European Elections 2024

This Discussion Paper focuses on the upcoming review of the post-2027 Multi Annual Financial Framework and the debate concerning the future EU Cohesion Policy. It argues that Cohesion Policy’s purpose requires reinvention, not an incremental upgrade. Four overarching themes are analysed, reframing Cohesion Policy with a strategic, long-term investment perspective: EU resilience, security, strategic autonomy, and reforms. The author then proposes five recommendations which weave together these themes with the policy’s long-standing core features.

The 8th Cohesion Report, published by the European Commission in February 2022, paints a mixed picture of cohesion policy. On the one hand, since the 2008 financial crisis and the contraction of public spending, cohesion policy has played an increasing role in maintaining territorial integrity and public services. On the other hand, many less developed and middle-income regions, especially in the southern and south-western parts of Europe, are stagnating or falling behind. The report highlights that while it is relatively easy to increase growth in less developed regions, which benefit from low-cost labour, regions in transition often face several obstacles.

Partnership agreements (PAs) are overarching documents that define the strategy and investment priorities for the cohesion policy funds. By the end of 2022, the PAs for all 27 Member States for the 2021-2027 programming period had been adopted; EU support is worth €368 billion and the total investment is €545 billion, taking into account national financing. PAs in this programming period are much shorter and more concise documents than the agreements in the 2014-2020 period. The two policy objectives (POs) with the largest allocations are PO4 Social Europe and PO2 Greener Europe.

Although Cohesion Policy has helped to reduce disparities, there are still inequalities in the EU which risk undermining its future prosperity. In the coming years, economic growth in the EU will be driven by the twin green and digital transitions, which will bring new opportunities. At the same time significant changes are likely to create new regional disparities. Only a strong Cohesion Policy can ensure that no one and no region is left behind since a lack of inclusion may lead to more inequalities and Euroscepticism.

Some regions in Europe that have been heavily supported by the European Union’s Cohesion Policy have recently opted for parties with a strong Eurosceptic orientation. The results at the ballot box have been put forward as evidence that Cohesion Policy is ineffective for tackling the rising, European-wide wave of discontent. However, the evidence to support this view is scarce and often contradictory. This paper analyses the link between Cohesion Policy and the vote for Eurosceptic parties. It uses the share of votes cast for Eurosceptic parties in more than 63,000 electoral districts in national legislative elections in the EU-28 to assess whether Cohesion Policy investment since the year 2000 has made a difference for the electoral support for parties opposed to European integration. The results indicate that Cohesion Policy investment is linked to a lower anti-EU vote.

Cohesion Policy is the prime investment policy of the European Union (EU). It is designed to promote harmonious progress, advancing economic, social and territorial development throughout the Union by channelling investments into regions with lower levels of development and/or specific vulnerabilities (i.e., persistent structural challenges). Its investments are crucial to the EU's competitiveness both locally and on a broader scale. They address key structural bottlenecks faced by EU regions, to enable achievement of the EU's primary economic and social objectives. For more than three decades since the 1989 reform of Structural Funds, Cohesion Policy has lifted many Europeans out of poverty. It has driven social and economic progress across the EU through investments tailored to the unique local conditions and structural issues of each region. Cohesion Policy has become the most comprehensive and sophisticated approach to territorial development globally.

The debate about Cohesion Policy post 2027 has already started. Meanwhile, many of the adjustments of the delivery mechanism introduced in recent years still have to show whether they help to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of Cohesion Policy.
To facilitate the discussion about which changes to delivery mechanisms are worth carrying over to post 2027, this report offers a first review of changes in the 2021-2027 regulations, flexibilities introduced in Cohesion Policy regulations to face the pandemic and refugee crises, and possible lessons from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).

CoR Opinion - 29/11/2023
Rapporteurs: BOC Emil and ALVES CORDEIRO Vasco
COTER Commission

Early work is underway on the post-2027 reform of EU cohesion policy. This creates a unique opportunity for regional and local stakeholders to influence national positions and those of the European institutions at an early stage, well before the actual start of the legislative process. This reflection process is not only technical, but is also highly political because it touches on many of the challenges the EU is facing. Key issues include the degree to which other EU policies support cohesion objectives; the balance between the policy's use in crises and its focus on longer-term goals; the future governance of the policy; where and how its effectiveness can be improved; the continued need to develop institutional capacity; and the impact of any new Member States potentially joining the EU during the next funding period.

This article investigates the role of European Union Cohesion Policy in the development of European identity, drawing on an original and representative survey in 17 regions across 12 member states. We advance a theoretical model which distinguishes cognitive, instrumental and communicative drivers of identity formation. Contrary to existing scholarship, we find that EU Cohesion Policy does contribute to European identity. Citizens that perceive benefits for themselves and for their region's development from EU Cohesion Policy are more likely to develop a European identity. We also find that awareness of the EU Cohesion Fund and exposure to publicity on EU funded projects is positively correlated with European identity. However, while Cohesion Policy contributes to citizens’ self-categorization as European, it does not associate with their emotional attachment to Europe.