Comisia Europeană

Cohesion policy in its current form has had positive impact on the socio-economic development of the EU, individual countries and regions. However, the Polish presidency points out that there is a need to improve the effectiveness of the mechanisms supporting the transformational objectives of cohesion policy. In the discussion of its future, there are ideas aimed at reforming the implementation mechanisms with the approach used in the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) implemented since 2021 as a response to the challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and to support the transformation processes of economies.

With the launch of the 2025 European Semester cycle the European commission has published the "2025 European Semester - Autumn package" in December 2024. The 2025 European Semester - Autumn Package outlines economic and social policy priorities for the EU to ensure sustainable prosperity and competitiveness. It highlights the EU’s recent resilience while emphasizing the need to address structural barriers to growth. The EU is committed to ensure sustainable prosperity and competitiveness while strengthening its social market economy and safeguarding its sovereignty, economic security and global influence. The EESC's opinion on the 2025 European Semester - Autumn package is due to be adopted at the EESC plenary session of February 2025.

In view of Europe's current security challenges, in particular with the armed conflict caused by Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine, defence funding places a significant burden on the budgets of many EU Member States, worsening their fiscal position. 

At the same time, the resources that Member States are currently able to allocate to the development of defence capabilities still seem to be insufficient. 

As Europe needs to develop defence capabilities in a more integrated way, there is a need to significantly increase investment in European defence infrastructure and technological innovation to improve preparedness to respond to threats. 

The Territorial Agenda (TA) 2030 is an inter-governmental declaration with no direct legal, financial or institutional implementation instrument. The application of the Territorial Agenda 2030 relies on informal multilevel cooperation between Member States, sub-national authorities, the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European Committee of the Regions, the European Economic and Social Committee, the European Investment Bank and other relevant players.

The Commission is proposing amendments to three EU regulations to ensure that EU funds can be quickly mobilised in support of post-disaster recovery. 

The amendments concern the Regulations governing the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Cohesion Fund (CF), and the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), for the 2021-2027 programming period. 

These proposals come as a direct response to the floods affecting Central and Eastern European countries and wildfires in Portugal in September 2024 and include injecting liquidity with increased pre- and co-financing under Cohesion Policy.

Every year in February, the EESC adopts an opinion on the Annual Sustainable Growth Survey (ASGS), which the Commission usually presents at the end of November in the year before. The Communication on the ASGS 2024 outlines the economic and employment policy priorities for the EU for the following 12 months, focusing on short-term energy shock mitigation, medium-term sustainable growth and resilience in the EU, and alignment with the long-term EU objectives. 

The structured approach centres around the 4 dimensions of competitive sustainability, and is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The ASGS continues to guide Member States in the implementation of the national Recovery and Resilience Plans, with the European Semester playing a central role, especially in the ongoing revision of the European economic governance framework. 

In its opinion on 'Additional considerations on the euro area economic policy 2024', the EESC urges closer coordination of national budgetary policies and considers instruments like NextGenerationEU essential for future stability. 

The EESC recommends including similar tools in the EU’s future financial frameworks to ensure resilience and fiscal sustainability. 

The Committee calls for the completion of the Capital Markets Union to prevent investors from migrating to global markets, prioritising financial market stability and consumer protection, and highlights the need to fully implement the Banking Union by addressing regulatory disparities across Member States, creating a common deposit insurance scheme, and mobilising financial resources for European infrastructure projects.

Climate change is an existential threat for the European economy. Therefore, a comprehensive approach is needed. In this context, based on the empirical and data analyses related to the impact of climate change on the real economy, macroeconomic and financial stability is essential. As things currently stand, intensified natural disasters will lead to unprecedented costs that will have an unpredictable impact on public finance.

The European economy is currently on a downward trend. This will lead to lower revenue and, at the same time, higher demand for spending – mainly related to the costs of climate change, higher borrowing costs and negative trends in demographic development.

Climate change is a matter of urgency and demands a green shift in our economies. To achieve the EU's climate targets, a profound modernisation of the capital stock is needed. This entails a massive expansion of public investments. The need for an EU-level investment fund to finance the green transition is also a matter of economic strength and sustainable competitiveness. One central element of closing the financing gap is an investment friendly reform of the EU fiscal rules. While the reform process is still ongoing and is supposed to be finished by the end of this legislature, it is already clear that the fiscal space for public investments at national level will not significantly increase with the reform.