Last week, the European Commission released its ninth ‘Cohesion Report’ which presents an assessment of the state of ‘cohesion’ in the EU.
The EU’s Cohesion Policy has the goal of narrowing economic, social, and territorial disparities in the EU, and according to this new report, that policy is succeeding in doing just that.
“Great strides have been made to reduce the gaps that exist between the Member States and regions, strengthening the EU Single Market and making sure that the EU continues to invest in human capital and sustainable development,” says the European Commission in a press release.
The Commission expects that each euro invested through the policy will have tripled by 2043, which would be a roughly 4% annual return rate.
“From the start, Cohesion Policy has played an important role in ensuring the economic, social and territorial cohesion of the European Union and reducing development disparities between its various regions,” says Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice-President for an Economy that Works for People.
“It has shown itself flexible in helping to overcome the consequences of recent crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s unjustified aggression against Ukraine. Cohesion Policy will also play a key role in making sure that our regions fully contribute to the green and digital transitions and to the long-term competitiveness of the European economy.”
Over the last 20 years, the Cohesion Policy has contributed to the unemployment rates of newer Member States to decrease from 14% to 3% and in the last six years it has supported more than 4.4 million businesses and created 370,000 new jobs.
In the period 2021-2027, €100 billion will go to support green action with €69 billion already invested in the period of 2014-2020.
By 2027, the commission furthermore expects that 1.3 million additional new jobs will have been created, particularly in green and digital sectors.