​On 12 October during the joint meeting of the EP REGI committee and CoR COTER commission members discussed in the presence of Commissioner Cretu the future of cohesion policy and in particular the necessity to achieve better performance.
 
Even if EU Cohesion policy helped reduce regional disparities in economic performance, the effects are not uniform across the EU regions especially in the aftermath of the financial and economic crisis.
 
Cllr Gary Robinson, leader of Shetland Islands speaking on behalf of the EA Group said that current classification and statistical evidence does not reflect the way citizens live in a region, the obstacles they face. There is a need to develop comparable data at local level taking into account the reality of geographically challenged regions such as remote areas, islands, mountains and rural areas.
 
As a Scottish member of the CoR, he also recalled the successful engagement of Scottish local authorities with the EU and highlighted the added value of cooperation projects such as INTERREG in energy and transport sector which he hopes will  be carried also in the future.