“Thriving Regions, Stronger Europe”. Regions Floride, Europe Forte. This is the title of the 2023 edition of the European Week of Regions and Cities, which kicked off on 9 October with a session in the hemicycle of the European Parliament in Brussels.
The most important event dedicated to Cohesion policy, organised by European Commission and from European Committee of the Regions, It is now in its 21st year at a very special time for the European Union. The upcoming elections, the potential entry of other states into the EU, the climate crisis, the closure of the 2014-2020 programming cycle and the start of 2021-2027 were recurring themes in the speeches of the European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms. Elisa Ferreira and the President of the Committee of the Regions, Vasco Alves Cordeiro.
In the European Week of Regions and Cities, to which 7 thousand participants have registered, the network of local authorities has the opportunity to meet, weave relationships and exchange stories of failures and successes. A very important dialogue according to Ferreira, which believes that the institutions based in Brussels or central governments cannot arrive on time to solve the needs of the territories and implement the Cohesion Policy and it is therefore essential that the Regions and Cities increasingly develop the appropriate skills to deal directly with the European institutions.
If the 2014-2020 cycle is in its final weeks of spending, the 2021-2027 cycle has plenty of time to complete the necessary green and digital transitions.
An ambitious programme, but one that must avoid the mistakes of the past. Commissioner Ferreira and President Cordeiro recalled how Cohesion Policy was essential to provide useful resources to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, first, and the higher energy costs for households and businesses, then (in Campania, with these resources, the Socio-Economic Plan). But the bureaucratic difficulties faced by managing authorities in using the necessary funds to deal with unforeseen emergencies will have to be resolved in the future, giving greater room for manoeuvre.
Greater flexibility, capacity to create new jobs and to implement the energy transition and tackle the climate crisis. These, in a nutshell, are the characteristics of Cohesion Policy in the near future.
Also, as he explained to us, Willibrordus Sluijters – European Commission – DG REGIO, in the margins of the meetings with the European Commission’s national experts on EU cohesion policy, what is important is to avoid delays in implementation and to do this work is being done to strengthen the administrative capacity of the regions of southern Italy and thus facilitate the completion of projects.
For Corderio, the day was also an opportunity to present the Annual report on the state of regions and cities in the EU. In the document produced by the Committee of the Regions (HERE THE ITALIAN VERSION) it is possible to find a snapshot of the most pressing challenges faced by regions and cities across Europe, as well as possible solutions from the territories to guide EU policy decisions.
In the report it can be read that
- The vast majority of regional and local politicians (75%) states that it suffers from the lack of dedicated funding mechanisms to address the challenges of climate adaptation.
- The NextGenerationEU (in Italy the NRRP) remains territorially ‘dark’.
- Regions and cities are mobilised to make the green transition work, but Europe must avoid a ‘green divide’.
- 30 million people are expected to "disappear" from Europe's rural areas between 1993 and 2033.
- Trust in local and regional governments remains higher than at national and EU levels.
This is why it is important that local and regional authorities frequently engage and dialogue with their contact persons in the European Union, at multiple levels. Implementing Cohesion Policy is the only possible solution to prevent some areas from desertifying from a human point of view and others from a climate point of view.
Cohesion policy can be the answer to these emergencies, but it cannot be transformed into a crisis fund and, as has been said on several occasions, it must be updated and enjoy greater flexibility and a strengthened partnership. The Regions and Cities, as actuators and sentinels in the territories, must also have a greater say in the Committee.
In a nutshell, the state of the Union’s regions and cities is the ‘State of the Union’. For this reason, regions and cities that are safe, sustainable and able to offer jobs and a satisfactory quality of life will contribute to making the European Union stronger and more resilient and ready to expand its borders and support the democratic process in the world.
English (UK)