Alliance for Cohesion, 8 actions for Regions for post-2027

Brussels – Eight actions to secure policies and resources to support territories. Eight moves for “a renewed post-2027 cohesion policy that leaves no one behind.” This is the meaning and the title of the programmatic manifesto of the Alliance for Cohesion, signed by all five Italian candidates who are members of the European Committee of the Regions (the Mayor of Florence, Mario Nardella; the President of the Regional Council of Tuscany, Antonio Mazzeo; the Councillor for Agriculture of the Campania region, Nicola Caputo; the Mayor of Bari, Antonio Decaro; and the City Councillor of Gerace, Giuseppe Varacalli).

The war in Ukraine does not cease and fosters momentum for the defence sector: there are fears that new priorities may reshape common budget policies in an “anti-Regions” direction. Hence, the joint call, just days before the European elections, for what turns out to be a call for political commitment for the new legislature.

The basic assumption is that “cohesion policy is the glue that holds Europe together.” Starting from here, the number one demand is to continue to have “a policy available to all regions, cities and municipalities,” and, in that sense, “cohesion policy should be the main policy of the EU” even when the budget has to be reworked after 2027. But it will have to be agenda-proof, sustainable, and innovative. The second move contained in the document is “a policy that helps to anchor social, economic and territorial cohesion to the new Green Deal industrial policy and the strategic autonomy of the EU.”

Tied to the Green Deal is the need for a truly just transition, that is, one that takes into account diverse local realities. It is precisely the treatment of regional and territorial diversity at the heart of the fourth action that the Cohesion Alliance puts at the centre of the twelve-star political agenda, which is not only European.

The new cohesion policy should not exclude the regions from the decision-making process. This is another concern, the fifth, that prompts high debate and attention and calls for guarantees for the immediate future and new methodologies. “Cohesion policy should be evaluated in terms of its actual impact on the lives of European citizens, rather than by the pace at which funds are disbursed,” is demand number 6 of the Cohesion Alliance’s appeal.

The cohesion policy, therefore, should not be touched. On the contrary, it should be strengthened. The last two prerogatives for the region’s agenda go in this direction. On the one hand, they call for encouraging territorial cooperation, and on the other, “to promote the strengthening of economic, social, and territorial cohesion.”