Cohesion policy post-2027

EU cities and regions are taking action towards decarbonisation in order to make the EU economy more resource-efficient, to innovate on waste management and recycling, to support citizens for both new construction and renovation, to make transport greener, to increase green spaces and plant presence in urban areas, and to raise citizens' awareness of the need to do more to fight climate change. This briefing showcases 20 such projects across the European Union.

This study provides an assessment of how EU Cohesion Policy currently contributes and can contribute in the future to the attainment of the goals of EU Climate Policy. It explains how much of the budget goes to climate action and to what kind of initiatives across EU regions. It also discusses the obligations from the Paris Agreement, the role of Cohesion Policy within the European Green Deal and the impact of phasing out fossil fuels. Policy recommendations for strengthening climate action financed by Cohesion Policy are set out.

Funds from the European Union that are devoted to fostering a low-carbon economy are aimed at assisting Member States and regions in implementing the required investments in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and smart distribution electricity grids, and for research and innovation in these areas. In this context, we assessed the implementation of these funds in small and medium-sized enterprises across different beneficiary countries and regions of the European Union. Therefore, this study uses a non-radial slack-based data envelopment analysis model coupled with cluster analysis that covers multiple aspects of evaluation, including two inputs and two outputs, to assess 102 programs from 22 countries.

. The transition towards climate neutrality cannot be achieved through environmental policies alone. Cohesion policy, which accounts for about one third of the EU budget, supports this process by earmarking funding for climate action, for 'climate proofing' investments and for implementing specific actions in EU regions. In addition to the traditional cohesion policy funds (European Regional Development Fund, Cohesion Fund and European Social Fund Plus), a new Just Transition Fund will support the transition in regions relying on fossil fuels and high-emissions industries over the period of 2021-2027

Decarbonisation brings both significant challenges and opportunities for coal regions. This study analyses the implementation and impact of Cohesion Policy, including Just Transition Funds, in EU coal regions. Looking retrospectively at the 2014-2020 programming period and forward to the 2021-27 period, the study concludes that Cohesion Policy has made, and is likely to continue to make a real contribution to achieving smarter, greener and more socially connected development of EU coal regions.

The 2030 Agenda represents a natural framework to guide the post-COVID recovery process. However, the assessment of the effectiveness of sustainable development-oriented policies is still a challenge, and addressing this problem is now more urgent than ever. Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei and the Autonomous Region of Sardinia launched a research project aimed at developing a model to assess the extent to which the operational programs co-financed by the EU under the Cohesion Policy are sustainable in terms of SDGs. The method developed allows policymakers to direct spending toward investments to better pursue the 2030 Agenda targets. The paper presents the key features of the model and its results applied in the Sardinian context.

This piece explores the roots of a revolutionary transformation in EU law. Cohesion policy—which had heretofore been a policy backwater, aimed at addressing regional disparities—has emerged as the EU’s primary vehicle for reshaping economic and related fiscal policies in the Member States. As a result, any economic or fiscal policy measure that can be plausibly described as a structural reform (primarily an area of Member State competence, subject to Union coordination) can now be reframed as a measure of EU cohesion policy (a shared competence) that can be supported by EU funds to incentivize compliance. How did this happen? One might respond ‘Covid’ and hence NextGenerationEU (NGEU) but that actually would not be exactly right. The revolutionary reinterpretation of Article 175(3) TFEU in fact predated NGEU and was undertaken by the legal services of the EU institutions largely outside of public scrutiny.

Conditionality requirements have been applied for decades in the Multiannual Financial Frameworks (MFF), and, over the years, these mechanisms have been extended and developed. In December 2020, the European Union legislature adopted the ‘Regulation on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget’ which includes the new rule of law mechanism. According to the regulation 2020/2092, the MFF for the period 2021–2027, as well as the Recovery and Resilience Facility and React-EU, should guarantee the link between the rule of law and the disbursement of EU funds. Above all, the new regulation will have an important impact on EU Cohesion Policy from 2021 to 2027. This article will conceptualise both existing and new conditionality instruments as included in the EU Cohesion Policy, and compare them with previous MFFs in order to assess the new conditionality regulations in the context of the debate on the development of the EU budget.

The agreements on Next Generation EU (NGEU) and the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021–2027 (MFF 2021–2027) are extraordinary milestones for the EU integration process. Not only do both regulations have important redistributive effects within a defined timeframe, but both regulations shape the hierarchy of objectives and instruments of EU budgetary policies. This is particularly true for cohesion policy, which has been characterised as the model of EU multilevel governance (MLG). Drawing on historical institutionalism and Peter Hall’s classification of policy change, this text examines the dynamics of change in MLG. In particular, this research looks at the timing and scope of changes in EU cohesion policy since the 1980s. We ask whether or not the adoption of NGEU and the MFF 2021–2027 is likely to represent a critical juncture for the MLG and to what extent both regulations modify objectives and instruments of cohesion policy.

In 2022, Europe has seen a sudden, huge influx of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine. This study assesses the use of Cohesion Policy funds to finance actions to support those refugees in EU host countries. It pays particular attention to the Cohesion’s Action for Refugees in Europe (CARE), and how the flexibility mechanisms it introduced have been taken up by the Managing Authorities of Cohesion Policy programmes. The study concludes with policy recommendations in view of potential future crises.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has shocked the world and caused devastation in the country. As millions flee the war-torn nation, Europe is currently witnessing its largest movement of refugees since World War II. With cohesion policy having proved effective in mobilising emergency support during the coronavirus crisis, the European Commission has put forward two proposals that seek to adapt cohesion policy rules to facilitate the rapid rollout of funding to help Member States host Ukrainian refugees.