The President of the Committee of the Regions (CoR), Apostolos Tzitzikostas (EPP, Greece), and the regions in general welcomed the content of the 8th Cohesion Report, presented on Wednesday 9 February by the European Commission - in particular for having emphasised the transversality of the principles of cohesion policy in the future, in order to territorialise European policies.
Mr Tzitzikostas stressed the importance of establishing a “real partnership” on the one hand, primarily to extend the principles of cohesion to all other EU policies; and on the other, of ensuring a real territorialisation of European action. This point was made repeatedly by the Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, during the presentation of the report (see EUROPE 12887/2) and before MEPs on Thursday 10 February (see EUROPE 12888/22).
Nathalie Sarrabezolles, Chair of the CoR’s Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy and EU Budget (COTER), regretted that regional disparities were “significantly” greater today than in 2007, before the financial crisis. For her, it is therefore necessary to assess the “cohesive and anti-cohesive” effects of all EU policies, to counteract the widening of territorial inequalities.
A single strategic framework for investment policies?
The Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Regions (CPMR) welcomed the publication of the report, as it provides a basis for reflection on the future of cohesion after 2027, notably on the transversality of cohesion in European policies and on multi-level governance. In this respect, the CPMR is awaiting clarification on the ‘do no harm to cohesion’ principle.
One point of regret for the CPMR is that the report does not address the need to adopt a single strategic framework integrating all investment policies, or even the issue of reforming the ‘European Semester’ budgetary process to incorporate a component into it. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)