Six months after its foundation, the first meeting of the High Level Working Group on the Future of Cohesion Policy took place, discussing the conclusions adopted by the European Parliament and the European Council on simplified access to the new cohesion policy funds 2028-2034 and on the overcoming of territorial disparities.
Just a few days after the announcement that all the Programmes co-funded by the European Funds 2021-27 have been approved by the Commission, the High Level Working Group assigned by Brussels to produce strategic recommendations on the future of Cohesion Policy in the next Multiannual Financial Framework 2028-2034 was launched in June 2022.
The first meeting of the High Level Working Group
The High-Level Group, chaired by Professor Andres Rodriguez-Pose of the London School of Economics, is composed of highly qualified specialists - academics, policymakers, socio-economic partners and representatives of civil society - selected on the basis of their extensive expertise and experience in Cohesion Policy.
The introductory meeting held on 31 January 2023, in the presence of Cohesion and Labour Commissioners, Elisa Ferreira and Nicolas Schmit, will be followed by eight more meetings throughout 2023, with morning sessions web streamed and documents made public on the InfoRegio website, leading up to the presentation of conclusions and policy recommendations on the next generation of European Cohesion Policy funds in early 2024. Recommendations, that will focus on how to ensure the main objective of social, economic and territorial cohesion in the EU, will, at the same time, pursue the double green and digital transition in a socially inclusive way.
The starting point for the panel's reflection is the 8th Cohesion Policy Report, on which the Council gave its opinion on 2 June 2022, followed by the EU Parliament in September. On 10 November the Member States adopted new conclusions on the European Structural Funds, which take stock of the state of implementation of the 2014-2020 cycle and the start of the current programming, but already look ahead to the priorities for Cohesion Policy post 2027. At the top of the agenda, once again, is simplification.
