Europe needs its cities if it wants to save democracy

Today, the world is witnessing a worrying surge in democratic backsliding. Long-established democracies are seeing the rise of leaders who erode checks and balances, politicise institutions, and gradually weaken the rule of law. Europe is not immune to this trend. Over the past decade, countries such as Poland and Hungary have experienced an anti-democratic shift in their national governments, and more countries seem to be following a similar path in the coming years. 

Although the European Union has formally made the defence of democracy a core priority, its efforts are increasingly undermined by one crucial blind spot: the sidelining of local governments.  Cities and municipalities often are direct victims of democratic erosion and the last resilient layer of institutional protection. Yet the EU’s growing tendency to exclude them from meaningful decision-making, while limiting their resources and autonomy, seriously weakens the continent’s ability to defend democracy on the ground. 

Rule of Law: Europe’s invisible infrastructure is showing cracks 

The European Union was built on the shared commitment of its member states to uphold the rule of law and defend democratic values. Today, however, the very principles that form the EU’s foundation are under increasing pressure. 

The rule of law is like an invisible infrastructure: we rely on it without noticing—until the cracks start appearing. 

The rule of law is not an abstract ideal. It is the backbone of functioning societies and economies, the basis of trust between citizens and their governments, and the essential condition for fair, accountable public institutions. The rise of far-right politics threatening this rule of law – once considered a distant threat – risks now destabilising the entire EU.

A slow EU response to a growing crisis 

Although the EU first raised the alarm about potential democratic backsliding as early as 2010, it took years before meaningful action followed. Article 7  – which stipulates that a member state’s rights can be suspended if it breaches the EU’s values – was triggered in 2017 against Poland and in 2019 against Hungary. Even then, the EU hesitated to fully deploy all the tools at its disposal to address governments’ breaches of fundamental values. 

Just now recognising the seriousness of the trend, President Ursula von der Leyen made the defence of democracy a key priority of her new mandate. The Commission recently unveiled the Democracy Shield, a strategy aimed at reinforcing public trust, safeguarding the information space, protecting election integrity, and strengthening civic participation. As part of the next long-term EU budget, the proposed AgoraEU programme would support civil society, independent media, and cultural actors. 

These are important steps. But they coexist with political behaviours that contradict the very intention behind them. We’ve recently seen the EU’s main political family, the EPP, align itself with far-right parties on the latter’s agenda to stifle civil society and in general efforts to weaken the Green Deal. And on top of that, we are seeing a growing and worrying trend from the EU to alienate the very partners it should bring closer in this battle: local governments. 

Cities: missing from Europe’s rule of law architecture 

This disconnect became clear during an event held at the European Parliament on 18 November, which brought together five political groups – the Greens, Renew Europe, the EPP, S&D, and the Left – alongside the mayors of Amsterdam, Athens, and Budapest, academic experts, and Commissioner for Democracy, Michael McGrath. 

The message that emerged was clear: cities are largely absent from the EU’s rule of law architecture, and this absence poses real risks for Europe’s democratic integrity. The event also highlighted the dangers of centralising EU decision-making and funds in national hands – especially when national governments themselves are the source of democratic erosion.  

Cities on the frontline of democratic backsliding 

Autocratic governments follow a recognisable playbook. As expert Laurent Pech explained, they first capture national institutions and central resources, rewarding allies and punishing critics. Independent media and civil society are often the earliest targets. Local governments come later – but inevitably become a target. 

In Türkiye, as Gilcin Balamis Göksun showed, the national government first weakened Istanbul’s municipality through administrative and financial restrictions before escalating to judicial attacks, culminating in prosecutions and imprisonment of local leaders. This included the arrest of Istanbul’s mayor and major opposition leader, Ekrem İmamoğlu, in March this year. 

Across Europe today, local authorities are experiencing similar pressure – which start at a very administrative level: budget cuts, administrative obstacles, and hostile legal changes that undermine their ability to deliver basic services. When cities cannot provide housing, transport, or social support, discontent grows – fertile ground for extremist narratives, scapegoating and antidemocratic politics.

The basic functioning of a city is our responsibility, despite the constant obstacles raised by central governments stripping us of resources and powers.

Haris Doukas, Mayor of Athens 

Nationalising EU funds will only make things worse 

Against this backdrop, proposals to further nationalise EU funds and decision-making – as with the proposed architecture of a heavily centralised MFF for 2028 to 2034 – risk deepening the crisis. Autocratic national governments have already shown they can weaponise EU resources – blocking or diverting funds from opposition-led cities, especially in areas like climate action. 

In the past years, Hungarian and Polish cities have repeatedly faced legal and administrative barriers that limit their access to EU programmes. In addition, when Article 7 was triggered against Hungary and EU funds frozen, Budapest – while they had actively fought to uphold democratic values – also found itself deprived of the EU’s support. 

If Europe is serious about defending democracy, it must rethink how it channels its resources. Cities that protect the rule of law and resist democratic backsliding should not suffer the same penalties as the governments undermining those values. They must instead be treated as vital partners in the fight against autocracy and equipped with the means to safeguard democratic health at the local level.

Cities as custodians of European values and of democracy 

Cities are the places where democracy is lived and experienced every day – where freedoms are exercised, where diversity meets, and where policies materialise into daily realities.  

In June this year, the city of Budapest – led by its mayor – bravely pressed ahead with the Pride March despite open threats from the Hungarian government to arrest participants. The Budapest Pride thus became a symbol of how local leadership can safeguard civic participation and fundamental rights under national hostility. 

My message to the EU: be as brave in your decisions as those who took to the streets for Budapest Pride.

Gergely Szilveszter Karácsony, Mayor of Budapest 

Similarly, Amsterdam has steadfastly defended European values of pluralism and inclusion through its policies. The city offers safe spaces for its young and diverse population – 60% of whom come from migrant families and often feel unrecognised or unsafe by their national government – cultivating their local and European identities. 

It also facilitates more than 10,000 demonstrations every year, despite frequent political pressure to ban protests. And in a city with large Jewish and Muslim communities, Amsterdam maintains a “local language of dialogue” in a climate of polarisation, by creating spaces where residents can speak openly about their fears, pain, and anxieties. 

Cities are where experiences take shape: our freedoms and our lived realities. If Europe is to remain true to its values, cities must not only be included but empowered.

Femke Halsema, Mayor of Amsterdam 

Local governments have also long pioneered innovative forms of governance, turning cities into laboratories and places of participation and solidarity, where citizens can fully exercise their democratic rights.  

Athens, for instance, has developed a broad set of co-creation tools – ranging from climate and youth assemblies to neighbourhood forums and participatory budgeting – to ensure residents can shape policies and see themselves reflected in public decisions. These initiatives, funded through the city’s central budget, help rebuild trust between the municipality and its citizens. 

Similarly, Istanbul’s Planning Agency has offered a model of participatory, research-based policymaking, in the midst of an increasingly hostile and restrictive climate for local action. 

Cities have shown time and time again that local authorities are not only managers of EU funds, but frontline defenders of EU values and democratic governance. 

The way forward: A territorial approach to the EU Budget 

At this critical moment, the EU must put its money where its mouth is.  

Safeguarding democracy cannot be reduced to a single strategy, a handful of rule-of-law reports, or a modest funding line for civil society and independent media. It demands a whole-of-society approach, reinforcing, from the ground up, all the mechanisms that sustain a healthy democratic system. 

Europe’s democratic resilience in large part depends on the capacity of its local governments to uphold EU values, defend its institutions, and make the places where people live welcoming, safe, and inclusive. Yet the EU’s sidelining of cities in the next long-term budget poses a real risk to its ability to respond to democratic backsliding.  

Europe must give local governments a stronger role in the upcoming Multiannual Financial Framework – as both decision-makers and managers of EU funds – and establish mechanisms for direct funding to cities in countries where the rule of law is under threat. 

If the EU wants to protect its invisible democratic infrastructure before the cracks deepen, it must partner with the cities who are defending democracy every single day. 

See our 10 points for a locally grounded EU budget.