During a public hearing on “Shaping the Future of Cohesion Policy: Insights on the MFF Post-2027” organised by the European Parliament’s Committee on Regional Development (REGI), Sari Rautio, President of the EPP-CoR and CoR Rapporteur on the next MFF, stressed that the Commission President’s letter to the European Parliament falls short of providing for substantially revised proposal on the National and Regional Partnership Plans (NRPPs) Fund as requested by CoR and EP.
It promises to uphold the partnership principle, multi-level governance and a strong regional role, with plans designed and implemented by all regions. Yet, she underlined that this commitment is not reflected in the annex’s drafting suggestions, and the core issue of the governance of the NRRPs with the regions and cities at the centre remains unanswered. The Rapporteur argued that the same applies to the reference to “specific legal safeguards” intended to protect investment in transition and more developed regions: there is no trace of amended or new articles in the annex. As a result, there is still no clarity on the guarantees for allocations across all three existing categories of regions.
Rautio welcomed the recent dynamic of constructive exchanges between the Parliament and the Commission, especially in view of the concerns expressed not only about the overall budget but also about its governance. She added that further clarification is still needed from the Commission on its proposal to:
• “Introduce regional checks”;
• “Guarantee the full involvement of local and regional authorities in the preparation, implementation and evaluation of the Plans”;
• Provide “specific safeguards” linked to the territorial and specific needs of regions.
Rautio stressed that Cohesion Policy for 2028–2034 must continue to rest on what she described as its “golden principles”: shared management, multi-level governance, the partnership principle and a strong place-based approach. She went on to critically examine the Commission proposals on these fronts, calling for clearer guarantees that regions will remain at the heart of the EU’s future investment and reform framework.
She warned against:
• The absence of a decentralised Cohesion Policy with regions at its centre;
• A lack of strong, legally enforceable guarantees to support multi-level governance and the partnership principle;
• Ring-fencing support only for less developed regions, which would leave many territories behind – a major shift away from the promise of leaving no one and no region behind;
• A model in which regions are put in competition with farmers, fishermen and other stakeholders, who under the current Commission proposal would have to compete for attention at national level to secure funding.
Addressing the REGI Committee, Sari Rautio appealed: “Local and regional authorities are trustworthy and strategic partners to deliver EU policy objectives on the ground. They are more than mere beneficiaries of funds or stakeholders to listen to. They are the beacon of democracy; they are an indispensable part of governments that, according to many surveys, people trust the most. The next MFF must therefore be built together with them, and EU investments and reforms to support these investments should be co-shaped and designed with them.”