Regions and cities sound the alarm against a dangerous transformation of Cohesion Policy in the future
The President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), Vasco Alves Cordeiro, and the Chair of the COTER commission, Emil Boc, are bringing regions and cities' concerns about the future of cohesion in the EU to the 9th Cohesion Forum, which over the next two days brings together hundreds of decision makers and stakeholders from across Europe.
President Vasco Alves Cordeiro (PT/PES) stated: "The Cohesion Forum is the opportunity to recall the importance of a strong Cohesion Policy at the heart of a stronger and fairer Europe. But this is neither the time for complacency nor for 'business as usual' discussions about the policy and its future. Unless we mobilise and defend a common vision of a renewed policy for all regions built on its fundamental principles, we are at a risk of being presented with a future Cohesion Policy in name only. And this is a threat to the European Union project as a whole."
The Chair of the CoR's commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy and EU Budget (COTER) and Mayor of Cluj-Napoca, Emil Boc (RO/EPP), said: "Cohesion Policy represents the promise of our continent that every community can prosper and reach its full potential, ensuring that no one is left behind. As we are approaching the European elections, we need to talk about Cohesion Policy and fight to make it more efficient, more impactful, not to replace it with new territorially-blind instruments like the Recovery and Resilience Facility. In the last years we saw farmers, industrial workers and young Europeans protesting against growing inequalities. Europe is the solution. Cohesion Policy is the solution. We can no longer allow inequalities to grow in Europe."
President Cordeiro and Mr Boc were earlier this week appointed as co-rapporteurs of the opinion which will assess the 9th Cohesion Report and the conclusions of the group of High-level specialists on the future of Cohesion Policy. They were previously co-rapporteurs on the opinion on the future of Cohesion Policy, adopted by unanimity at the Plenary session in November 2023.
During the 10th European Summit of Regions and Cities, held on 18 and 19 March in Mons (Belgium), the CoR, together with the founding partners of the EU-wide #CohesionAlliance, launched a joint call to the European institutions and national governments to keep Cohesion Policy as the main pillar of the EU's development model over the next decade. The call states the principles on which the future EU regional policy should be based in order to remain a fundamental pillar of the EU development model and the core long-term, decentralised investment policy of the future EU budget.
The CoR at the 9th Cohesion Forum
- President Cordeiro will take the floor on Friday 12 April at 14:45 during the debate "Which EU Cohesion Policy for the future?".
- COTERChair Boc is among the speakers of the debate "Role of cities in regional development", on Thursday 11 April at 16:30.
- Mirja Vehkaperä (FI/Renew E), Member of Oulu City Council, will speak on Friday 12 April at 11:50 during the panel "Cohesion: and objective shared among all policies".
Other members attending the Forum as part of the CoR delegation are: Tanya Hristova (BG/EPP), Mayor of Gabrovo and Chair of the SEDEC Commission; Nathalie Sarrabezolles (FR/PES), Councillor of Finistère Departmental Council; Andres Jaadla (EE/Renew E), Member of Rakvere City Council; Pavel Branda (CZ/ECR), Deputy Mayor of Rádlo; Nanette Maupertuis (FR/EA), President of the Corsican Assembly; and Mätta Ivarsson (SE/GREENS), Member of Skåne County Council.
Details about the programme and webstreaming.
More information
Press release on the adoption of the opinion on the future of Cohesion Policy post-2027 (November 2023).
Text of the opinion in all EU languages.
Factsheet on the content of the opinion.
Text of the #CohesionAlliance joint call.
To sign the joint call, use this link.
Contacts:
Monica Tiberi – Spokesperson of the President
Tel: +32 479 51 74 43
Monica.tiberi@cor.europa.eu
Matteo Miglietta
Tel: +32 470 89 53 82
Matteo.miglietta@cor.europa.eu