The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) said on Wednesday 24 May that the EU cannot tackle social, economic and territorial disparities through cohesion policy alone and that all EU initiatives and policies, such as the Economic Recovery Plan, must tackle inequalities and promote cohesion.
The CoR unanimously adopted in plenary its opinion ‘Do no harm to cohesion’ prepared by rapporteur Michiel Rijsberman (Renew Europe, Dutch) (see EUROPE 13169/13).
Cohesion policy is and should remain the main tool for the harmonious development of each European region. The CoR stresses the importance of cohesion as a fundamental value of the European Union and a cross-cutting objective and notes that the recent crises have led to stagnation in convergence and have particularly affected the most vulnerable citizens.
The CoR also adopted an opinion on the mid-term review of the multiannual financial framework (MFF). It recalls that the objectives of European cohesion policy can only be achieved if funds are available for long-term investment. “While some flexibility is needed, the funds should not be used for immediate crisis response”, the CoR warns.
Cohesion defended by the CoR President. In addition, CoR President Vasco Alves Cordeiro called for an update of cohesion policy at the meeting on Tuesday 23 May of the High-Level Group set up by the European Commission on the future of this policy. The objective of this group is to reflect on how to maximise the effectiveness of cohesion policy in the future in terms of reducing economic, territorial and social disparities in Europe.
Vasco Alves Cordeiro stressed the need to make this policy “more inclusive and visible to all European citizens”. “There is a real risk that cohesion policy will be reduced or replaced in the future by a spatially blind instrument”, he lamented. As there are more and more transfers from cohesion policy to other programmes, “the central objective of the policy, which is to achieve cohesion through long-term investment and structural change, is in danger of being lost”, he feared.
Cohesion policy should therefore be given a new impetus, he said, through an “update”, so that its role and place as the EU's main investment policy “are no longer in doubt”.
Link to the opinion ‘Do no harm to cohesion’: https://aeur.eu/f/71v (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)