Regions and cities adopt proposals to reform Cohesion Policy and oppose any attempt to centralise it in the hands of national governments

The European Union needs a strong, flexible and reformed Cohesion Policy available to all territories, with regions and cities at its heart, to boost the EU's competitiveness while reducing regional inequalities. This is the strong call of regional and local leaders who, during a European Committee of the Regions (CoR) plenary on 20-21 November, adopted a package of opinions defining the building blocks of Cohesion Policy after 2027.

Territorial inequalities are increasing across Europe, while regions are facing new challenges linked to the climate crisis, energy dependency, demographic change and geopolitical tensions. Cohesion Policy - which currently represents around one third of the long-term EU budget - has a crucial role to play in delivering on these emerging priorities, as they often require a place-sensitive approach and touch upon regions' and cities' competences.

A key framework opinion by the co-rapporteurs Vasco Alves CORDEIRO (PT/PES), President of the CoR, and Emil BOC (RO/EPP), President of the CoR commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy and EU Budget, underlines that the impact of Cohesion Policy depends on the knowledge and involvement of local and regional authorities for ensuring that projects are relevant, effective and sustainable. Therefore, the CoR opposed any future measure of centralisation within Cohesion Policy that would concentrate more power in the hands of EU and national authorities.

Key priorities for the future Cohesion Policy

Representatives of cities and regions highlighted that Cohesion Policy has come under pressure to address many priorities, while its primary goal should be redressing geographical disparities. However, cohesion in Europe cannot be promoted by Cohesion Policy alone. All EU and national policies should pursue the same objective in a coordinated manner. CoR consequently called for the creation of an EU monitoring framework to assess the implementation of policies vis à vis the promotion of cohesion.

In order to simplify Cohesion Policy rules after 2027, regions and cities called for the establishment of a single strategic framework for EU funds, reducing the number of funding instruments, and they opposed the creation of new EU sectoral funds with no clear added value to existing ones, such as the announced Competitiveness fund.

The involvement of regional and local authorities through the shared-management model, the multi-level governance and the partnership principle must remain the guiding principles of a reformed Cohesion Policy post-2027. Local and regional leaders are also open to explore new ways to improve the delivery of Cohesion Policy funds, including following aspects of the performance-based model in some specific cases.

A strengthened European Territorial Cooperation

Considering the scale of territorial challenges, cities and regions urged national and EU leaders to equip the post-2027 Cohesion Policy with a budget that is up to the task, at least equivalent to the 2021-2027 one (including the €50.6 billion REACT-EU top-up) in real terms. As requested in an opinion drafted by Karsten Uno PETERSEN (DK/PES), member of the regional assembly of South Denmark, the European Territorial Cooperation (ETC) objective of Cohesion Policy should be increased compared to the current programming period, to represent no less than 8% of the total amount. ETC has proven to be one of the key EU policy tools for promoting cohesion and for strengthening the single market by removing border obstacles. Therefore, the budget of its cross-border cooperation component should at least double in the EU's next long-term budget.

Improving cross-border cooperation

Through a dedicated opinion prepared by Pavel BRANDA (CZ/ECR), Deputy Mayor of Rádlo regional and local leaders also warned that lives continue to be put at risk by administrative problems, financial issues and technical obstacles that hamper emergency services crossing the EU's internal borders. Thus, they urged national governments and regional authorities to step up efforts to reach agreements with their neighbours to enable emergency teams across borders.

Tackling demographic change

At the request of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU, the CoR also adopted an opinion on how to exploit the full potential of Cohesion Policy to tackle demographic change, drafted by Raquel GARCÍA GONZÁLEZ (ES/PES), Director-General for European Affairs of the Government of the Principality of Asturias. The demographic transition should be recognised as a priority alongside the green and digital transitions, and the potential of Cohesion Policy measures in addressing its challenges highlighted, CoR members said. To this end, it is essential to define the category of 'regions in demographic transition' to facilitate a common EU-wide understanding and to better track investments under Cohesion Policy which help to address the causes and consequences of demographic change. The General Affairs Council is expected to draw on the CoR opinion in its conclusions on cohesion and demographic change scheduled for adoption on 28 November.

Quotes

Vasco Alves CORDEIRO (PT/PES), co-rapporteur on 'A renewed Cohesion Policy post-2027 that leaves no one behind' and President of the European Committee of the Regions: "Cohesion Policy is not only about financing, programmes, and rules. Cohesion Policy is, above all and mainly, about the essence of the European project, about not leaving people or places behind. Cohesion Policy is a future-oriented policy which enables all territories from all corners of Europe to face challenges such as addressing climate disasters or supporting the demographic transition. This is why it is vital that local and regional authorities remain in the driving seat when it comes to delivering the policy on the ground."

Emil BOC (RO/EPP), co-rapporteur on 'A renewed Cohesion Policy post-2027 that leaves no one behind', President of the CoR commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy and EU Budget, and Mayor of Cluj-Napoca: "Cohesion Policy must continue to be the single policy to address the challenges inherent to cohesion in Europe. That includes supporting a just transition, and promoting competitiveness, resilience and a neutral Europe 2050 through investments in infrastructure, innovation and human capital. That includes supporting all regions so that the EU can be more competitive at a global level. Cohesion Policy is the solution, not the problem!"

Pavel BRANDA (CZ/ECR), rapporteur on 'Solving obstacles to the cooperation of emergency services in the EU's border regions', Deputy Mayor of Rádlo: "As someone who represents a border region, I know first-hand the importance of cross-border cooperation, and the real-life impact it has on cross-border communities."

Raquel GARCÍA GONZÁLEZ (ES/PES), rapporteur on 'How to exploit the full potential of Cohesion Policy to tackle demographic change', and Director-General for European Affairs of the Government of the Principality of Asturias: "Demographic change affects regions across Europe in vastly different ways. To effectively address the pressing challenge of depopulation, it is crucial that regions retain control over the management of cohesion policy."

Karsten Uno PETERSEN (DK/PES), rapporteur on 'The future of ETC post 2027', and member of the regional assembly of South Denmark: "Border regions make up 40 percentage of the EU territory, and 30 percentage of the EU population lives in border regions. Therefore, funding for cross-border cooperation should be doubled in the next EU multiannual budget."

Background

· Rewatch the plenary debate on a renewed Cohesion Policy that leaves no one behind.

· The On 20 November, the CoR adopted the opinion 'EU budget and place-based policies: proposals for new design and delivery mechanisms in the MFF post-2027' drafted by Marie-Antoinette MAUPERTUIS (FR/EA), President of Corsica regional assembly.

· In November 2023, the CoR adopted a first opinion on the future of Cohesion Policy after 2027. Drafted by the co-rapporteurs Vasco Alves CORDEIRO and Emil BOC.

Contacts

Monica Tiberi - Spokesperson of the CoR President
Mobile: +32 479 51 74 43
[email protected]

Matteo Miglietta
Tel. +32 470895382
[email protected]

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