Partnerships for Sustainable Cities: our four messages 

Reggio Emilia (Italy) hosted the 3rd Global Meeting of the Partnerships for Sustainable Cities programme, led by the European Commission DG INTPA. The event gathered on 7 and 8 May 2025 over 100 participants from city partnerships, EU institutions, Member States, and international organisations to reflect on local and regional governments’ evolving role in EU external action. Our Director Boris Tonhauser and our partner NALAS participated.

While previous editions mailing focused on sharing experiences, this meeting aimed to position local and regional governments as key actors in the EU’s global agenda. It provided a platform to define a common advocacy agenda and agree on organisational structures to help cities and regions engage more effectively within the Global Gateway initiative. 

Takeaways from the debates

Message 1: The Global Gateway represents a paradigm shift in EU external action, and most city partners are keen to proactively embrace it.  

While investment-driven, the Global Gateway strategy stands out for its values-based and 360-degree approach. City partners are eager to engage, bringing democratic and territorial value, with strong EU support for their integration and links to decentralised cooperation. 

Message 2: Under certain conditions, an informal alliance between cities and existing networks of local and regional governments can enhance voice and influence in core EU dialogue processes. 

To enable meaningful engagement with the EU, strong support emerged for creating an informal alliance between city partners and existing LRG networks. Its success hinges on key factors such as city diplomacy, territorial approaches, and a renewed narrative for decentralised cooperation to guide advocacy efforts. 

Message 3: There is a broad consensus on the ingredients of a new narrative on decentralised cooperation.

City partnerships agreed to reshape this narrative to better highlight its added value and role in sustainable development within the evolving EU external action. There was broad consensus that decentralised cooperation should be more political, multilevel, global, and embedded in the EU’s new framework. The narrative also emphasises decentralised cooperation’s contribution to a values-driven agenda, including democracy and international solidarity. 

Message 4: Cities, local and regional governments and decentralised cooperation processes play a crucial role in fragile and complex settings 

Concerning the engagement with local and regional governments and the benefits of a territorial approach in fragile and complex settings, the exchanges highlighted the benefits of working with local authorities through decentralised cooperation, including political connections, local trust, field knowledge, community proximity, and improved basic service delivery.  

The FRIENDSHIP project among the 75 best practices showcased

The Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe (NALAS), partner of PLATFORMA, actively participated in the meeting. Among the 75 best practices showcased, the FRIENDSHIP project—co-funded by the EU and led by NALAS—was presented as a strong example of decentralised cooperation in action. The project has supported Mongolian local authorities in pursuing sustainable urban development through interregional partnerships, aligning closely with EU priorities under Global Gateway and Team Europe. 

Other projects close the our network are:

• The FLEURIR Project for an integrated urban ecosystem in Mauritania, led by the Andalusian Fund of Municipalities for International Solidarity (FAMSI) 
• The SIRI Project in Mozambique by the Catalan Agency of Cooperation and the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation (ACCD), part of theGeneralitat de Catalunya (Gencat), with the SIRI Project in Mozambique
• The strengthening of administrative capacities in Nord Kivu, DR Congo, by the Commune de Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, part of Brussels Capital Region

As a next step, a crucial milestone will be the 2025 Forum on Cities and Regions for International Partnerships (8–10 December, Brussels), co-organised by DG INTPA and the European Committee of the Regions. The event will focus on the role of local and regional governments in the Global Gateway strategy and explore future opportunities for decentralised cooperation.