12/12/2025 (Agence Europe) – During the plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) on Thursday, 11 December, local and regional elected representatives strongly contested the centralisation of cohesion policy funding in the next EU budget (see EUROPE 13680/1). The CoR warned against abandoning the multiyear perspective for centralised management that “will deprive local and regional authorities of the flexibility and resources needed to design and implement efficient, smart public transport services, especially in rural and peripheral areas where transport poverty is most acute”. The CoR called for European regulations to recognise the need for measures that enable local and secondary railway lines to be reopened and that encourage other types of public transport services to be used. Read the opinion: https://aeur.eu/f/jye (AD)