The future of Cohesion Policy beyond 2020 is a topic of major importance for representatives of local and regional authorities and the Committee of the Regions took the commitment to be actively involved in this debate from the very early stages. 'The Future of Cohesion Policy beyond 2020' conference that took place on the 3rd of March gathered key stakeholders in shaping this process, from representatives of the European Commission and Parliament, to ministers of Regional Development and representatives of local and regional authorities, to experts and practitioners in the area of Cohesion policy.
The overarching agreement on the necessity of continuation of the cohesion policy was only matched by the undisputable need for reform of the current policy. Solidarity, subsidiarity and simplification were deemed necessary for a future cohesion policy, while concepts such as place-based approach and functional areas found their place in many of the stakeholders' speeches. The EA group members actively partook in the debate and addressed essential aspects that need to be considered in the future design of the policy.
What the Cohesion Policy has achieved until now in terms of reducing disparities across regions is often offset by the poor communication and low awareness of the citizens regarding its achievements:
Cllr Kieran McCarthy: Cohesion policy has had great results and there needs to be a fair evaluation of its impact. Public awareness is already low and politicians should not send out the signal that it doesn't work. Regions need to be more active and politicians should beware of the rhetoric and should not take the cohesion funds for granted. To make the future of cohesion policy a reality, cities and regions have to step up their game more and work towards achieving a real bottom-up approach.
The differences across regions must be acknowledged and reflected by the future cohesion policy:
Mr Tadeusz Truskolaski: As President of the Group of Less Developed Regions, I hope the Cohesion Policy will continue in the future as it has benefited many regions and can continue to do so. It must be seen multi-dimensionally, able to benefit both prosperous and less prosperous regions. The increasing number of challenges that Europe faces: demographic – depopulation of areas and aging population, migration and integration concerns, affect regions differently and cohesion policy is needed to help address these issues. Looking ahead at Europe post 2020, we will experience a 4th industrial revolution and we need not treat it as a threat, but as an opportunity to engage all citizens and maximize employability, while nurturing the spirit of enterprise.
The current issues that affect the Cohesion policy have to be dealt with in the new design of the policy:
Cllr Gary Robinson: It is time to think outside of the box and address the issues of complex arrangements, slow negotiations, underspending, audit issues, silo approaches. We need a Cohesion Policy that is: integrated and simplified, inclusive and based on a bottom-up approach. It must be result-oriented, accessible and flexible. However, none of these changes must go against the principle that Cohesion Policy should be open to all kinds of territories and that it shall be primarily targeted to the less developed areas.