The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is pleased to invite you to a stakeholder consultation for its opinion on the European Social Fund 2028-2034, on 23 February, 14:30 CET at the European Committee of the Regions' premises.
As the Union's main instrument for investing in people, the ESF is central to delivering on the objectives of the European Pillar of Social Rights, supporting quality employment, reducing poverty and inequalities, and strengthening resilient local and regional communities.
This consultation will inform the drafting of the Committee of the Regions' opinion by Rapporteur Carlos Martínez Mínguez (ES/PES), member of the CoR Commission for Social Policy, Education, Employment, Research and Culture. We look forward to hearing your views on this new European Social Fund and how the local/regional authorities could be better involved and support its implementation. The consultation aims to gather stakeholders' views on how the future ESF can remain a strong and visible instrument for social investment while ensuring effective implementation at local and regional level.
The CoR will focus on the role of the local and regional authorities in delivering on this new Strategy. In particular, the consultation will explore how the future ESF can better reflect place-based needs, reinforce the partnership principle and ensure that funding effectively reaches citizens and communities through cooperation between European, national, regional and local actors. The Rapporteur would be interested in particular on your views on questions such as:
- How can the Local and Regional Authorities be more deeply involved in the formulation and implementation of ESF programmes, including in their design, monitoring and evaluation, in line with the partnership principle??
- Should there be concrete earmarking to specific social areas, such as poverty reduction, the implementation of the European Child Guarantee, youth employment or social inclusion, to avoid the risk of funds not reaching their intended recipients?
- Is there a need to define clearer objectives for the ESF? What could be the best way to link said objectives to performance indicators? How can these objectives better reflect measurable social outcomes, including impact on quality jobs, inclusion and territorial cohesion? Should there be a specific article on budget or methodology to determine concrete levels of contribution to social objectives?
- In your opinion should there be a stronger link between ESF investments and impact on gender equality and SDGs? Should the ESF play a stronger role in supporting social economy actors, social innovation and locally-driven solutions responding to emerging social challenges?
If your organisation has any position papers relevant to the subject, we kindly invite you to share them in advance by e-mail to: sedec@cor.europa.eu.