On 18 December 2024, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) convened a public hearing in Brussels to discuss how civil society partners can adopt a result-oriented approach in cohesion policy for the post-2027 programming period. This event brought together members of the EESC, alongside representatives from the European Commission and the European Parliament, who shared their insights on the subject.
It was highlighted that the new Commission framework has not been crystallised yet, which impacts the ongoing debate about the future of cohesion policy. The substantive phase of this debate is set to unfold during the forthcoming Polish Presidency of the Council, an era anticipated to be of pivotal importance.
Discussions on achieving a results-oriented cohesion policy revolved around themes of competitiveness and cohesion, centralisation, a performance-based approach, and simplification aimed at reducing costs, administration, and regulation. It was noteworthy that all three European institutions placed particular emphasis on the indicators used to measure the effectiveness of future cohesion policy investments.
From the perspective of civic involvement, the European Parliament underscored the importance of building communities, which also encompass grassroots initiatives including civil society. Such communities should especially be nurtured in depopulated areas. Furthermore, EESC representatives emphasised the significance of partnership with civil society, which should be manifested during the implementation phase of the future cohesion policy. Specifically, this would be evident in the work of Monitoring Committees within the national institutional framework responsible for the allocation of cohesion funds. The EESC proposed that civil society participants should hold 50 percent of the votes in these monitoring committees.
The upcoming Polish EU presidency was also presented during the EESC event, where it was expressed, that bottom-up initiatives would be supported and that the voice of civil society must be heard. The public hearing of the EESC regarding the result-orientation of cohesion policy post-2027 and civil participation will persist throughout the Polish presidency. An important event on 17 January 2025 will be a public hearing with Polish civil society and policymakers in Warsaw, titled „Results-oriented cohesion policy – What’s in it for the New Programming Period?”.
It is therefore encouraging news for European civil society actors that their increased participation in the post-2027 cohesion policy will be on the EU’s political agenda over the next six months.
The public hearing of the EESC was broadcast and can be accessed via the following link.
