Skip to content
Adopted text

Cohesion policy 2014-2020 - implementation and outcomes in the Member States

TA-9-2024-0174 · P9_TA(2024)0174 · PE756.089

Official HTML ↗ PDF DOCX
✦ In shortFull text
✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 26 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.

Parliament's resolution reviews how cohesion policy 2014-2020 was implemented and what it achieved in the member states. It finds positive results in research, small businesses, energy efficiency, employment, healthcare and cross-border cooperation, and notes the policy's role in responding to recent crises. It asks that cohesion policy remain the EU's main investment instrument under shared management, that all regions stay eligible, and that its budget be increased in real terms. It calls for simplification, performance-based delivery, stronger multilevel governance and partnership, and better protection of EU funds against fraud and rule-of-law risks. It sets out positions for the post-2027 period, including a borderland billion, a dedicated just transition fund, a rural proofing mechanism and an enlargement-ready policy by 2030.

Key points

  1. Notes that member states' evaluations show cohesion policy brought positive results in the areas it supported and contributed to the Europe 2020 goals of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.
  2. Welcomes results in research and innovation, digital infrastructure, small and medium-sized enterprises, energy efficiency, renewable energy, water supply and waste management, transport and energy networks.
  3. Acknowledges that the European Social Fund and the Youth Employment Initiative supported employment, social inclusion and training, and that cohesion funding improved healthcare access for millions.
  4. Welcomes cohesion policy's contribution to territorial cooperation and its crisis response, including the redirection of almost EUR 28 billion under CRII and CRII+.
  5. Insists cohesion policy remain the EU's main investment instrument for reducing disparities, under shared management, with all regions eligible and an increased budget in real terms.
  6. Opposes renationalisation, calls on the Council to unblock the European cross-border mechanism file, and asks for tailor-made programmes and high co-financing rates for the outermost regions.
  7. Demands that 0,26 % of the cohesion budget be reserved for border regions ('borderland billion') from the 2028-2034 period, and that the 'do no significant harm' principle be strengthened.
  8. Calls for a dedicated crisis-flexibility axis initiated bottom-up by managing authorities, and for the Common Provisions Regulation to be split into a content part and an MFF part.
  9. Calls for simplification of procedures, wider use of digital tools, a shift to performance-based implementation, and better detection of irregularities, fraud and corruption.
  10. Supports rule-of-law conditionality, asks the Commission to consider how to deliver funds to final beneficiaries, and calls on remaining member states to join the European Public Prosecutor's Office.
  11. Calls for continued financing of a just transition integrated into the Common Provisions Regulation, a dedicated policy objective on social inequalities, and support for rural areas and enlargement readiness.
  12. Calls for stronger multilevel governance and partnership, more urban and rural balance, increased territorial cooperation budgets, and greater involvement of the European Investment Bank.

Who is affected

  • Member states and their regional and local authorities, which manage and benefit from cohesion funds.
  • Small and medium-sized enterprises, which received ERDF support and are urged to take up innovations.
  • Border, rural, island, outermost and less-developed regions, for which special funding and programmes are sought.
  • Managing authorities and beneficiaries, who face audit, control and reporting requirements.
  • The Commission, which is asked to assess, propose and coordinate future cohesion rules.

Figures and deadlines

  • More than 75 000 companies cooperated with research institutions and around 37 000 introduced new products, by end 2022.
  • 7,8 million households had better broadband access by the end of 2022.
  • ERDF supported more than 2,2 million businesses by end 2022, creating around 370 000 jobs.
  • Energy efficiency improved in 550 000 households; renewable capacity rose by 6 000 MW by end 2022, target 8 700 MW by end 2023.
  • 29 million people are less exposed to flooding thanks to cohesion investments.
  • 8,3 million people gained better water supply by end 2022; 70 % live in Italy, Romania, Greece, Portugal, Bulgaria and Czechia.
  • 6,8 million people found a job and 10,2 million earned a qualification by end 2022.
  • 58,3 million people had access to improved healthcare by end 2022; more than 40 000 businesses joined cross-border research projects.

Legal basis: Articles 174 and 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.