​On 7 October at the opening session of EU Regions Week where CoR President Vasco Cordeiro outlined the State of Regions and Cities, Kieran McCarthy advocated for a strong cohesion policy and for a stronger role of regions in the next cycle post-2027 in the presence of Commissioner Elisa Ferreira and European Parliament Vice President Younous Omarjee.

Speaking on behalf of the EA Group, the EA Vice President said that "Cohesion policy has worked. It has contributed significantly to support and rebuild territories in a time of crises"

However, pointing to the emerging challenges for cohesion policy such as the creation of new instruments with new rules, the shifting of money away from cohesion or the rumours over the upcoming proposal of a new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), McCarthy made an appeal to the new European Commission.

"Stop moving the goalposts, stop the mixed messages, stop the rumours. Local and Regional want a strong partnership in multi-level governance. We share the importance of capacity building, the importance of flexibility for our regions and cities and the importance of reducing the red tape for our regions and cities. Let us together shape a policy that can support our cities and regions as they need, he concluded.