In an opinion drafted by Ilpo Heltimoinen, ECON Vice-Chair and Member of Lappeenranta City Council, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) calls on the new European Commission to take action to strengthen the resilience of EU regions, as it has a decisive impact on their competitiveness and the functioning of the internal market. The opinion was adopted at the CoR plenary session on 8 October.

The regions of Eastern Finland and the Baltic States have suffered significantly from the stagnation of trade and tourism with Russia. For some regions, specific challenges include the consequences of migration, green transition or demographic trends. Cities and regions therefore highlight the strong interlink between economic competitiveness and resilience and call for increased efforts to securing regional value chains. The Committee also underlines the potential of nuclear energy to increase the EU’s energy resilience and independence and to meet its decarbonisation objectives.

"While I welcome that competitiveness is high on the agenda of the next legislative mandate, following the economic shocks of recent years the Commission should also strengthen economic resilience alongside competitiveness, while paying particular attention to regional specificities” said Mr Heltimoinen.

The opinion calls for the Commission to proactively strengthen the resilience of regions most vulnerable to future economic shocks. The Committee stresses the importance of strong external border regions for the security and resilience of the European Union and calls for future competition and cohesion policies to take this into account. Regarding the twin transitions, the members highlighted the need for a technologically neutral approach, therefore enabling a variety of different solutions while taking into account the different circumstances in the EU’s regions to avoid undermining their economic diversification and resilience.

Heltimoinen also underlined the situation of his region, South Karelia, located at the Russian border, that “used to receive considerable economic benefits from trade and tourism with Russia, but the invasion of Ukraine and the consequent sanctions against Russia have led to significant economic and security challenges for our region. Furthermore, like other eastern border regions with Russia or Belarus, our region cannot build wind energy as it conflicts with military radar operations." According to Mr Heltimoinen, such handicaps "must be considered in EU policymaking and the EU must support regions like South Karelia in preparing for and recovering from economic shocks due to their vulnerable geopolitical location."