We would like to inform you that the European Commission has published a Communication titled "The Road to the Next Multiannual Financial Framework" outlining its plans for reforming the future EU budget. In this context, EURADA released a statement on the risks and implications for regional development arising from this future reform and emphasising the crucial role of regional actors in managing EU funds.

EURADA calls for safeguarding the key role of regional actors in EU budget reforms.

The European Association of Regional Development Agencies (EURADA) supports the overall goal of streamlining the EU budget in the European Commission’s communication on the MFF post-2027 presented today. As key players in EU fund management, regional development agencies are well aware of the complexities beneficiaries face in navigating the fragmented landscape of EU funding instruments and strive to assist them in the most effective way.

However, EURADA is concerned that the solution to this problem proposed by the Commission in its Communication, hinting at a more centralised governance of cohesion policy funds through the establishment of national single plans, could undermine regional development and innovation policies and, ultimately, their contribution to Europe’s competitiveness. 

We understand the need for a more strategic approach and the urgency of expediting policy-making in such difficult times. We appreciate the Commission's emphasis on involving regional and local partners, namely in the national plans. Yet, for this effort to be effective, regional governments and agencies must clearly remain in the driving seat, as they are in most cases the main actors coordinating different EU instruments on the ground, for instance through smart specialisation strategies. Regional governments and agencies play already a vital role in tailoring investments and projects to the specific specialisations and potential of local entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems. A diminished role for these actors in the design and management of the funds may risk losing essential expertise and capacity, as well as the ownership of the cohesion policy in the EU regions.
 
In the past, top-down approaches to industrial and innovation policies have shown limitations due to information asymmetry. To address these shortcomings, regional innovation policies and place-based strategies have emerged as effective solutions, including in the context of cohesion policy. A vertical architecture of EU funds in the future, if not complemented by sufficient involvement and empowerment of local entities through keeping the regional programmes, could bear the risk of inefficient allocation of resources. This may bring more regional disparities which can destabilise economic stability.   

For further details, you can view the press release here, and to access the original document, please click here.

To see insights from other regional practitioners, visit our statement on LinkedIn.