​On 8th April the 23rd COTER commission held a debate with Themis Chritophidou, Director-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO), focusing on the recently issued 9th Cohesion Report by the European Commission.

The report underscores several pressing challenges in regional development across the EU, including disparities, demographic changes, and the need for improvement in the policy design and delivery

The debate with the Director-General created a lot of expectations as it was the first debate on the topic after the publication of the report. Nanette Maupertuis, member of the EA group and President of the Assembly of Corsica intervened in the debate to insist on the necessity of a renewed cohesion policy for post-2027 which must safeguard its main principles.

Shared management, partnership principle and multilevel governance are non-negotiable principles and must remain at the heart of the new cohesion policy while ensuring greater simplification and flexibility to meet the needs of the different territories, in particular, those with geographic and demographic constraints, such as islands, Ms Maupertuis said.

During the meeting, members discussed three opinions: the future of European territorial cooperation post-2027, the creation of a common European mobility data space, and a just transition for all EU regions. Members also participated in a debate on the role of cities in environmental, economic, social, and territorial transitions, a topic the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU has requested the CoR to focus on.