​On 16 May a debate was held in the CoR Plenary session with Commissioner Oettinger on the freshly adopted proposal of the Future Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027.

Tadeusz Truskolaski, EA member and mayor of Bialystok, Poland, advocated for an ambitious budget for Cohesion Policy to support less developed regions.

"Cohesion Policy comes first and the MFF must consider the key role of Cohesion Policy in the construction of the European Union. We do not want cuts, we do not want divisions, we just want more cooperation. A simpler and flexible MFF should be instrumental to achieve balanced development across all EU regions in the EU and help the less developed one in their convergence process" he said.

Mr Truskolaski is also president of the intergroup on less developed regions in the CoR.