On behalf of the 132 regions of the European Union, a delegation of thirty regional presidents and ministers met the Executive Vice-President responsible for Cohesion and Reform, Raffaele Fitto, on Wednesday 2 July to remind him of the need to maintain a separate budget for cohesion policy after 2027 (see EUROPE 13672/8).
According to the delegation, this meeting is “an important step in the process of defending regional interests, with the aim of strengthening cohesion policy in the EU’s 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF)”.
During the exchange with Raffaele Fitto, the delegation stressed the need to maintain a strong role for the regions and a specific budget for cohesion policy in order to “maintain the territorial attention and ensure a policy adapted to the strengths and specificities of the different regions”.
Mr Fitto would have insisted on the need to work on new methods to modernise cohesion policy, the first step being its mid-term review.
EUregions4cohesion is a coalition launched in May 2024 by the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region (France) and the Emilia-Romagna region (Italy). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)