The Association of European Border Regions AEBR has elaborated a detailed opinion on the 6th Cohesion Report published earlier this year by the European Commission. The opinion underlines the general criticism, how from the quantitative and qualitative point of view the subject of territorial cooperation was treated in the 6th Cohesion Report. The opinion proposes also concrete improvements and supplementary points.
The 6th Cohesion Report published in July 2014 delivers important facts for the future of the Cohesion Policy. Even if the territorial cooperation is described in the report as one of the two priorities of the EU Cohesion Policy, this subject has not at all been sufficiently considered in the document.
Currently work is under-way on the comments submitted to rapporteurs in the European Parliament and Committee of the Regions. AEBR is lobbying actively for changes in the document that would lead to a more focused approach with regard to the territorial cooperation. That in turn would ensure that this focus could be maintained also after the current programming period.
It is worth noting that the next 7th Cohesion Report to be published in 2017 during the mid-term evaluation of the programmes, will be of particular importance for the next programming period after 2020. This report will have significant impact on the political priorities and, in consequence also the allocation of funds, in the next programming period.
The entire text of the AEBR opinion on the 6th Cohesion Report is available here.