What changed

C. whereas the eastern border regions have experienced a significant population decline – by an average of 2.62,6 % between 2016 and 2025 – while the population of the EU as a whole has increased by 1.21,2 %; whereas some of these regions have lost more than 10 % of their population over the last decade, and, in extreme cases, more than 17 % of their inhabitants; whereas labour shortages and the emigration of young people are undermining the long-term prospects for regional development, further widening regional disparities and increasing the need for targeted cohesion policy measures to strengthen territorial resilience, economic competitiveness and social cohesion; whereas, the depopulation of border regions poses a threat not only to their socio-economic development, but also to the security and resilience of the EU as a whole;

D. whereas border regions, and especially eastern border regions, are disproportionally bearing the costs of hosting war refugees: by early 2026, over 1.31,3 million Ukrainian refugees had been registered in Poland alone, and significant numbers of them have settled in the border regions of Romania, Hungary and Slovakia; whereas the Baltic States host beneficiaries of temporary protection at levels well above the EU average relative to their population; whereas these regions must simultaneously cope with an outflow of their own residents and growing demand for public services from new arrivals, placing sustained pressure on local budgets, healthcare, education, housing and public infrastructure; whereas migration pressure, as well as the efforts involved in protecting the EU’s external borders, should be taken into account as a permanent factor in assessing the financial needs of border regions, even after the end of hostilities; whereas these burdens have largely been borne by national, regional and local funds, without adequate compensation from the EU budget, which provides justification for the establishment of a permanent financial support mechanism for the regions bearing the heaviest burden;

E. whereas the consequences of the closure of the borders with Russia and Belarus are being felt directly by local communities and businesses in the eastern border regions; whereas the volume of rail freight traffic on the corridors serving these borders has fallen by 75-80 %, and the number of overnight stays by foreign tourists in the most affected regions has decreased by 10-35 %; whereas from 2022 to 2023, Member States on the eastern flank have experienced weaker real GDP growth since the start of the war, with growth in this period estimated to be 1.4–1.81,4–1,8 percentage points lower than the EU average and recorded inflation rates approximately 3-4 percentage points higher than the EU average; whereas these effects compound current problems linked to the peripheral nature of these regions, their sustainable development and poor transport connectivity and consequently their limited attractiveness to investors; whereas the regions bordering Ukraine are experiencing similar adverse effects resulting from the ongoing armed conflict and are bearing long-term costs associated with acting as the EU’s main logistics, transport and humanitarian hub; whereas these adverse effects also include lost investment opportunities resulting from an increase in the perceived risk of doing business, particularly in regions directly neighbouring Ukraine, owing to their proximity to the ongoing hostilities; whereas the Commission should develop a methodology for estimating the geopolitical costs incurred by border regions and take these into account when allocating funds;

3. Recalls that the cohesion policy mid-term review led to the reallocation of approximately EUR 34.634,6 billion from cohesion policy funds to new priorities in 25 Member States; welcomes the increased levels of co-financing and pre-financing; notes, however, that these measures were conditional on the reallocation of at least 10 % of the programme’s funds to new priorities and did not involve the provision of additional EU financial resources; stresses that the eastern border regions have made effective use of the additional opportunities introduced as part of the mid-term review by reallocating approximately EUR 5.65,6 billion to measures relating to military mobility, the development and production of key technologies, and the defence industry, thereby contributing to increased security in these regions, whilst maintaining economic competitiveness and long-term prospects for their inhabitants; warns that rising expenditure on security and defence is placing increasing pressure on national budgets, limiting Member States’ ability to provide appropriate co-financing for cohesion policy programmes; stresses that new security policy commitments must not be funded at the expense of traditional cohesion policy objectives; calls on the Commission to develop a separate co-financing mechanism for projects carried out by regions bearing particular geopolitical costs;