosion, fragmentation of the global world and recentralising trends.”
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Local leadership for European democracy is a ten-month learning programme run through the Eurocities Academy and developed with the Generalitat de Catalunya. Participating municipalities are working with European peers to explore practical solutions and strengthen their capacity to engage with the EU.
Through online mentoring, exchanges and practical exercises, participants are learning how other cities approach European cooperation, develop partnerships and influence EU policies.
