Considering cities’ role in a European Union multi-level governance context: an assessment of officials’ attitudes.

European cities claim that the European Union falls short regarding their ‘recognition’, ‘representation’ and ‘participation’ at the policy-making process. Applying the multilevel system paradigm as a conceptual framework, this paper argues that the ongoing European political project allows for the existence of ‘informal governance’ arrangements that could circumvent shortcomings and vacuums generated by the rigidness of the legal framework. The aim of the research is to assess to what extent EU representatives’ personal attitudes could contribute to reduce cities’ lack of recognition, representation and participation. By carrying out in-depth semi-structured interviews with officials from the EU institutions and Eurocities, the study seeks to evaluate their ‘awareness’, ‘dialogical attitude’ and ‘participatory disposition’ concerning the improvement of cities’ influence at the European decision-making level. The research contributes to future academic analyses by identifying preliminary conditions of the scenario where the EU and cities interact. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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