Let a thousand cities bloom

Powerful Cities?

European cities may face common environmental problems, but they come from very different geographical and political starting points. Austria, Germany and the Nordic countries have always had strong traditions of city government. But in the last two decades, even centralised states such as France, Spain and the UK have seen power flow from the central government down to regions and cities. Changes have been most dramatic in central and eastern Europe, where the reaction against centralised communist rule has led to the creation of strong local government.

Local authorities in the Czech Republic, Hungary and the Baltic states control one-fifth of government expenditure. The Nordic countries also control a healthy share of their government expenditure, a state of affairs that their southern colleagues must envy: local authorities in Greece, Malta and Cyprus get 5% of government expenditure – the lowest in the EU.