New report on the future of Cohesion Policy
A group of independent high-level experts calls for a stronger Cohesion Policy post 2027, setting out strategic conclusions and recommendations in a report published in February 2024.
The report – ‘Forging a sustainable future together: Cohesion for a competitive and inclusive Europe’ – proposes ways to maximise Cohesion Policy's effectiveness, emphasising the importance of tailored investments, social inclusion, and innovation to drive sustainable growth across regions. It puts forward a set of recommendations for improvement in the next programming period:
- build a genuinely place-based, people-based and future-oriented policy;
- develop strong institutions and governance;
- harness global opportunities;
- improve policy delivery focusing on results and performance;
- meaningful simplification;
- become ‘future and crisis proof’;
- a viable budget to deliver cohesion.
The high-level group of experts on the future of Cohesion Policy brings together representatives of academia, national, regional and local politicians, socio-economic partners and civil society.