The European Union needs a strong, flexible and reformed Cohesion Policy available to all territories, with regions and cities at its heart, to boost the EU’s competitiveness while reducing regional inequalities. This is the urgent call from regional and local leaders who, at the plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) on 20 and 21 November, adopted a set of opinions on the Cohesion Policy post-2027 (see EUROPE 13528/3).
In adopting an opinion by Vasco Alves Cordeiro, President of the CoR, and Emil Boc (EPP, Romanian), President of the CoR Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy and EU Budget (COTER), the CoR “opposes any direct or indirect measure of centralisation within Cohesion Policy” and is ready to explore any legal means (Protocol 2 on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and Article 263 of the Treaty) to “block any attempt in this direction” (see EUROPE 13498/12). It recommends that more legal guarantees be put in place in the post-2027 framework to ensure greater decentralisation and widespread participation of local and regional authorities in decision-making processes.
Budget. The CoR reiterates that the scale of the territorial challenges means that Cohesion Policy post-2027 must have a budget that is equal to the task, at least equivalent in real terms to that of the 2021-2027 period (including the REACT-EU complement), while the European territorial cooperation strand should be increased compared to the current programming period and account for at least 8% of the total amount, and the cross-border cooperation strand should be at least doubled.
In order to simplify the rules of Cohesion Policy post-2027, regions and cities advocate the establishment of a single strategic framework for EU funds, reducing the number of funding instruments, and oppose the creation of new EU sectoral funds - such as the announced Competitiveness Fund - with no clear added value compared to existing funds.
The involvement of regional and local authorities through the shared-management model, multi-level governance and the partnership principle must remain the guiding principles of a reformed Cohesion Policy post-2027.
Link to opinion: https://aeur.eu/f/efg (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)