At a bilateral meeting with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Wednesday 5 July, the President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), Vasco Alves Cordeiro, voiced his concerns about the future of cohesion policy.
Speaking to the press, Mr Cordeiro criticised “a tendency to diminish the role and importance of cohesion policy in achieving the EU’s major objectives” (see EUROPE 13208/12).
The CoR president is concerned about the idea that cohesion policy could be nationalised. He sees the danger of creating the idea that Community cohesion policy “is no longer useful or necessary”.
When presenting the proposals for the mid-term review of the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), the President of the Commission stressed that cohesion policy had funds, but no projects. However, according to Mr Cordeiro, “this is a dangerous idea, because the projects do exist, even though the current situation presents us with challenges”.
The President of the CoR shared with the President his ideas on the need for a “renewed cohesion policy”, taking into account, for example, certain experiences of the way in which funds from the Recovery and Resilience Facility are used. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)