On Thursday 28 November in Brussels, the European cohesion policy ministers will debate ways of improving the shared management of cohesion policy funds.
How can the shared management of cohesion funds be improved in the future, while respecting the principle of subsidiarity? This is the question posed by the Hungarian Presidency of the EU Council in a note (https://aeur.eu/f/efo ) which refers to the European Commission’s controversial plan to move from shared management to more centralised management of EU instruments, including cohesion policy funds, “leading to a restructuring of the different areas of shared management (programming, management and control), with potentially significant implications for subsidiarity, ownership and partnership” (see EUROPE 13529/8).
The Council will also approve conclusions (https://aeur.eu/f/efq ) on the role of cohesion policy in tackling the EU’s demographic challenges, which can have a considerable impact on economic, social and territorial cohesion, as well as on the EU’s resilience and competitiveness, “potentially widening disparities between regions”. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)