Reinforcing European industry’s competitiveness and strategic autonomy through a place-based approach

06 May 2025 Open letters, position papers, Policy and Governance

The Local Alliance – a coalition of Europe’s eight leading city and regional networks – share a vision for the next EU budget (2028–2034) to become a strong, comprehensive tool for a democratic, just, climate-neutral, secure and competitive Europe. This position paper has been developed in the framework of the European Commission’s consultations on the next EU budget (EU’s next long-term budget (MFF) – implementing EU funding with Member States and regions) and represents the joint position of the networks part of the Local Alliance.

Local and regional governments* are key partners in the implementation of the EU budget and are essential to achieving a prosperous Europe, where people want to live, work and thrive. As Europe faces unprecedented challenges, including climate change and geopolitical threats, the Local Alliance makes
it clear that closer collaboration across all levels of government is critical for success.

This position paper focuses on reinforcing European industry’s competitiveness and strategic autonomy through a place-based approach. To ensure that competitiveness policies align with EU’s longer-term sustainability and cohesion objectives, the Local Alliance puts forward the following recommendations:

Ensuring local and regional governments’ and authorities’ access to the future eu competitiveness fund
Enhancing territorial approach and multilevel governance
Strengthening eu competitiveness through cohesion policy
Leveraging public procurement for strategic impact
Recognising the vital role of cities and regions in research, innovation and market uptake
Supporting cross-border collaboration

Read the position paper

This position paper has been developed in the framework of the European Commission’s consultations on the next EU budget (EU’s next long-term budget (MFF) – implementing EU funding with Member States and regions) and represents the above-mentioned networks’ joint position. It is complemented by two other position papers:

The Local Alliance – a coalition of Europe’s leading local and regional governments: ACR+, CEMR, Climate Alliance, Energy Cities, Eurocities, FEDARENE, ICLEI Europe and POLIS, – is an informal coalition aiming at ensuring that our constituencies have the competencies and resources to implement and reinforce Europe’s resilience, competitiveness and decarbonisation.