The Cohesion Alliance, a grouping of several thousand stakeholders campaigning for a strengthening of EU cohesion policy after 2020, called, in a press release issued on Monday 27 April, for an agreement on the next multiannual financial framework and the Recovery Fund to be reached among Member States as soon as possible, if possible by June.
While welcoming the endorsements of the 23 April summit (see EUROPE 12473/1), the Cohesion Alliance insists that the “race against time” must be won in the face of the devastating effects of COVID-19; otherwise it will be too late to effectively protect the economic fabric and, consequently, European workers.
For the Alliance, it is necessary to: – allow the continuity of emergency measures supported by cohesion policy; – strengthen the budget for future cohesion policy; – guarantee a quick start of the 2021-2027 programmes. The Alliance calls for financial initiatives to contribute more to the social and territorial cohesion of the Union and to be implemented with local and regional bodies , particularly in the framework of the future reform support programme. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)