The Mayors of EU Capital Cities met in the Cypriot capital of Nicosia this February to discuss the future EU budget for 2028-2034. Cyprus holds the EU Council Presidency during the first half of 2026. The meeting focused on the demand for a strategic orientation of EU funding to enhance social stability directly at local level and allow for future-oriented urban development. The City of Vienna was represented at the meeting by Mr Omar Al-Rawi, Member of the Vienna City Council.
About 75 percent of all EU residents currently live in cities. This means that numerous key issues for the future - ranging from climate mitigation to social participation – are decided in urban areas. In Nicosia, Vienna clearly supported the demands for cities to be recognised as strategic partners in the next EU budget, and for the EU to facilitate investments to be made directly where people live and work. To ensure subsidies can have an immediate impact at local level, the capital cities are calling for direct and unbureaucratic access to EU funding, and for an active role in co-designing, co-financing and co-managing investment programmes.
Vienna took the lead in the debate on "Housing for the Common Good". Given that housing is a service of general economic interest that guarantees social stability, the cities demanded that the EU provide enough scope for them to ensure the availability of subsidised housing for the wider middle class, thereby strengthening social cohesion. The Viennese model of social housing attracted considerable interest among the participants. Many delegations sought to engage with representatives of the City of Vienna to get first-hand information on the structure and effects of the Viennese approach.
Message to Brussels
The meeting was concluded with the unanimous adoption of the Declaration of Nicosia, in which the cities call for a stronger urban dimension in the next EU budget. The Annual Direct Dialogue between EU Capital City Mayors and the European Commission has become the most important strategic link between local policymakers and high-level EU officials in Brussels.