EU regions: «Europe is at the crossroads, we need more cohesion»

Listen to the audio version of the article

Less than three months before the European elections, cities and regions have urged the European Union to invest in a policy of greater economic, social and territorial cohesion. “We now find ourselves at a crossroads: while Europeans express their vote, it is up to us that Europe responds with solidarity and progress,” said the president of the European Committee of the Regions, Vasco Alves Cordeiro, during the summit of the regions and of EU cities organized this week in Mons, Belgium, by the European Committee of the Regions.

Farmers’ protests in recent months are a clear sign of growing discontent with the EU’s green and economic policies, which farmers say could worsen poverty and social exclusion. During the Tenth European Summit of Regions and Cities, national ministers, European commissioners, regional governors and mayors agreed that Europe must achieve agreen transition that is fair for all citizens and industrial sectors. They therefore called on the Union to put economic, social and territorial cohesion at the top of its agenda.

In the face of the June elections, “a cohesion policy is more necessary than ever” and will serve “to leave no one behind”, said the European Commissioner for Cohesion, Elisa Ferreira. A line also shared by the European Commissioner for Labour, Nicolas Schmit. “The green and digital transitions must work for everyone, otherwise they won’t work at all,” warned the Spitzenkandidat of the EU Socialists

The summit brought 3,500 local and regional representatives from 59 countries on five continents to the Walloon city.

Letta and the challenges for the single market

In a video message, the president of the Jacques Delors institute and former Italian prime minister Enrico Letta said that «we must work to be supporters of the future of the single market and of the future of European integration towards the main challenges we have before us».