Cohesion, EU Parliament ‘yes’ to the use of defence funds

Brussels – Using European resources from the cohesion policy for other purposes is now possible. By a large majority (440 votes in favour, 168 against and 52 abstentions), the European Parliament’s plenary session approved the reform proposal that allows the use of structural funds for new categories of intervention, in line with the European Commission’s proposals.

Competitiveness, defence, housing, water management and energy transition are the five new policy priorities identified by the European Commission, for which investment is needed and for which the EU executive has proposed the use of cohesion funds on a voluntary basis. The reform of the regulation now needs the green light from the EU Council, and then member states and regions will be able to allocate resources to the new objectives.

Today, the European Parliament approved by a large majority the Commission’s proposal on the revision of the Cohesion Policy, a reform we have been working on since the beginning of the legislature together with the Parliament and the Council, and which was approved with… pic.twitter.com/gcyhFlYIo5

– Raffaele Fitto (@RaffaeleFitto) September 10, 2025

The Commissioner for Cohesion, Raffaele Fitto, rejoices: “This reform allows us to do better and faster: more flexibility, greater efficiency, and real simplification to put European resources at the service of the territories’ new challenges.” Some others, however, turn up their noses. “With the vote on the mid-term review of the cohesion policy, the European Parliament has turned its back on the historical mission of this policy: reducing territorial inequalities and supporting just transition, criticise the EU MPs of AVS– Alleanza Verdi Sinistra (Mimmo Lucano and Ilaria Salis for the laSinistra group and Cristina Guarda, Ignazio Marino, Benedetta Scuderi, Leoluca Orlando for the Greens).

For Cristina Guarda, shadow rapporteur of the European Greens on the text, on the one hand, “shifting resources from citizens to subsidise the arms industry sets a dangerous precedent,” and on the other hand, “this agreement risks turning a long-term solidarity policy into a short-term emergency instrument.”

The text’s rapporteur and president of the regional development commission, Dragoș Benea (S&D), reassures: “The cohesion policy is the fundamental pillar of European solidarity. We are adapting it to respond to current events and to ensure flexibility.”

The plenary vote comes on the same day that the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) “dumps” the European Commission and its president, Ursula von der Leyen. “In the State of the Union Address, it has already disappeared,” criticises the CoR president, Kata Tütto, compared to a speech where there are no explicit references to cohesion policies. “Only a few days ago, von der Leyen claimed that they are the heart of the EU.”