Download — EESC opinion: Establishing the European Fund for Regional Development including for European Territorial Cooperation (Interreg) and the Cohesion Fund
Expanding the scope of investments to include satellite intelligence, interoperability, dual-use projects and longer-term programming, with balanced distribution across Member States and regions.
Ensuring democratic and social safeguards by involving national monitoring committees, setting ceilings for fund transfers, attaching social conditionalities (skills, reskilling, worker transition), and requiring impact assessments for large projects.
Building a coordinated EU defence strategy through a common register for defence and dual-use investments, closer complementarity with other EU funds (e.g. ESF, SAFE), and creating a dedicated EU body to coordinate procurement, innovation and market consolidation.
calls for European public goods (EPGs) to be at the heart of the post-2027 EU budget, with stronger investment in areas essential to the Union’s functioning and resilience. These include the single market, economic and monetary union, cohesion, strategic autonomy (health, food, energy), defence, research and the rule of law, alongside green and digital transitions and social priorities.
warns that failing to act would mean a “cost of non-Europe”, with up to EUR 2.8 trillion in lost GDP gains by 2032. It calls for an ambitious, flexible Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and stresses that financing EPGs requires new and adequate EU own resources.
finds that special attention must be given to ‘functional EPGs’ – those linked to Article 3 TEU – that can ensure the normal functioning of the EU: the completion of the single market; the completion of the economic and monetary union; economic, social and territorial cohesion; EU open strategic autonomy (e.g. the joint EU health policy, food security, the EU energy union); defence and security; EU research and development; and the rule of law.
Safeguarding the integrity of the sustainable finance framework, ensuring that revisions to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and Omnibus packages do not undermine transparency, delay investment or increase risks such as carbon lock-in.
Expanding the framework to cover the full environmental, social and governance (ESG) spectrum, with stronger social safeguards, a social taxonomy, recognition of transition finance with mandatory transition plans, and clear definitions aligned with international standards.
Mobilising savings and investments through the Savings and Investment Union and Banking Union, while preserving fiscal space for green and social investment, ensuring that sustainability remains central to EU competitiveness and global leadership.
