The question of direct EU funding instruments for cities is high on the agenda of European cities and regions. Subnational authorities might have diverging reasons to advocate for such realignments, whether it is over rule of law concerns on the national level, absorption of migrants or facilitating the green transition.
This short report gives a first impression of which avenues cities might want to invest in in terms of putting EU funding under the direct management of the European Commission on the policy-agenda. A follow-up project could
look in more detail at the past and current configurations of funding in the EU budget and at what could be possible in terms of reconfiguring the budget, such that the EU’s funding instruments are better equipped to help cities tackle with their (g)local challenges.
