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The Commission published on 9 October the 7th Cohesion Report. It zooms in on EU regions and cities, draws lessons from cohesion spending during the crisis years and sets the scene for cohesion policy after 2020.
This report fulfils two requirements: 1) It reports on how cohesion has evolved in EU regions over the recent past and assesses the impact on this of national policies, cohesion policy and other EU policies as required by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. 2) It reviews the measures linking the effectiveness of the European Structural and Investment (ESI) Funds to sound economic governance, as required by the Regulation on Common Provisions with regard to the Structural Funds.
The report is structured in six the following chapters
- 1) Economic cohesion
- 2) Social cohesion
- 3) Territorial cohesion
- 4) Improving institutions
- 5) National policies and cohesion
- 6) The impact of cohesion policy
Some of the highlights in the report are the following:
- Regional disparities are narrowing again
- Employment has recovered, but unemployment is still above its pre-crisis level
- Some regions have rapid population growth while others depopulate
- Cities combine opportunities with challenges
- Investments in innovation, skills and infrastructure are insufficient
- More investments needed in energy efficiency, renewables and low-carbon transport to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
- Cooperating and overcoming obstacles across EU borders
- Improving the quality of government and implementing structural reforms would boost growth
- National public investment has not yet fully recovered
- Cohesion policy’ s key role in public investment reduced the impact of crisis
- Cohesion policy and the future of Europe
Seventh report on economic, social and territorial cohesion