Cohesion policy post-2027

Cohesion Policy is Europe’s main investment tool, reaching half a trillion euros from 2021 to 2027. It played the firefighter in the COVID-19 emergency, is the first responder in addressing the social and economic consequences of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and will play a key role in tackling the energy crisis by supporting SMEs and vulnerable households. These responses to crises cope with the long-term objectives to enable EU countries to reduce their dependence from imported fossil fuels and to prepare Europe for the next stages of the green and digital society, while ensuring economic and social cohesion.

Experts, local and regional governments are worried that the repeated use of cohesion funds to address unforeseen crises might affect the policy's long term objective of supporting less developed regions and reducing disparities across the EU. The European Commission’s plan to reshuffle cohesion funds to finance innovative technologies raises concerns over the repeated use of the EU’s place-based policy to address new emerging needs.

With the 2024 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. As part of this debate, a central question will be asked about where EU Cohesion Policy fits, what should be its central purpose and mission.

While it is successful in its aim to reduce cross-regional inequality, cohesion policy – the EU’s place-based regional policy worth one-third of the total EU budget – fails to reach the most “left-behind people” and actually increases inequality within European regions, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Mannheim, the Jacques Delors Centre in Berlin and Aarhus University.