On 1 March 2022, in Rouen, the French Presidency of the Council of the EU held an informal ministerial meeting, bringing together: the 27 EU ministers responsible for cohesion policy; European Commissioner Elisa Ferreira; the President of the European Committee of the Regions, Apóstolos Tzitzikóstas; the Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Regional Development, Younous Omarjee; and the President of the Section for Economic and Monetary Union and Economic and Social Cohesion of the European Economic and Social Committee, Stefano Palmieri.

• The cohesion policy ensures the balanced development of EU regions

During this meeting the 27 Member States started by emphasising their unanimous commitment to the values of the European Union. They expressed their solidarity and unity given the consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The economic, social and territorial cohesion policy, which aims to bridge the wealth gaps between the 242 European Union regions, represents the greatest EU budget for 2021-2027, at €392 billion. Given the thousands of projects that it finances in Member States, the cohesion policy is multi-sectoral and local. It offers the appropriate tools to adapt to the specificities of each region – urban, rural, overseas, mountain and cross-border – in such a way as to best respond to citizens’ needs.

The ministers reiterated the importance of the EU’s cohesion policy and underlined the positive impact of this policy on closing the wealth gap between EU countries on the one hand and on the anticipation of transformations in areas tied to demographic, climate or digital transformations on the other hand. They committed to continuing to take account of the major transitions all of the EU faces in defining the future cohesion policy while ensuring that it provides a suitable response to local challenges and challenges specific to certain parts of the EU.

• Persistent inequalities in a context of major transitions

While the Eighth Report on Economic, Social and Territorial Cohesion highlight the progress made at EU level regarding regional development, it nonetheless points out the gaps in certain territories. The OECD’s supplementary note, presented during the meeting, supports this analysis, shedding light on the public investment required in order to tackle the major transitions that have an impact on these regions. Additionally, citizen support of the European project is a condition required for the success of this proximity policy, and is inextricably tied to regional disparities.

Lastly, the consideration of consequences linked to climate change was found to be occasionally inadequate, as revealed by the Eighth Report on cohesion. This prompted the ministers to consider the priority to give this issue in allocating future funding.

• Long-term commitments in response to global challenges

The public health and economic crisis that began in 2020 has revealed a need for flexible public policies. In providing a swift response, both in terms of facilitation and additional funding, the cohesion policy was able to offer urgent solutions. Similarly, to respond to the consequences of the crisis in Ukraine, in particular for neighbouring countries seeing an influx of refugees, several Member States have called for flexibility with regard to the use of EU funding.

In the longer term and at EU level, the 27 responsible ministers committed to sustaining the ambitions of an innovation-oriented policy while expanding the application of the “do no significant harm” principle in these investments. They furthermore agreed on the capacity for this European policy to offer even more solutions for local communities, with the aim of better taking into account diverse regional and social issues and allowing all regions, in particular the most vulnerable, to benefit from the necessary expertise in order to access EU funding.