Skip to content
DRAFT REPORT (2026/2054(INI))

On cohesion policy in the EU’s eastern border regions: strengthening territorial resilience and cross-border cooperation

REGI-PR-789932

Committee on Regional Development · Rapporteur: Jacek Protas

Official HTML ↗ PDF DOCX
✦ In shortFull text
✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 27 Sept 2026

Written by a language model from the full text only; every figure comes from the text. The paragraph links open the paragraph a statement rests on — check the text itself before relying on it.

This draft report by the Committee on Regional Development sets out Parliament's position on cohesion policy in the EU's eastern border regions. It welcomes the Commission's communication on these regions but says it must lead to legislation and a dedicated long-term financial response with genuine additional resources. It asks the Commission to recognise these regions as strategic territories of European significance and to reflect their needs in the 2028-2034 cohesion policy regulations and national and regional partnership plans. It calls for at least EUR 150 million under the future Interreg programme post-2027 to compensate for programmes suspended with Russia and Belarus, and for higher pre-financing and co-financing for these regions. It wants support extended to investment categories not normally eligible, including healthcare, local roads, dual-use infrastructure and civil preparedness infrastructure, and asks for a composite vulnerability indicator to guide eligibility and allocations.

Committee position. The rapporteur proposes that Parliament welcome the Commission's communication but insist it lead to legislation and a dedicated long-term financial response with additional resources. He proposes recognising eastern border regions as strategic territories, compensating suspended Interreg programmes with at least EUR 150 million, extending eligible investment categories, and creating a composite vulnerability indicator.

Key points

  1. Welcomes the Commission's communication on the EU's eastern regions bordering Russia, Belarus and Ukraine as a first step, but says it must lead to legislative action and a dedicated long-term financial response with genuine additional resources.
  2. Notes that the cohesion policy mid-term review reallocated approximately EUR 34.6 billion in 25 Member States, was conditional on reallocating at least 10 % of programme funds, and provided no additional Union resources.
  3. Calls on the Commission to recognise the eastern border regions as strategic territories of European significance and to reflect their needs in future cohesion policy regulations and the 2028-2034 national and regional partnership plans.
  4. Calls for a structured governance framework going beyond the Commission's annual dialogue, with systematic involvement of local and regional authorities and civil society, including youth organisations.
  5. Calls for at least EUR 150 million under the future Interreg programme post-2027, equivalent to funds lost from suspended programmes with Russia and Belarus, without standard geographical requirements.
  6. Wants eastern border regions to benefit from higher pre-financing and co-financing under the 2028-2034 national and regional partnership plans.
  7. Calls for conditions and financial incentives through other instruments including the common agricultural policy, the European Competitiveness Fund and the Connecting Europe Facility.
  8. Asks the Commission to address the competitive disadvantage of these regions in centrally managed programmes through dedicated calls, higher co-financing rates and targeted technical support, mainly as grants.
  9. Defines eastern border regions as NUTS 2 regions with at least 5 km of land border or at least 30 km of maritime border with Russia or Belarus, or a border with Ukraine or access to the Black Sea.
  10. Calls on the Commission to introduce specific provisions in the 2028-2034 regulations allowing investment in healthcare infrastructure, local and regional roads, dual-use infrastructure and civil preparedness infrastructure.
  11. Stresses the right to remain, covering citizens' right to live, work, receive an education, start a family and benefit from high-quality public services in their region.
  12. Calls on the Commission to develop with Eurostat and ESPON a composite vulnerability indicator for eastern border regions, updated annually and used as an eligibility criterion and basis for allocation decisions.

Who is affected

  • EU eastern border regions, which would receive dedicated funding, higher co-financing and extended investment eligibility.
  • Local and regional authorities and civil society, including youth organisations, which would be systematically involved in implementing the EU strategy.
  • The Commission, which is asked to recognise these regions, provide Interreg funding and develop a vulnerability indicator.
  • Member States, whose ability to co-finance cohesion policy programmes is limited by rising security and defence expenditure.

Figures and deadlines

  • Some 3 646 km of the EU's external land border with Russia and Belarus, and over 600 km of maritime border on the Black Sea.
  • Border regions are home to 30 % of the EU's population and account for 40 % of its territory.
  • Population decline of an average of 2.6 % between 2016 and 2025, while the EU population increased by 1.2 %.
  • Some regions lost more than 10 % of their population, and in extreme cases more than 17 %, over the last decade.
  • Over 1.3 million Ukrainian refugees registered in Poland alone by early 2026.
  • Rail freight traffic on corridors serving the borders with Russia and Belarus fell by 75-80 %; overnight stays by foreign tourists fell by 10-35 %.
  • In 2022 to 2023, eastern flank Member States recorded inflation approximately 3-4 percentage points higher than the EU average.
  • Approximately EUR 34.6 billion reallocated from cohesion policy funds to new priorities in 25 Member States.

Legal basis: Articles 14, 174, 175 and 177 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.