The Relationship Between the European Commission and Local Government Through European Urban Initiatives: Constraints and Solidarities

Abstract

The construction of the European Union in the last few decades piled up sectorial policies without taking into account the territorial impact of these policies. With regard to cities, even though they were the first to undergo the economic, social, and physical costs of the integration process, we had to wait until the drafting of the Single Act in 1987 and the structural funds reform of 1988 to see them emerging on the European stage. The recognition of cities as the relevant place for intervention is part of a wider reshaping process of Community action means. A reshaping process that intends, among other objectives, to establish a direct relationship between the European Commission and local governments in Europe. The purpose of this chapter was to put into perspective the European urban initiatives, in order to understand the relationship between the European Commission and Local Government and through this relationship to shed new light on the changing processes of urban governance in Europe. It will also expose urban problems and determine the capacity of city government in European countries to cross their strategies and needs with the objectives of European Commission. The chapter also aims to demonstrate how some European Commission exchange programs help to erase the political and administrative boundaries that are supposed to limit the competences of each territorial layer, while at the same time, they reveal new forms of collective learning by which the European Commission “Europeanize” knowledge and seeks to assert itself as a body of expertise for public action. This study is based on an evaluation research conducted in some beneficiary cities of European funds.