EU funding

Energy Cities urges the Right to Stay Strategy to be co-created with local governments and to align EU funding with local priorities.

As negotiations on the EU’s next long-term budget enter a crucial phase, mayors and local leaders from across Europe are urging national leaders to ensure that cities and regions remain central to EU investment.

The European Parliament’s draft report on National and Regional Partnership Plans (NRPPs) backs a stronger role for cities and regions in the next EU budget, calling for better local involvement, stronger cohesion policy and place-based investment.

We continue to unpack the European Commission's long-term budget (MFF) proposal. Today’s menu: the future of urban initiatives and the LIFE programme, and a new facility designed to cope with the uncertainty of our time.

The current proposal for the EU’s next long-term budget raises serious concerns for cities and regions. To help you respond, Energy Cities has developed a practical advocacy toolkit to help influence key decision-makers in your country.

Despite many setbacks in 2025, this year represents an opportunity to put Europe’s future back on the right course. Here are the EU policy battles to watch in 2026 and how Energy Cities will fight to keep Europe’s transition and future rooted in its communities.

Brussels is still buzzing. After scoring points in the debate on the 2028–2034 Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF), the European Parliament is now dragging its feet […]

Democracy is increasingly under threat in Europe, and the EU is struggling to respond. If they want to mount an effective defence of the rule of law, they must stop sidelining local governments and urgently focus on empowering cities.

A new policy Agenda for cities has been published by the European Commission, but without mandatory regional chapters and territorial approach in the next EU budget it will remain a dead letter.

I could have written about the latest chapter in the European budget saga. You will find it below… or now, let me simply say this: […]