​On July 3rd, in the framework of the COTER commission's 24th meeting, an initial exchange of views took place on the upcoming opinion "EU budget and place-based policies: proposals for new design and delivery mechanisms" under the rapporteurship of EA group vice president, Nanette Maupertuis (President of the Assembly of Corsica).

EA's first vice president, Cllr Kieran McCarthy (Cork City Council, Ireland), presented the initial working document up for debate. The aim of the opinion is to "complement the work of the CoR on cohesion policy". "Cohesion policy plays a crucial role but cannot ensure cohesion on its own". To that end, McCarthy pointed out, "There is a need for an overall budget that helps the EU face the major challenges of our time while ensuring long-term balanced development as well as cohesion across all regions". In that sense, it will be essential to aim for an "application of the do no harm to cohesion principle across all EU budget, he said, thus echoing the views of the rapporteur ".

One of the main issues that led to the work on this draft opinion is the "need to adapt funding programmes to the specific needs of the regions". There is a plethora of funding instruments for the 2021-2027 period, with different rules, which leads to fragmentation". This was further confirmed by the representative of the European Commission in the debate, who shared concerns about the proliferation of funds ".

The rapporteur in the working document underlined the need for "simplification" and for applying "the principle of better law-making while respecting the principle of subsidiarity, and the competencies of regional and local authorities".