European Urban Initiative (EUI)

The EUI aims to provide a coherent and coordinated offer of Cohesion Policy support to cities, and to mutually create and reinforce value across different areas of activity (innovation, capacity building, knowledge, policy and communication). With a ERDF budget of EUR 450 million for the period of 2021-2027, the initiative specifically offers: 

• Up to EUR 5 million of funding to cities to experiment in the development of transferable and scalable innovative solutions to respond to local urban challenges of EU relevance. Part of this funding is used to prepare the transfer of these solutions to other EU urban areas; 

• To strengthen and build the capacities and skills of cities, in particular, in integrated urban development strategies and practices; 

• Portico, a new knowledge platform for cities to access the latest operational knowledge on urban matters relating to Cohesion Policy, and for further knowledge created beyond this policy area; 

• Knowledge activities aimed at capturing, consolidating and enabling the uptake of outputs and results produced by the different activity areas of the Initiative; 

• The technical Secretariat for the UAEU on behalf of the European Commission; 

• A support to intergovernmental cooperation on urban matters (technical and thematic expertise); and, 

• Synergies and complementarity with URBACT IV 

The EUI’s activities will equally contribute to the five Policy Objectives of Cohesion Policy, and in particular, to the new Policy Objective 5 ‘a Europe closer to citizens by fostering the sustainable and integrated development of all types of territories’. This is central to the capacity and knowledge building activities of EUI that enhance policy development and design.