Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s Social Democrats suffered heavy losses in Tuesday’s nationwide local elections, losing key cities including Copenhagen for the first time since 1903. “We had expected losses, but the decline appears to be greater than we had expected,” Frederiksen told supporters at a party event in the Danish capital. “That is, of course, not satisfactory.” Although the Social Democrats remain Denmark’s most popular political group, securing around 23 percent of all votes, support for the party declined in 87 of the country’s 98 municipalities. The prime minister said she took “responsibility” for the electoral debacle, and said that she would “carefully consider what is behind it.” With Denmark required to hold general elections within the next year, the losses in Copenhagen and other Danish cities are likely to put pressure on Frederiksen to change course on some of her signature policies during the coming months. The liberal Venstre group now controlling the largest number of mayoralties in Denmark underscores the political disaster suffered by Frederiksen’s party, whose electoral base is supposed to be made up of urban voters. The high cost of housing dominated the campaign in Denmark’s largest municipalities, with voters exasperated by the national government’s response. In Copenhagen, where home prices have risen by 20 percent over the past year, just 12.7 percent of electors backed the prime minister’s party. After 122 years of Social Democrat rule in Copenhagen, the party’s candidate, Pernille Rosenkrantz–Theill, was not even invited to attend negotiations to form the capital’s next government. Sisse Marie Welling — whose Socialists made the largest gains in the election — will be Copenhagen’s new lord mayor, leading a “green and progressive majority.” Welling has tapped Line Barfod, whose Red-Green Alliance secured 1 out of every 5 votes cast in the capital, to be Copenhagen’s environment czar. That poses a major threat to the government’s controversial Lynetteholm artificial island project, which is meant to protect the city from flooding and create space for new housing. Barfod is a longtime opponent of the €2.7 billion scheme and she’s likely to make much of a new report showing the project is leaking cyanide into Copenhagen’s waters. Beyond the capital, the Social Democrats suffered dramatic reversals in traditional bastions like Frederikshavn, where support for the party fell by half. The far-right Danish Democrats performed well in rural municipalities in Jutland, and won more seats than the number of candidates they had running for office in places such as Lolland. While the prime minister — whose birthday is Wednesday — said that local factors had contributed to the defeat, she acknowledged that there were “also trends that transcend local conditions.” Beyond debates over classic urban issues like mobility policies and access to green spaces, the local elections were seen as a referendum on the rightward turn the Social Democrats have taken at the national level. Based on the results, voters in major cities appear to be souring on Frederiksen’s tough stance on migration and her willingness to ally with economic liberal parties.

COPENHAGEN — Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s Social Democrats are staring down a potential political earthquake in Tuesday’s nationwide local elections. Polls predict a drubbing in the very cities that once anchored the party’s power. But the biggest humiliation may come in Copenhagen, where the Social Democrats are poised to lose control of city hall for the first time in 122 years. The revolt is driven by a familiar urban grievance: The skyrocketing cost of housing. After decades of turning Copenhagen from a gritty port into one of Europe’s most livable — and expensive — capitals, the party is now paying for the prosperity it helped create. But housing isn’t the whole story. The election has also become a referendum on Frederiksen’s centrist makeover — a strategy that’s seen the party ally with economic liberal parties and take one of Europe’s toughest stances on migration. Those moves may have shored up support in small towns, but in Copenhagen, they’ve cost the party its soul. Frederiksen’s ability to remain in power since 2019 has been a success story for Europe’s beleaguered Party of European Socialists. But the crumbling of the Social Democrats’ dominance in Copenhagen is set to bolster those arguing the center-left needs to return to its working-class origins and focus on issues such as affordable housing and economic equity. A CITY TRANSFORMED, A VOTING BASE LOST The Social Democrats have been in power in Copenhagen for so long that when they first took control of the city in 1903, the current city hall building — a neo-renaissance palace “guarded” by stone bears and bronze dragons — was still under construction. During the 20th century, the Social Democrats represented the blue-collar workers of the bustling port city. But anticipating the decline of industrial activity in Copenhagen, in the late 1990s the party began to focus on turning the Danish capital into a polished magnet for global companies, urban professionals and international students. “The Social Democrats can take credit for transforming Copenhagen from a city without investments into a global model city with efficient infrastructure, strong educational institutions, green spaces, swimming in the harbor, an impressive gastronomic scene, and a high level of safety,” said sociologist and political analyst Carsten Mai. But that metamorphosis has come with soaring real estate prices that have pushed many working-class families out of the city entirely and strained those who remain. “The price of an average 80 square meter, owner-occupied apartment has increased by 20 percent over the past year and by 29 percent over the past four years,” said Lise Nytoft Bergmann, chief housing economist at Nordea Credit. “The sharp price increases have made it significantly harder for young people, singles, and low-income households to find housing in Copenhagen.” “The price of an average 80 square meter, owner-occupied apartment has increased by 20 percent over the past year and by 29 percent over the past four years,” said Lise Nytoft Bergmann, chief housing economist at Nordea Credit. | Michael Nguyen/NurPhoto via Getty Images Bent Winther, political commentator at the media company Berlingske, pointed out the housing crisis had been particularly detrimental for the Social Democrats’ voting base in the capital. “The overall number of unionized, blue-collar and public sector workers who have historically voted for the party has declined over the last decades,” he said. “Those that are left — people who work in hospitals, kindergartens, etc — can’t really afford to live here anymore.” LEADERSHIP BLUNDERS The Social Democrats’ hold on Copenhagen has been weakening for years, partly as a result of problems with its leaders at the local level. In 2020, Mayor Frank Jensen resigned after sexual harassment allegations came to light, and his successor, Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, was moved to a ministerial position in a 2023 maneuver widely believed to have been motivated by the party’s lack of confidence in her chances for reelection. Seasoned national politician Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil was brought in to revive the Social Democrats’ fortunes in the capital, but her stint as lead candidate has inadvertently accentuated the party’s disconnection with the electorate. As Denmark’s minister for housing between 2022 and 2024, the Social Democrats’ candidate has struggled to disassociate herself from her own failure to address the escalating housing crisis. After calling for the construction of more affordable housing in Copenhagen during an electoral debate, Line Barfod, head of the far-left Red-Green Alliance, accused Rosenkrantz-Theil of ignoring the issue during her time in the national government and rushing to address it “in the final sprint of the campaign.” The candidate also angered green-minded voters who had previously backed the Social Democrats by reversing the party’s support for measures to limit car access to the city, and abruptly promising to reintroduce parking spots to make life easier for drivers. Elisabet Svane, political analyst for Danish newspaper Politiken, said that Rosenkrantz-Theil’s campaign had ambitiously incorporated policy changes calculated to make the Social Democrats stand apart from far-left parties that are able to take more hardline positions on green topics like parking. “She took ownership of what was a traditionally conservative position, and argued that it’s a Social Democrat value to have the right to a car, to drive around,” Svane said. But the strategy doesn’t appear to have paid off. Polls project that the left-wing groups pushing green policies and affordability issues will outperform the Social Democrats on Tuesday. Barfod’s Red-Green Alliance is expected to secure nearly one in four votes, while the Socialist People’s Party is projected to double its support to 22 percent. Denmark’s Social Democrats, Prime Minister Frederiksen, and Rosenkrantz-Theil did not respond to POLITICO’s requests for comment. FREDERIKSEN’S CENTRISM MEETS LEFT-LEANING CAPITAL Beyond local missteps, the Social Democrats’ decline in Copenhagen is tied to urban voters’ broader dissatisfaction with the measures adopted by Frederiksen’s right-leaning coalition government. While Frederiksen’s hawkish defense policies and support for Ukraine have proved broadly popular, her hardline stance on immigration has been far more controversial. The policies have played well in rural Denmark, but are alienating voters in the urban areas that have traditionally been the Social Democrats’ base — among them, Copenhagen, where non-natives make up 20 percent of the electorate. “Everybody agrees we have to have an orderly policy on migration and fight Islamism, but what’s at issue is the government’s tone,” said Svane, who relayed the complaints of Social Democratic mayors in surrounding communities who said the party’s harsh rhetoric against foreigners was undermining its position at the local level. Beyond the migration issue, political analyst Mai said the party was increasingly out of step with Denmark’s ever-more progressive urban electorate. “Many of them are focused on value-based issues such as social justice and the war in Gaza,” he said. “The Social Democrats have failed to adjust their policies to align with these voters.” A WARNING FOR EUROPE’S CENTER-LEFT Denmark and Spain are the only two major EU countries still governed by members of the Party of European Socialists, and the approaches taken by their leaders are frequently contrasted. While Frederiksen has embraced centrism, bolstered defense spending, and cracked down on migration, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has taken the opposite tack, forging a “progressive coalition” with left-wing parties, prioritizing social spending over military budgets, and adopting a more welcoming posture toward migrants. Political commentator Winther said Frederiksen’s approach had been successful in clamping down on the far-right in Denmark, “because she sucked the oxygen out of their argument by taking such a hard line on the key issue of migration.” But, he added, the party’s rightward drift under her leadership had “created confusion about what it actually stands for.” That’s a challenge in a city like Copenhagen, which is “now composed of a lot of young people attracted by our big universities, and some quite rich people who can afford to both stay in the city and have more left-wing values.” Denmark must hold a general election within the next year, and losses in Copenhagen and other Danish cities could put pressure on Frederiksen to change course. The dominant narrative in Europe is that far-right forces are steadily advancing by campaigning on cost-of-living issues that establishment parties appear to be incapable of addressing. But Tuesday’s election in Copenhagen is notable because the likely winners are unabashedly left-wing forces that have embraced topics such as the housing crisis. The development mirrors Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani’s recent, headline-grabbing victory in New York City, which was keenly watched by Europe’s leftists. Nicoline Kristine Ryde, a 27-year-old actress who lives in Copenhagen, summed up the mood by saying the Social Democrats simply aren’t “cool” anymore. “I respect how Frederiksen handled the corona crisis, and the Social Democrats are still good on stuff like elder care, but for the rest, it just feels like they moved away from the social politics that have made this country great,” she said. “They just don’t feel like a socialist party anymore.”

BRUSSELS ― For decades, the EU’s view on housing policy has been simple: It’s not our problem. Housing isn’t explicitly listed as an institutional competence in any of the EU’s treaties, and though Brussels has issued legislation tackling topics like the energy performance of buildings or the quality of construction materials, it has left regulating the housing market to national, regional and local authorities — until now. National leaders attending Thursday’s European Council summit are abandoning that position, acknowledging they must provide a united response to a housing crisis that has become impossible to ignore and that is fueling the far right. “For the very first time, the European Union’s leaders will debate this critical issue at the very highest level,” European Council President António Costa said at a press conference Wednesday. “It is crucial that we, as European leaders, come together to discuss how the European Union can complement these efforts.” The meeting signals the Council’s decision to join the European Commission and the European Parliament — which have both staked a claim on the issue this year — in affirming that the EU now intends to tackle the affordability of homes. But with national leaders split on how best to address the crisis, it appears housing will be the latest of many issues the Council is deadlocked on ― a status quo that may favor far-right populists, and could also prove an obstacle to the Commission in its bid to roll out ambitious regulation. INSTITUTIONAL SHIFT While housing prices have been rising across Europe for at least a decade, the EU’s institutions have limited their response to symbolic gestures like the 2017 European Pillar of Social Rights, which declares all Europeans have the right to decent housing, but which does nothing to guarantee access to shelter. The institutional shift began ahead of the 2024 European Parliament election, when center-left groups embraced the issue, and ultimately convinced Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to appoint Denmark’s Dan Jørgensen as the bloc’s first dedicated housing commissioner. Jørgensen intends to unveil the EU’s landmark Affordable Housing Plan in December and has announced plans to present an initiative on short-term rentals in 2026. Following the Commission’s lead, the Parliament launched a dedicated special committee to analyze the scale of the problem last January, and is due to present its measures in the coming months. Shortly after taking over the Council — which hadn’t organized a single meeting of the EU’s housing ministers from 2013 to 2022 — Costa included the issue on the EU Leaders Agenda for 2025. Thursday’s summit consolidates his aspiration to have national leaders work together on the crisis he believes poses a triple threat to the EU, as it “affects the fundamental rights of citizens, negatively impacts competitiveness, and is undermining trust in democratic institutions.” ALL TALK? The complexity of the crisis means reaching a consensus in the Council will be difficult. National leaders are likely to be divided on how — or whether — to reign in speculation or regulate short-term rentals, and not all may support prioritizing the flow of EU cash to cooperatives and other affordable public housing schemes. In this week’s draft conclusions, national leaders described the crisis as “pressing,” but only proposed that the Commission present its already-scheduled Affordable Housing Plan. Moreover, the latest version of the text, seen by POLITICO on Wednesday, stresses that Brussels’ response should have “due regard” for subsidiarity — the legal principle that holds the EU should only meddle in an area if it’s certain to achieve better results than actors at the national, regional or local level. Sorcha Edwards of Housing Europe — which represents public, cooperative and social housing providers — said the text suggests the Council is preemptively excusing itself from intervening, and potentially setting itself up for a clash with the Commission if it considers Jørgensen’s Affordable Housing Plan to be excessively interventionist. “I’m not very surprised because each country will be defensive about their own approach,” she said, adding “short-term rental platforms will welcome the news.” But Edwards said a dedication to subsidiarity could be a good thing if it means the EU focuses on taking serious action on debt rules and funneling Brussels cash to social and public housing projects, while giving local authorities more tools to address the problem. Thursday’s summit will be closely watched by local leaders, like Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni — one of 19 politicians from major EU cities who signed an open letter urging the EU to do more, if only to rein in the far right. “This week’s European Council summit is an extremely relevant milestone towards an ambitious EU response to the housing crisis — the main source of social inequality in Europe,” Collboni told POLITICO. “We, the cities, expect a clear mandate for the European Commission to put forward an Affordable Housing Plan, which includes three key elements for cities: agile funding, regulation tools and decision-making capacity.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced major housing-related initiatives while unveiling Brussels’ legislative agenda for 2026 on Tuesday, underscoring the EU’s ongoing bid to take on the bloc-wide cost of living crisis. “Affordability is a main subject of this Commission Work Program for 2026,” von der Leyen said in a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, stressing the need to address the high price of housing in order to “protect our citizens and uphold our values.” “How can Europe be competitive if people working full time cannot make a living?” she asked. “If they cannot afford to live where the good jobs are, because they do not find housing?” Brussels’ agenda for the next year will include a landmark initiative on short-term rentals that is due in the spring. Tourist flats — furnished accommodation for brief stays — are a major factor in sky-high housing costs in the bloc’s major cities, and Housing Commissioner Dan Jørgensen has signaled a desire to regulate such properties. “We cannot allow that locals are pushed out of their neighbourhoods,” Jørgensen said Tuesday, adding that the Commission’s proposal “will strike the right balance with a firm but fair approach.” Toward the end of 2026 Brussels will publish its Construction Services Act, which aims to slash regulations related to the building sector and accelerate the construction of new homes. The new law will follow up on the Commission’s upcoming Affordable Housing Plan, which is due to be released in December and according to Jørgensen will “target the financialization of our housing stock” and help end “selfish speculation on a basic need like our homes.” The EU’s main institutions are scrambling to address the housing crisis, which is fueling the growth of far-right parties throughout the EU. In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders and his far-right Party for Freedom won the 2023 national vote campaigning on a housing shortage he said was being exacerbated by migrants and asylum seekers. Likewise, Portugal’s Chega party surged to become the country’s leading opposition this year by railing against the failure of establishment parties to tackle soaring home prices.  Tourist flats are a major factor in sky-high housing costs in the bloc’s major cities, and Housing Commissioner Dan Jørgensen has signaled a desire to regulate such properties. | George Vitsaras/EPA Von der Leyen signaled her personal commitment to take on the issue ahead of her reelection as Commission president in 2024, and described the housing shortage as a social crisis in this year’s State of the European Union address. The European Parliament launched a special committee on the crisis at the beginning of this year, and national leaders are due to discuss the issue at this week’s European Council summit in Brussels. “Across all sectors, my point is the same,” von der Leyen told lawmakers on Tuesday. “Europe must deliver for all of its people.”

Exit polls for Portugal’s nationwide local elections on Sunday show the top candidates neck-and-neck in Lisbon and Porto, with the far-right Chega party failing to conquer any major cities. According to projections from the Catholic University of Portugal published by state broadcaster RTP, Chega has failed to win outright in the country’s largest cities but is well-positioned to act as kingmaker in several municipalities. Exit poll projections indicate that incumbent center-right Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas and his rival, Socialist Party candidate Alexandra Leitão, both secured between 37 percent and 42 percent of the vote in the Portuguese capital. In Porto the race between conservative Pedro Duarte and former MEP and Socialist Party candidate Manuel Pizarro is also too close to call. Separate exit polls commissioned by the SIC television network indicate that Socialist Party candidate António Pina has scored the most votes in Faro, the capital of the southern Algarve region, where Chega had hoped to win over voters who feel abandoned by the hyper-centralized Portuguese state. The ultranationalist party seems to have similarly underperformed in Sintra, the country’s second-most populous municipality, where far-right influencer Rita Matias is projected to come in third place. The housing crisis was the top issue in the election, with voters demanding that local leaders do more to rein in soaring home and rental prices. The nationwide vote is believed to be the most contested in Portuguese history because term limits and the recruitment of dozens of mayors for national office meant there was no incumbent running for reelection in nearly half of the country’s 308 municipalities. Chega stood out as the party running in the most municipalities (307 of the country’s 308 city councils). It was also present in the over 300 parish votes in which candidates were guaranteed victory because they were running unopposed. Since 2023, Portuguese voters have participated in three national elections and a European Parliament vote, a factor that led to nearly half of the exhausted electorate abstaining: According to projections, between 43 percent and 48 percent of eligible voters failed to cast ballots on Sunday. Participation in the country’s municipal elections has been falling steadily since 2009, with 46 percent not casting ballots when the vote was last held in 2021. There’s no immediate relief in sight for Portuguese voters, who will be called back to the polls in January to decide a successor for outgoing President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. Among the candidates are Chega President André Ventura and Admiral Henrique Gouveia de Melo — an official praised for his role in overseeing the country’s Covid vaccine roll-out, but opposed by many who are reluctant to have a member of the military as head of state.

Five months ago, Portugal’s snap national election saw the far-right Chega party become the second-largest force in the country’s parliament. On Sunday, 9.3 million Lusitanian voters are headed back to the polls, this time for nationwide local elections. The race is set to be a nail-biter, with the top candidates in the big cities of Lisbon and Porto tied in the polls. Meanwhile, the far right is poised to make major advances in the country’s neglected southern and interior regions, where voters are increasingly backing the party’s antiestablishment and anti-immigrant rhetoric. Though boasting lawmakers in both the Portuguese and European parliaments, Chega has yet to conquer any city halls. Sunday’s elections could be decisive in expanding the far-right party’s presence beyond Lisbon and Brussels. They may also underscore a European trend of extremist forces consolidating power, campaigning on mainstream politicians’ inability to tackle issues like the bloc-wide housing crisis. IT’S THE HOUSING CRISIS, STUPID Indeed, the top issue in every Portuguese city — no matter its size or location — is the high cost of housing. The problem is particularly critical in Lisbon, where average home prices have shot up by nearly 80 percent over the last five years and are currently hovering at €5,769 per square meter. Incumbent Mayor Carlos Moedas — a former European commissioner — has sought to justify his tenure by drawing attention to the 2,881 families his administration provided with new homes, but unimpressed critics estimate 150,000 homes are needed. Moedas has also been criticized for not doing enough to stop locals from being displaced by wealthy tourists. His challenger, Socialist Party candidate Alexandra Leitão, has made tackling excessive tourism a top priority, and is promising to crack down on short-term rentals and impose a moratorium on new hotels until the city can devise a plan to deal with the challenge.  The two are currently neck and neck in the polls, but one issue that could break the tie is discontent over the mayor’s handling of last month’s deadly funicular disaster. This week, victims’ families complained that no one from City Hall had reached out to them since the catastrophe, and Moedas is under fire for his controversial decision to delay any hearings regarding the accident until after the elections. In Portugal’s second-largest city, Sunday’s election marks the first time center-right Mayor Rui Moreira won’t be on the ballot in 12 years. | Pool photo by Estela Silva/EPA Even if he isn’t punished by voters, the crash could still complicate his path to a second term: The mayor isn’t expected to secure a governing majority, and his ability to form either a minority or coalition government will hinge on Chega’s support. Given that the far-right party’s lead candidate Bruno Mascarenhas brought an unsuccessful censure motion against Moedas for his response to the disaster, negotiations could prove tricky. MEANWHILE, IN PORTO … In Portugal’s second-largest city, Sunday’s election marks the first time center-right Mayor Rui Moreira won’t be on the ballot in 12 years. Instead, conservative Pedro Duarte is and former Member of the European Parliament and Socialist Party candidate Manuel Pizarro are locked in a tight race that is similarly dominated by the housing crisis. Duarte wants to use tax breaks to goad the owners of the city’s 20,000 vacant homes to rent them out at affordable prices, but Pizarro argues his own plan to build 5,000 affordable homes on municipal land could be implemented much faster. Duarte also has a radical proposal to raise the tourist tax to make public transport free for all city residents — but Pizarro’s counterplan to slash the speed limit on Porto’s innermost ring road could prove more controversial. With neither candidate expected to secure a governing majority, Chega may ultimately determine the winning vision. BEYOND THE BIGGEST CITIES As the most-voted party in 60 cities in last May’s snap national election, Chega’s candidates are now poised to enjoy similar success in many of those municipalities. Polls indicate far-right influencer and MP Rita Matias is in a three-way tie to govern Sintra, Portugal’s second-most populous municipality, where housing prices are increasing due to growing demand from displaced Lisbon residents. Chega’s candidates have even greater odds of winning Elvas, a former fortress city on the Spanish border, and semirural communities like Viana do Alentejo and Benavente. The problem is particularly critical in Lisbon, where average home prices have shot up by nearly 80 percent over the last five years and are currently hovering at €5,769 per square meter. | Jorge Castellanos/Getty Images But the far-right party is most focused on the Algarve region, where locals are struggling to balance the country’s lowest average wages with a steadily increasing cost of living due to the presence of foreign tourists and retirees. By promoting the narrative that seasonal migrants are to blame for local woes, Chega has gained traction among southern electors who feel abandoned by the hyper-centralized Portuguese state. And while the latest polls still suggest conventional parties will stave off Chega’s bid to take Faro, the far right could win in other southern cities and gain enough council seats to make some municipalities virtually ungovernable.  Polls will close on the Portuguese mainland at 8 p.m. GMT, with exit poll projections published an hour later, when voting ends in the Azores archipelago. The country’s electoral system is remarkably efficient, so a final tally is expected before midnight.

Brussels’ upcoming plan to take on the EU’s housing crisis will include measures curbing real estate speculation, Housing Commissioner Dan Jørgensen announced Monday. “There is no room in Europe for selfish speculation on a basic need like our homes,” the commissioner said at a high-level conference on housing affordability in Copenhagen, stressing the need to tackle the “financialization” of the EU’s housing stock. According to Eurostat, home prices across the EU have shot up nearly 60 percent since 2010, while rental costs have increased nearly 30 percent. Experts attribute the spike to the dramatic slowdown in public housing construction, and to the marked uptick in speculative practices in urban areas where affordable housing stock has shrunk. Jørgensen confirmed the EU’s first-ever plan to take on the crisis — which is expected to be unveiled later this year — will include a revision of state aid rules, allowing national governments to use public funds to build homes for middle-class Europeans priced out of the market. As public cash alone will be insufficient, the commissioner explained these funds will need to be combined with private investment. Stressing that such investments need to “balance steady returns with social responsibility,” he said the Commission was working with the European Investment Bank and other financial institutions to ensure homes built through public-private schemes are genuinely affordable. In addition to measures aimed at slashing byzantine EU and national rules delaying the construction of new homes, Jørgensen announced the upcoming plan will also target short-term rentals. The conversion of housing stock into tourist flats is seen as a major factor in rising costs, with authorities moving to ban these properties altogether in places like Barcelona. The commissioner vowed to address the “complex” issue “firmly but fairly.” “This crisis presents a defining test for our European democracy,” Jørgensen said. ” It is a fight we cannot afford to lose.”

In a bid to force Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas to step down after last week’s deadly funicular disaster, Portuguese lawmakers are using the politician’s own words against him. Sixteen people died when the iconic Glória Funicular’s suspension cable snapped last Wednesday, causing one of its tram cars to plummet down a steep slope and smash into a building. Following the catastrophe, leading politicians are claiming the city failed to adequately maintain its 140-year old railway system, and are evoking Moedas’ past statements in an attempt to push for his resignation. In 2021, Moedas’ predecessor Fernando Medina came under fire when his administration admitted to giving Russian authorities the personal information of at least three Lisbon-based Russian dissidents. Moedas — at the time a former European commissioner running as the center-right candidate in the local elections — had slammed the incumbent mayor, saying he had to take responsibility for the scandal. “City hall put these people in mortal danger,” he told POLITICO. “There have to be political consequences: Medina has to resign.” Now, with less than a month before Lisbon’s local elections, Moedas’ political opponents are citing his words from four years ago and demanding he take responsibility for the funicular disaster. “What would the Moedas of 2021 say to the Moedas of 2025?” asked André Ventura, leader of the far-right Chega party. “Serious politicians do not hide in times of crisis and do not shirk their responsibility: They assume it.” On the opposite side of the political spectrum, Secretary-General of the Portuguese Communist Party Paulo Raimundo also said Moedas’ own standards mean he’s no longer qualified to lead the city. The Socialist Party’s parliamentary leader Eurico Brilhante Dias similarly called for the mayor to be “coherent.” In an interview with POLITICO, Moedas insisted the funicular disaster couldn’t be compared to the scandal that embroiled his predecessor. While Medina had “direct responsibility” over the municipal employees who shared dissidents’ personal information, he argued last week’s accident wasn’t “attributable to a decision made by the mayor.” ASSIGNING BLAME A preliminary report released by Portugal’s transit safety authority this weekend attributes the crash to mechanical failure and rejects the possibility that human error played a role in the tragedy. Moedas’ critics say the findings raise serious questions about the historic funicular’s upkeep. In the aftermath of the disaster, employees of Lisbon’s Carris public transit authority said they spent years raising concerns about the funicular’s maintenance, which is subcontracted to private companies. They argued experienced in-house municipal engineers are better equipped to deal with the city’s aged infrastructure. Moedas told POLITICO the companies overseeing the maintenance have to “meet very strict specifications” and are monitored by Carris technicians who “reviewed and adapted all maintenance plans in accordance with necessary developments and changing realities.” He also declined to take responsibility for the outsourcing, which was decided in 2006, and insisted his administration hadn’t cut Carris’ operating budget. Moedas’ assertions don’t appear to have swayed Chega’s mayoral candidate Bruno Mascarenhas though, who is set to present a censure motion against the mayor on Tuesday. “The maximum representative of Carris, [the mayor] has to take responsibility,” Mascarenhas declared. Carlos Moedas insisted the funicular disaster couldn’t be compared to the scandal that embroiled his predecessor. | Horacio Villabos/Getty Images The mayor dismissed the censure motion as grandstanding ahead of the local elections. “This case has brought out the worst in politics and political exploitation,” he said, noting that the proposed motion would be nonbinding. Wary of being seen as playing politics with the tragedy, Socialist candidate Alexandra Leitão — who is polling neck and neck with Moedas — has yet to call for her rival’s resignation, insisting that it’s “premature” to make a political assessment. But on Monday, she urged Moedas to be more transparent about what went wrong. “The preliminary report shows that the safety system was insufficient, and that the technical inspections failed to detect the problems that eventually occurred,” she told supporters. “Something needs to change.”

Elisabeth Braw is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, the author of the award-winning “Goodbye Globalization” and a regular columnist for POLITICO. For many locals the world over, this summer — just like every summer and, indeed, every month — tourism brings misery rather than enjoyment. In Barcelona, locals fed up with overtourism took to the streets in protest. In Genoa, Lisbon and the Canary Islands, they did the same. And in Venice, locals were enraged their city had to play backdrop to tech billionaire Jeff Bezos’s wedding party. Copenhagen, however, has turned the tourism curse on its head, inviting visitors to do good deeds for the city and be rewarded for it in return. And it’s time other cities got similarly creative. “During 2024, the Spanish tourism sector experienced its best year since 2019. Its contribution to GDP rose by almost 8% to €248.7 billion, or 15.6% of the economy. It also employed 3 million people, nearly 14% of the country’s total jobs,” the World Travel & Tourism Council reported in May. For many Spaniards, though, this hardly feels like good news. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. To them — and to locals in many other cities tourists like to visit — what it actually means is overcrowding, lack of housing and constant littering. It’s a cursed bargain, tourism: It brings in cash and jobs, but the more tourism you get, the more locals’ discomfort turns to misery. These days, even the trails leading up to the Himalayas are tainted by litter — and don’t even mention Instagram tourism. But tourism doesn’t need to be this destructive. Switzerland, for example, has begun giving rail discounts to those who book a stay at sustainable hotels, and it charges anyone visiting the Lake Brienz pier, which was made famous by the Korean drama “Crash Landing on You,” 5 Swiss francs. The proceeds are then invested in local infrastructure. Copenhagen’s approach is even more innovative. Last year, the Danish capital launched CopenPay, a scheme that invites tourists to do good deeds for the city — and get rewarded. “All you need to do is, for instance, bike instead of drive, help maintain the city, work in an urban garden or take the train to Copenhagen instead of flying, stay longer at the destination,” CopenPay explains. The initiative was launched as a four-week pilot program last year, and this summer it expanded to nine weeks, with 100 attractions participating — a fourfold increase. For instance, as part of CopenPay, there are currently 15 different opportunities to clean up litter across the city, one of which is to “Clean the harbor with GreenKayak and enjoy a free non-alcoholic drink and rye bar with your Smørrebrød purchase at Hallernes Smørrebrød.” While I can’t speak for everyone, to me, cleaning the harbor in central Copenhagen by kayak certainly sounds like an exciting undertaking I’d do for free — though I’d also happily claim the beverage. And if that doesn’t quite strike your fancy, you can help clean the harbor by self-sailing boat too. And picking up litter is just the beginning. If you bike or use public transport to get to the National Museum, you get a free ice cream with your entry ticket. If you arrive in Copenhagen by train or electric car, you get similarly rewarded. There are free bike rentals, free yoga sessions, free guided tours, all waiting to be claimed. Visitors arriving by train from abroad can even get free surplus meals at Copenhagen Central Station. There are free bike rentals, free yoga sessions, free guided tours, all waiting to be claimed. | Mads Claus Rasmussen/EPA You get the idea: Be a good citizen while you visit, and good things will come your way. And hopefully the impact of CopenPay — and other similar initiatives currently in the works — won’t stop there. Imagine if participants start thinking differently about their role as tourists. Once you take part in city maintenance as a temporary sanitation worker, perhaps you start viewing your surroundings less as an Instagram commodity and more as a local community worth protecting. Imagine what such participatory schemes could do for other tourist destinations, especially those most affected by throngs of oblivious visitors. I’ve long wondered how Romans can be so tolerant of the throngs that crowd their beautiful piazzas and narrow streets. How could the local government convince visitors to stop congregating and littering in front of Fontana di Trevi? Perhaps they should introduce a scheme inviting tourists to pick up litter and intimately get to know a street or two, or perhaps sweep the floor of one of the city’s many stunning churches, or tend to part of a graveyard. It would certainly be a memory to tell one’s friends about. Yes, there are reasons why such initiatives may not work. Dishonest tourists will claim to have done a good deed when they haven’t — CopenPay, for example, operates on an honor system. But tourism isn’t just a burden to locals, it’s a burden on our planet. It emits some 8 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide and is 20 percent more carbon-intensive than the average for the global economy. Offering tourists the opportunity to pick up litter as they explore local waterways may not work for every town and city, but each destination can easily come up with its own innovative ideas. Just imagine cities full of visitors who bring a helping hand as well as their cash. That ought to be tourism we can live with.

Helsinki hasn’t registered a single traffic-related fatality in the past year, municipal officials revealed this week. Although road deaths are on the decline across the EU, with a 3 percent decrease in 2024, accidents with tragic outcomes are still commonplace in metropolitan areas. To go a full year without one is a remarkable feat for most cities — let alone a European capital. In 2023, 7,807 Europeans lost their lives in traffic accidents in EU cities. Fifty-five people died in traffic accidents in Berlin last year, and nine individuals lost their lives in collisions in the Brussels region over the past 12 months. While Helsinki is among the smallest EU capitals, with a little under 690,000 residents, some 1.5 million people live in and commute throughout the metropolitan area. Roni Utriainen, a traffic engineer with the city’s Urban Environment Division, told the Finnish press that the achievement was attributable to “a lot of factors … but speed limits are one of the most important.” Citing data that shows the risk of pedestrian fatality is cut in half by reducing a car’s speed of impact from 40 to 30 kilometers per hour, city officials imposed the lower limit in most of Helsinki’s residential areas and city center in 2021. The limits were enforced with 70 new speed cameras and a policing strategy based on the national “Vision Zero” policy, with the goal of achieving zero traffic injuries or deaths. Data collected by Liikenneturva, Finland’s traffic safety entity, shows Helsinki’s traffic fatalities have been declining ever since. EUROPEAN MODEL Helsinki’s authorities have spent the past five years trying to replicate the miracle they first achieved in 2019, when no pedestrians or cyclists were killed in automotive collisions. Utriainen stressed the mission’s success is based on data-driven, long-term mobility policies and urban development strategies that have transformed the once car-centric capital. In many parts of the city, roads have been narrowed and trees have been planted with the deliberate goal of making drivers uncomfortable — the rationale being that complex urban landscapes force drivers to move more cautiously through populated areas. The city has also invested in new pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, including a comprehensive network of cycling paths that span over 1,500 kilometers. It has boosted its public transportation network with decarbonized and self-driving buses, and received European Investment Bank funding for a new tram line. Utriainen said the upgrades helped “reduce car use and, with it, the number of serious accidents.” And statistics show that between 2003 and 2023, the number of traffic-related injuries in the city dropped from 727 to just 14. Helsinki’s success is being noted in Brussels, where the European Commission is pressing to curb road fatalities. Earlier this year, Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas noted most member countries weren’t on track to meet the EU’s 2018 goal of halving traffic-related fatalities by 2030. Hanne Cokelaere contributed to this article.