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DRAFT REPORT (2023/2048(INI))

On the implementation of territorial development (CPR, Title III, Chapter II) and its application in the European Territorial Agenda 2030

REGI-PR-750084

Committee on Regional Development · Rapporteur: Marcos Ros Sempere

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This is a draft report by the Committee on Regional Development on how territorial development under Title III, Chapter II of the Common Provisions Regulation (CPR) has been implemented and how it relates to the Territorial Agenda 2030. It takes stock of Integrated Territorial Investments (ITI) and Community Led Local Development (CLLD) in 2014-2020 and looks at the 2021-2027 period, focusing on qualitative rather than quantitative data. It finds that use of these tools varies widely between member states and regions, that the Territorial Agenda 2030 is an intergovernmental declaration with no direct legal, financial or institutional implementation instruments, and that its application remains uneven. The draft resolution calls on the Commission and member states to promote strategic spatial planning, include Territorial Agenda 2030 priorities in cohesion policy legislation and programmes, simplify administration, and give the Territorial Agenda its own funding.

Committee position. The rapporteur proposes that Parliament stress the role of integrated territorial development and the Territorial Agenda 2030, call for its priorities to be included in cohesion policy legislation and programmes, for its own funding, for administrative simplification, and for stronger involvement of local and regional authorities and of Parliament's Committee on Regional Development.

Key points

  1. In 2014-2020, funding planned for territorial and urban strategies was about EUR 30 billion, nearly 10 percent of total cohesion policy funding; ITI was often used in urban contexts.
  2. Implementation of operations was substantially delayed at the start of 2014-2020 but improved significantly towards the end; CLLD targeted smaller rural areas with low take-up in urban areas.
  3. The CPR for 2021-2027 dedicates Title III Chapter II to territorial development; Articles 28-34 provide for territorial tools including ITI, CLLD or any other integrated territorial tool designed within a national strategy.
  4. The ERDF regulation 2021-2027 requires 8% of ERDF funding at national level, compared to 5% previously, to be allocated to sustainable urban development through ITI, CLLD or another integrated territorial tool.
  5. The Territorial Agenda 2030 defines two overarching objectives, a Just Europe and a Green Europe, with six priorities, and aligns EU territorial objectives with the UN 2030 Agenda and the European Green Deal.
  6. The Territorial Agenda 2030 is an intergovernmental declaration with no direct legal, financial or institutional implementation instruments, and neither the 2014 nor the 2021 CPR refers to it.
  7. Seven pilot actions have been launched to demonstrate Territorial Agenda objectives on the ground; they are at an early stage, all initiated by national authorities, and their distribution across Europe is unbalanced.
  8. A stocktaking in 2024 will review the governance system, implementation progress and relevance of the priorities, starting during the Spanish EU Presidency in 2023.
  9. Parliament stresses that only 28% of sustainable urban development strategies in 2014-2020 were implemented through ITIs and calls on the Commission to encourage use of such tools.
  10. The draft calls on the Commission to use the 2024 evaluation report to support 2021-2027 programmes, and on member states to promote strategic spatial planning beyond metropolitan, urban and functional areas.
  11. It calls for a paradigm shift in involving local and regional authorities, for strategies funded by more than one programme to merge into a single track, and for a single framework for urban and wider territorial strategies based on NUTS level 3 functional areas.
  12. It calls on the Commission to give the Territorial Agenda 2030 its own funding in the future revision of the multiannual financial framework, to include its priorities in cohesion policy instruments and programmes, and to develop monitoring indicators linking it to cohesion policy funds.

Who is affected

  • Member states and their national, regional and municipal authorities, which are called to promote strategic spatial planning and develop territorial agendas in line with the Territorial Agenda 2030.
  • The Commission, which is asked to encourage use of ITI and CLLD, support 2021-2027 programmes with the 2024 evaluation, and provide funding for the Territorial Agenda 2030.
  • Local and regional authorities, whose involvement in the implementation and management of territorial tools should shift, including in programming, selection and monitoring of ITI and CLLD projects.
  • The European Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee, which are called to take a more active role in the follow-up and further development of the Territorial Agenda 2030.

Figures and deadlines

  • approximately EUR 30 billion, nearly 10 percent of total cohesion policy funding for 2014-2020, planned for territorial and urban strategies
  • 8% of ERDF funding at national level must be allocated to sustainable urban development, compared to 5% for the previous programming period
  • 1 975 strategies programmed among the 28 Member States in 2014-2020, financed with EUR 19 billion from the ERDF, of which EUR 13.8 billion allocated to ITIs in nine Member States
  • 28 % of strategies for sustainable urban development were implemented through ITIs in 2014-2020
  • seven pilot actions launched for the Territorial Agenda 2030
  • stocktaking in 2024 including a review of the governance system, implementation progress and relevance of the priorities

Legal basis: Article 28 CPR designates ITIs and CLLD as the instruments for implementing territorial development strategies; the resolution has regard to Title XVIII of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.