Future EU budget: regions and cities put forward key improvements to the proposal on the table

Leaders opposed merging Cohesion Policy with other instruments and advocated a strong place-based approach to reduce territorial inequalities.

Local and regional leaders gave the first greenlight to a draft opinion that aims at improving the European Commission's proposal for the EU long-term budget 2028-34, while starting in-depth work on sectorial regulations that will be part of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).

Members of the Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy and EU Budget (COTER) of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) adopted on 2 December the draft opinion on the MFF post-2027 prepared by Sari Rautio (FI/EPP), city councillor of Hämeenlinna and President of the EPP group in the CoR.  

Local and regional leaders are working to secure major changes to the package proposed on 16 July. They emphasised that the letter sent few weeks ago by the President of the European Commission, providing suggestions to amend the initial proposal, is a positive step forward. However, the reassurances should be transformed into concrete legislative proposals – they underlined – to guarantee that Cohesion Policy remains a central pillar of European solidarity.  

The CoR's overall aims are to keep regions and cities at the heart of EU policy and to reverse the trend towards centralisation at European and national levels.  The Committee is seeking to keep the budget lines for Cohesion Policy and agricultural policy separate, as well as guarantees at EU level to ensure support for Cohesion Policy for every region, not only for the poorest ones. Local and regional leaders are also calling to keep the place-based approach, shared management and a genuine partnership among different levels of governance as fundamental and non-negotiable core principles of Cohesion Policy. Moreover, COTER members supported the Commission’s proposal for five new sources of EU revenue to reinforce the long-term budget. 

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Rapporteur Rautio said: “Regions and municipalities must be genuine partners in shaping the next MFF – not just followers. This is not only about money, but also about European democracy, the added value of the Union, and our common future. Cohesion Policy is not charity. It is a strategic tool for competitiveness, for the Single Market, and for a stronger, more united Europe that leaves no region behind. At a time of rising populism, local and regional leaders are the ones closest to citizens and the ones they trust most. We must not sideline their voices – doing so would risk undermining the European project itself.” 

The draft opinion was adopted after a debate with representatives from different EU institutions, including the European Parliament’s co-rapporteurs on the future MFF, Siegried Mureșan and Carla Tavares. The text is scheduled to be adopted during the CoR plenary session of 4-5 March 2026. 

Also during the meeting 

During an exceptional two-day commission meeting, local and regional leaders also adopted a draft opinion that explores the role of the private sector in reinforcing Cohesion Policy post-2027, prepared by Kristoffer Tamsons (SE/EPP), Member of the County Council of Stockholm. The opinion is scheduled for adoption at the CoR's plenary session of 4-5 March 2026. 

COTER members also debated a package of opinions that will detail the CoR’s concerns over some sectorial regulations included in the MFF 2028-34, and put forward proposals to improve them:    

• National and Regional Partnership Plans: co-rapporteurs Vasco Alves Cordeiro (PT/PES), COTER Chair and Member of the Regional Assembly of the Azores, and Emil Boc (RO/EPP), Mayor of Cluj-Napoca; 

• European Regional Development Fund, including European Territorial Cooperation and Cohesion Fund regulations: rapporteur María Guardiola Martín (ES/EPP), President of the Regional Government of Extremadura; 

• Connecting Europe Facility 2028-2034: rapporteur Juraj Droba (SK/ECR), Chairman of the Bratislava self-governing Region; 

• Performance Framework Regulation: rapporteur Luca Menesini (IT/PES), member of the Provincial Council of Lucca. 

All the opinions will be voted both by the COTER commission’s members and the CoR plenary in the first half of 2026.  

Background 

• Photos and video from the meeting.  

• During the meeting, COTER members appointed rapporteurs on the following dossiers: María Chivite Navascués (ES/PES), President of Navarra Region, on the incoming transport package; Marco Marsilio (IT/ECR), President of the Abruzzo Region, on the sustainable mobility package; Kieran McCarthy (IE/EA), councillor of the city of Cork, on the incoming EU Agenda for cities. 

• The CoR is setting up a political steering committee, chaired by the CoR President and composed by all the rapporteurs on MFF-related files, to coordinate the work on the future long-term budget. The new steering group will meet for the first time on 10 December. 

• Together with the leading European associations of cities and regions, the CoR is a founding partner of the #CohesionAlliance, the EU-widest coalition of representatives of cities and regions, social partners and civic society associations advocating for cohesion as a key objective for all EU policies and investments, and for a strengthened Cohesion Policy after 2027.  

Contact 

Matteo Miglietta
Tel. +32 470895382  
matteo.miglietta@cor.europa.eu