July 11, 2025

The following is a press release:

International summit strengthens municipal partnerships and support for local administrations in Ukraine.

Local and regional leaders have welcomed the results of the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2025 as an important milestone on the path to the reconstruction and reform of Ukraine and of its cities and regions, pointing to commitments to increase support for local-government capacity in Ukraine and for the development of international partnerships for Ukrainian regions and cities.

The Ukraine Recovery Conference, which brought together international institutions, all levels of government, and representatives of business and civil society, ended on 11 July in Rome with the announcement by the European Union of the creation of a European Partnership Hub, to support international cooperation at municipal level, and of a programme – EU4Reconstruction – to strengthen management of regional-development projects in Ukraine. The weeks running up to the conference also saw an update by the Ukrainian government, with the support of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, of its decentralisation concept, which has, since 2014, guided significant reforms of local government in the country.

The discussions at the Ukraine Recovery Conference, an annual gathering created to support Ukraine following Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, broadly reflect recommendations made in May by the European Alliance of Cities and Regions for the Reconstruction of Ukraine.

Speaking on behalf of the Alliance, Kata Tüttő (HU/PES), President of the European Committee of the Regions, said: "Local leaders from all across the EU and Ukraine are working together to strengthen the fabric of our Europe. This is needed not only for the daily reconstruction work carried out by Ukraine regions and cities but also in the long run. Investing on local administrations' capacity is vital to help Ukraine use available funds in the best possible way and to reinforce local democracy."

The URC also showcased a programme that provides Ukrainian officials with training and internships in EU municipalities. Initially launched this year in pilot mode by the CoR together and U-LEAD with Europe, it was announced in Rome that the programme would be continued.

The European Committee of the Region (CoR) co-founded the European Alliance of Cities and Regions for the Reconstruction of Ukraine and serves as its secretariat.

Alongside President Tüttő, the delegation sent by the CoR to the Ukraine Recovery Conference included: Antje Grotheer (DE/PES), chair of the Working Group on Ukraine and president of Bremen City Parliament; Aleksandra Dulkiewicz (PL/EPP), mayor of Gdańsk and CoR rapporteur on the 'Enlargement Package 2024: Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia'; and, representing the CoR commission in charge of external relations (CIVEX), Patrick Molinoz (FR/PES), vice-president of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region. The URC was also an opportunity to meet Ukrainian partners of the CoR, including Vitaliy Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv and honorary member of the CoR.

Representatives of the CoR and other members of the European Alliance of Cities and Regions for the Reconstruction of Ukraine – including the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, the continent's leading human-rights organisation – emphasised the need for Ukraine's government to continue decentralisation reforms, arguing that strengthened powers and increased fiscal independence would enable local and regional authorities to contribute more effectively to the reconstruction of the country and to reforms that Ukraine needs to undertake to join the EU. They also called for local and regional authorities to be observers to the Ukraine Donor Platform, at which many strategic discussions on Ukraine’s reconstruction are held.

Speaking in a range of panels and side-events at the Ukraine Recovery Conference, members of the Alliance appealed to international finance institutions to make their funding more accessible to Ukraine’s local and regional authorities, pressed for reconstruction programmes to a greater share of funding to local government, and underlined the importance of municipal and regional-level partnerships.

They argued that a truly inclusive approach to recovery – with regions and cities involved in planning as well as implementation of policies, programmes and projects – would spur the growth of local economies and foster community-level development that could help reverse the brain drain caused by Russia's invasion.

A study focused on current support for Ukraine, published by the CoR on 8 July, highlighted that the EU's use of loans rather than grants, a lack of direct funding for local and regional authorities, and limited funding for regions impose significant constraints on capacity-building at the local and regional level in Ukraine.

Discussions at the Ukraine Recovery Conference, co-organised by the governments of Ukraine and Italy, centred on four dimensions of recovery: business mobilisation, social recovery and human capital development, municipal and regional reconstruction, and reforms linked to EU membership.

Other quotes:

· Antje Grotheer (DE/PES), president of Bremen City Parliament and chair of the CoR's Working Group on Ukraine: "Talk about reconstruction should never be a distraction from the main point: we must stop the destruction of Ukraine. We must protect Ukrainians. We must stop the impunity that means that Russia can attack nearly defenceless cities and commit war crimes by killing innocent civilians in their beds. This is the strategic priority. And if we cannot think strategically about what is most important now – to protect Ukraine in the here and now – then I fear that we will not be able to think strategically about Ukraine's recovery either."

· Aleksandra Dulkiewicz (PL/EPP), mayor of Gdańsk and former chair of the CoR's Working Group on Ukraine: "Night after night, Russia is killing civilians as they sleep. Part of the purpose of this terror is to break the capacity of Ukraine's emergency services and local administrations. Local officials are on the frontline in the war – they need our help. And they will be pioneers in Ukraine's recovery – so we need to invest time, effort and money to support them. Decentralisation has helped Ukraine incredibly: that needs to be clearly understood. So, Ukraine's recovery must also continue decentralisation reforms. Decentralisation is resilience. It has helped save Ukraine's independence and, as Poland's experience shows, strong regions will help Ukraine be a successful member of the EU."

More information:

· The website of the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2025 can be found here. Recordings of the sessions are available. In July 2022, five months after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC) in Lugano identified the methods, priorities and guiding principles for Ukraine's recovery process. The URC in 2023 in London sought to mobilise public- and private-sector funding for Ukraine, with the European Commission announcing a €50 billion package – the Ukraine Facility – to fund Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction. The URCs in Berlin in 2024 and in Rome in 2025 both focused on four dimensions of Ukraine's recovery – business, human capital, local and regional, and EU-related reforms.

· On 15 May 2025, the European Alliance of Cities and Regions for the Reconstruction of Ukraine issued a 'Joint statement on empowering local and regional authorities for the reconstruction and future EU accession of Ukraine' with recommendations to the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2025. The Alliance's recommendations included calls for a comprehensive dialogue on the needs and interests of local and regional authorities, a stronger role for local and regional authorities in the Ukraine Donor Platform, a 'one-stop shop' for partnerships between Ukrainian and EU regions and cities, and greater support for capacity-building at the local level.

· The European Alliance of Cities and Regions for the Reconstruction of Ukraine was created in July 2022 to coordinate efforts by regions, cities, territorial associations and partners to support an effective and sustainable reconstruction of Ukraine. Full details are available on the website of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), which co-founded the Alliance and serves as its secretariat. The website of the CoR also provides details of its work related to Ukraine and the activities of its Working Group on Ukraine.

· At the Ukraine Recovery Conference, held in Rome on 10-11 July 2025, CoR President Kata Tüttő spoke at a panel on 'Ukrainian Communities as a Global Symbol of Resilience and Unity. Community Recovery and Development'. Antje Grotheer spoke on a panel on 'Resilience and cohesion through partnerships: Local and International Cooperation' and moderated the presentation of the European Partnership Hub. Aleksandra Dulkiewicz spoke at the presentation of the TIPS4UA (Training and Internship Programme Support for Ukrainian Municipalities) programme. TIPS4UA currently supports training and internships for Ukrainian municipalities with partners in 17 EU member states.

· A number of other CoR members spoke at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in their own capacity as local and regional leaders. They were: Alberto Cirio, President of the Piedmont Region; Roberto Gualtieri, Mayor of Rome; Marco Marsilio, President of the Abruzzo Region.

Contacts:

Andrew Gardner

Tel: +32 473 843 981

andrew.gardner@cor.europa.eu

Wioletta Wojewodska

Tel: +32 473 843 986

wioletta.wojewodska@cor.europa.eu