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Brussels – The European municipalities would be “very strongly addressed” by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, explained the President of the Austrian Association of Municipalities Johannes Pressl in a joint press conference with German local politician Hejo Höfer on Thursday in Brussels. “A focus on the municipal level has been promised to us,” said Pressl. This means, for example, that future EU commissioners will be instructed to involve this level more in decisions.
According to the mayor of the Lower Austrian municipality of Ardagger, “Europe needs time to perceive the new level more strongly.” Pressl is in Brussels on the occasion of the annual joint European Day with the German Association of Towns and Municipalities. The resolution adopted there, “Going into the Future Together – Municipalities Create Homes!” emphasizes the important role of municipalities in addressing current challenges such as migration or digitalization.
“Citizens are currently very unsettled in the crises, people are looking towards the municipality,” said Höfer, who was a deputy member of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) until June 2024. It is “important that municipalities can deal with the small things locally so that people can find security there.” Because “if that crumbles, it will also have an impact on the European level.” He criticizes in Germany “the biggest deficit of municipalities in decades: If we take on tasks, we must also have money for them.”
Municipalities feel overwhelmed with migration
Pressl sees municipalities being overwhelmed with migration. He calls for the “consequential effects in municipalities that take in people to be seen and understood.” The municipalities must show Europe “what services we provide in integration.” These went far beyond the “short-term intake of people.” From the future Austrian EU Commissioner for Migration Magnus Brunner (ÖVP), he expects that the “migration flow will be better distributed across Europe: Few states and municipalities provide an enormous share, and this leads to problems.”
The demanded own EU commissioner for the municipal level does not exist in the von der Leyen II Commission, which is expected to take office on December 1. However, the Austrian and German municipal representatives remain committed to their demand: “We hope to get our own commissioner over time,” Pressl said optimistically. But “also in other European institutions and bodies, especially in the European Parliament, we want responsible political contacts for the interests, concerns, but also for the potentials of cities and municipalities in Europe,” it says in the joint resolution. (22.11.2024)