Local and regional leaders at work to improve EU support for regions facing a challenging just transition

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​Support should be extendedto sectors such as the automotive industry, CoR commission suggests.​

The EU should support all regions towards a just and fair transition, particularly those heavily reliant on single economic sectors or energy-intensive industries, such as the automative sector. This request was outlined during the meeting of the Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy and EU Budget (COTER) on 4 July.​

Local and regional authorities are pivotal in shaping and implementing EU commitments, especially in just transition policies. As industries, particularly those heavily reliant on energy, undergo rapid adjustments, cities and regions play a critical role in managing economic restructuring to mitigate potential job losses and economic downturns.

Challenges in approving just transition plans and dwindling funds towards the end of the programming period underscore the need to extend the spending deadline for resources from the Just Transition Fund (JTF) under the post-pandemic recovery plan NextGenerationEU. Members of the COTER commission have therefore called on the European Commission to simplify funding and enhance transparency in the next long-term budget of the EU, which will run from 2027.

In a draft opinion adopted during the meeting (rapporteur Marco Marsilio, IT/ECR), COTER members asked to expand the scope of the 2021-2027 JTF to include other sectors affected by the transition, such as the automotive and supplier industries, while recognising the continuing need for support for regions that will not be able to complete their transition by 2027. COTER members proposed that a just transition should be central to Cohesion Policy for the post-2027 period, adopting innovative design and delivery approaches to address regional transitions, while anticipating changes and helping territories struggling with the transformation of strategic, energy-intensive, greenhouse gas-emitting, and labour-intensive industries.

Furthermore, local and regional leaders started the assessment of the most recent documents and analysis on Cohesion Policy published during the six-month Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU: the 9^thCohesion Report, the conclusions of the High-Level Group on the Future of Cohesion Policy and the conclusions adopted by EU ministers responsible for Cohesion Policy on 18 June. The discussion was led by the President of the CoR, Vasco Alves Cordeiro (PT/PES), and the COTER Chair Emil Boc (RO/EPP), who are co-rapporteurs of an opinion which will gather the requests of cities and regions to make Cohesion Policy stronger and more efficient.

Quotes

Marco Marsilio (IT/ECR), rapporteur on the draft opinion on just transition for all EU regions and president of Abruzzo region: "The energy transition, amidst geopolitical tensions, requires robust investment and innovation. We must ensure energy security and a pragmatic, flexible approach to climate policies, safeguarding Europe's competitiveness and resilience. Technology neutrality and strong involvement of the regions are crucial for addressing the challenges, particularly in automotive and fossil fuel-dependent areas."

Vasco Alves Cordeiro (PT/PES), President of the European Committee of the Regions and co-rapporteur: "As we enter a new political cycle, Cohesion policy needs to be underlined as a priority for the European Union. A renewed, simplified, decentralised and more goal-targeted policy supporting all European regions is indispensable for Europe to overcome current and future challenges. The bold and clear answers Europe needs reside, among others, in more social, economic and territorial cohesion and more participation from regions and cities. And that's what Cohesion Policy stands for!"

Emil Boc (RO/EPP), mayor of Cluj-Napoca and co-rapporteur: "We must not forget that the Cohesion Policy is the best investment tool of the EU.The report on the Single Market recently published by Enrico Letta highlights that citizens must have the freedom to move across Europe, but also the freedom to stay where they want to live. We need a strong Cohesion Policy to enable people to decide if they want to move or stay.Let us keep the golden principles of Cohesion Policy and let us not diverge money from it to other policies.If the Single Market is the jewel of the European Union, Cohesion Policy is the crown where this jewel resides. They belong together and we need both."

Also during the meeting

COTER members unanimously adopted a draft opinion on a common European mobility data space, highlighting the critical importance of data in optimising transport services, infrastructure and enhancing mobility solutions across the EU. They emphasised the need for interoperable data frameworks that facilitate seamless integration of transport data across different modes and geographic regions. The rapporteur Zdeněk Hřib (CZ/Greens), first deputy mayor of Prague, stressed that "the European Mobility Data Space will empower cities and regions, leading to seamless and intermodal mobility, better public transport, improved infrastructure usage" and that "implementing this concept will be pivotal in reshaping the entire mobility data space".

During the meeting, COTER members further held first exchanges of views on the following draft opinions:

• 'EU budget and place-based policies: proposals for new design and delivery mechanisms in the MFF post-2027', drafted by Marie-Antoinette Maupertuis (FR/EA), President of the Corsican assembly;

• 'Solving obstacles to the cooperation of emergency services in the EU's border regions', by rapporteur Pavel Branda (CZ/ECR), deputy mayor of Rádlo Municipality;

• 'How to exploit the full potential of cohesion policy to tackle demographic change', drafted by Raquel García González (ES/PES), Director-General for European Affairs of Asturias.

More information

• President Cordeiro and Mr Boc were previously co-rapporteurs on the opinion on the future of Cohesion Policy, adopted by unanimity at the Plenary session in November 2023. 

• During the 10th European Summit of Regions and Cities, held in March in Mons (Belgium), the CoR, together with the founding partners of the EU-wide #CohesionAlliance, launched a joint call  to the European institutions and national governments to keep Cohesion Policy as the main pillar of the EU's development model over the next decade. Sign the joint call.