About the city

Barcelona

The leading solidarity city in Spain and Europe

Key Takeaways

  • 1

    The city administration and civil society collaborated closely on developing the “Barcelona, Refuge City” plan, a bundle of concrete measures to provide necessary services and guarantee the rights of refugees.

  • 2

    Active networking with other Spanish Cities within the framework of the “Ciudades Refugios” network, and with many European cities in the Solidarity Cities network.

What is unique about the city?

Municipal role model since 2015: Barcelona has been known as a leading solidarity city in Spain and Europe since the municipal movement Barcelona en Comú (BComú) won the 2015 municipal elections. Barcelona’s own municipal politics is the initiator, model and organising principle for its communal pro-migrant policies. The “Barcelona, Refuge City” plan is a bundle of concrete measures with the aim of preparing the city to take in and assist refugees, provide necessary services and guarantee refugee rights.

What is the focus of local migration policies?

A coherent reception programme: The municipal reception programme “Nausica" lies at the centre of Barcelona’s local solidarity policies. It is also at the heart of the “Barcelona, Refuge City” plan. A second focus of its solidarity politics is the “documento de vecindad” (neighbourhood document), a kind of municipal ID created for people without official documents.

What are the key factors?

Innovative administration meets local activism: When the Barcelona en Comú (Bcomú) minority city council took office in spring 2015, migration became a key topic in the city’s municipal politics. Its entire 2015 election campaign contains a number of concrete proposals on the issues of (forced) migration and refugees. Another important factor is the close collaboration between city administration and local civil society initiatives on designing migration policies.

With the change of municipal government in June 2023, the basically progressive stance of the city council on migration policy is unlikely to change much. However, the newly appointed mayor Jaume Collboni (PSOE - Socialist Party of Catalonia) stands for pragmatism rather than activism. Former mayor Ada Colau will fight for the continuation of her previous political achievements with her party ‘Barcelona en Comú’ out of opposition.

Political activities and advocacy beyond the city level

The city of Barcelona has been a member of various city networks within the framework of EU institutions for many years. In 2015, Mayor Ada Colau initiated and took leadership of the Spanish network of Solidarity Cities – the “ciudades refugio//ciutats refugis”. Colau and the local government have also worked to involve Barcelona in more European and international solidarity city networks.

Member of the following networks

©ThomasLendt; wikimedia commons

Download the full city report

The city report contains more information about the city’s migration and inclusion policies and selected local approaches. Report from 2021, updated in 2023.

Download Report