Adopted today at the CoR plenary, "The Future of Cohesion Policy post-2027" opinion includes many key demands of the EU's conservative local and regional politicians, including a call for a "strong urban and metropolitan dimension", introduced to the opinion by Juraj Droba, the opinion's shadow rapporteur and the President of the Bratislava region. 

During the debate, President Droba, who is also ECR Vice-President, highlighted the need for "enhanced application of integrated territorial investments to strengthen the place-based approach of cohesion policy."

The shadow rapporteur also reiterated the importance of a "robust metropolitan dimension" in the post-2027 cohesion policy, and emphasised the need to "uphold the principles of partnership and multilevel governance, and a higher focus on European Territorial Cooperation".

Marco Marsilio, the President of ECR and Italy's Abruzzo region, stated: "It is time to leave behind the delays and inefficiencies that have characterised cohesion policies in the past and to affirm the new method based on teamwork between Brussels, national governments and regions to identify strategic interventions for each territory."

ECR COTER coordinator and Deputy Mayor of Rádlo in the Czech Republic, Pavel Branda, highlighted that "after the pandemic border closures and the adoption of the European Cross-Border Mechanism opinion, we now have a special momentum to invest in Cross-Border cooperation."

"Cross-border cooperation", Mr Branda stressed, "provides concrete and visible benefits for citizens in border regions and represents the real added value of the EU."