Cities and Urban Politics in the EU

Cities have benefitted from increased attention of the European Commission since the 1990s, despite the fact that urban policy is not a formal competence of the commission. Local governments have been quite responsive and tried to establish good working relationships with the commission, partly bypassing national governments (representations in Brussels, transnational networks of cities). Still, the impact of these initiatives is not very clear because of the many different national and local contexts. While we can observe a period of experimentation and the triggering of urban initiatives, the empowerment of local governments in the sense of multi-level governance has not happened. The negotiations of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2024–2028 indicate new modalities for the distribution and management of funding that will eventually put EU urban policy at risk.