​Vasco Alves Cordeiro participated today in the informal meeting of the EU Council of Ministers for a debate on how Cohesion Policy should look like after 2027.

At the meeting held in Murcia, Spain, the President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) stressed the need for bold and transformative reform of Cohesion Policy to make it more agile, more transparent and more accessible to regions and cities.

"With the European elections around the corner, an important debate on the future of EU investment policies supporting people and territories will take a new turn. Questions such as whether the EU has the right tools and instruments to support people and territories in light of the green, digital – and more than ever – industrial transitions will be raised", stated President Cordeiro in his intervention during the debate with the Ministers responsible for Cohesion Policy of the 27 Member States.

"Cohesion policy is one of the major EU policies and it should remain so after the current funding period until 2027. In the presence of Ministers from Member States, I explained the Committee of the Regions' conviction that we need to find a new balance between the needs for long-term investments on the one hand, and the capacity of Cohesion Policy funding to be agile and responsive to unforeseen events on the other hand" added the CoR President, who brought on the table of the meeting the draft proposals adopted on Tuesday by unanimity by the CoR's commission responsible for territorial cohesion and EU budget (COTER).

President Cordeiro is co-rapporteur of the opinion, together with the COTER Chair, Mayor of Cluj-Napoca and former Prime Minister of Romania Emil Boc. "We will propose a single strategic framework to define the scope and goal of each fund under what we call a 'European Partnership Pact', which would also include the Rural development fund. Our proposal would not only reinforce much needed coherence across the different funds, but most importantly it would also deliver meaningful simplification to both managing authorities and beneficiaries – stated President Cordeiro - Only if we keep strengthening the territorial cohesion, we will avoid a divide between frontrunner regions and those vulnerable to the external shocks of our globally connected internal market. Our Union is built on diversity. I encourage all Member States and the European Commission that we work together to unlock that potential through a renewed regional policy that secures a future for all territories."

More information about the opinion on the future of Cohesion Policy, which is scheduled to be voted on at the CoR Plenary on 29-30 November, can be found here.

Background:

On 9 October, the Committee of the Regions will publish its EU Annual Report on the State of Regions and Cities, providing a snapshot of the most pressing challenges faced by regions and cities across Europe, as well as solutions from the ground to inform EU policy decisions. More information here.

Together with the leading European associations of cities and regions, the CoR is a founding partner of the #CohesionAlliance, whose mission is to affirm cohesion as a fundamental value of the European Union and a key objective for all its policies and investment.

Contacts:

Hannah Cornelsen - Spokesperson of the President

Tel: +32 470970128

hannah.cornelsen@cor.europa.eu​