The High-Level Group on the Future of Cohesion Policy has presented its strategic conclusions and recommendations in the final report “Forging a Sustainable Future Together: Cohesion for a Competitive and Inclusive Europeโ, released on 9 of February 2024.
The report highlights the importance of a borderless cohesion policy, considering the geopolitical context and costly integration of cross-border deficiencies. The Cohesion Policy aims to promote cross-border cooperation and lower border costs, driving cross-border cooperation based on cooperation and using Interreg programmes and macro-regional strategies.
Cohesion Policy can add value to regional potential, mainly in Central and Eastern Europe, by facilitating collaboration in a structured way. Also, common visions and objectives for cross-border areas can identify strategic cooperation areas and reinforce regional identities. The report emphasises the interregional cooperation, which allows local and regional actors to collaborate within peers in the EU Member States and third countries.
โA reformed Cohesion Policy should focus on increasing the budget and enhancing coordination and concertation, including via macroregional strategies or interregional cooperation to transfer good practice. Overcoming โborder blindnessโ by better matching and harmonising regional cross-border territorial coordination programmes with national programmes is essential in this respect,โ says the report.
Additionally, the report mentions the importance of strengthening governance in cross-border areas, focusing on their different typologies (maritime, mountainous, insular, river-based, lake-based, outermost, or within macro-regions).
Acknowledging the challenges at the external borders, the report focuses on migration integration, the effects of war and political instability on EU borders and preparation for enlargement, targeting a cohesive approach to regional development in order to ensure stability and prosperity of the EU and its neighboring regions.
Full report available here.
