‘We as leaders of major European cities’ – how Eurocities works to influence EU migration and integration policies

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article analyses how the transnational city network Eurocities engages in EU policies on migration and integration. Eurocities stands out from other cases through its autonomy and its clear objective to influence EU policies. To understand how the network operates as a policy entrepreneur, we analyse how cities and the Brussels-based secretariat collaborated in shaping the network’s positions on migration and asylum – from the launch of the work on this dossier in 2001 to the ‘Solidarity Cities’ campaign in 2016. During this period, Eurocities’ agenda developed, to some extent opportunistically, driven by institutional and thematic interests. We find that it had the highest impact during the refugee reception crisis, when the secretariat’s facilitation work, technical exchanges between city representatives and the activism of local politicians converged creating a common narrative on how to tackle the crisis from a city-centred angle.