During their informal meeting in the Hungarian capital on Friday, 6 September, the European ministers responsible for cohesion policy will have a debate on how the EU’s cohesion policy could better address demographic challenges, including ageing populations and immigration.
In a note (https://aeur.eu/f/dam ), the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU emphasises the role of cohesion policy in promoting competitiveness and employment and “effectively addressing demographic challenges” (see EUROPE 13455/13).
An unchanged demographic situation “could increase inequalities between EU regions in the long term”, according to the Hungarian Presidency, which hopes to launch an EU-level discussion on how cohesion policy can play a role in managing demographic challenges.
According to the Hungarian note, the European working-age population will fall by 27 million people between now and 2050, compared to 2009.
The fertility rate in EU countries is low, and the EU’s population is on the verge of declining after 2030 “despite the fact that migration from outside the EU currently compensates for this at EU level”, according to the note. Serious imbalances exist: overall, the population of Western Europe continues to grow—mainly due to immigration—while the population of Eastern Europe has been declining for years “due to natural decline as well as net-out migration, resulting in a lack of development capacity”, the note indicates. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)