Putting EU's regions first. What did EPP Group in
the Committee on Regional Development achieve

Breakfast briefing on Experiences, insights and ideas
on the future Cohesion Policy

EPP’s Cohesion Monitoring Group launched the EPP Cohesion Missions - a hotline to Brussels decision-making for EU's cities and rural areas. We go on the ground and then we act here in Brussels.

Chair of the EPP Cohesion Monitoring Group

Andrey Novakov

Andrey Novakov, EPP Spokesman in REGI Committee on RESTORE

“EPP is the platform for regions, cities and rural areas.

No wonder why RESTORE was initiated and realised by an EPP Commission President and the EPP Group in the European Parliament.

It took us only 30 days to respond to the number of flooded Member States and the hundreds of victims.

We promised that before Christmas there would be a gesture of EU solidarity. Now we keep our promise by providing up to 18 billion euro for repair and recovery.

The frequency and intensity of natural disasters in the EU means that these are EU problems and they need EU solutions.

It is a matter of EU national security, not only safety.

To the victims of the floods we owe a policy response, to their families we owe condolences.

My next goal is to ensure that the future cohesion policy will guarantee that EU investments in resilient local and regional infrastructure and risk management should become mandatory by EU law”.

Andrey Novakov, spokesperson of the EPP Group in Committee on Regional Development in the European Parliament (Strasbourg, 18th December 2024)

TV REGI program VOXBOX, Strasbourg

The TV show was recorded in the Voxbox studio of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Topics:

The purpose of this TV programme is to enhance communication about RESTORE proposal and issues and politics connected with Cohesion policy in general. We also want to address the challenges and topics ahead of us, bearing in mind EU projects. We want to engage the citizens and get their attention on the future of Cohesion in rural and urban areas.

Participants:

Andrey Novakov, MEP from Bulgaria, Spokesperson of the EPP Group in the REGI Committee,
Gabriella Gerzsenyi, MEP from Hungary, Vice-Chair – Regional Development Committee
Pascal Arimont, MEP from Belgium, EPP specialist for Interreg and other REGI topics

Presenter: Alen Legovic, EPP Group Press Advisor

EPP Cohesion Missions

What are the EPP Cohesion Missions?

With the closure of the 2014-2020 MFF, every EU Member State has experienced the positive effects of the financing through the EU budget. EU investments in transport infrastructure, energy, SMEs, skills, innovation, agriculture, reforms and other fields build the EU in times of peace and rebuild the EU in times of crises.

The EPP Cohesion Missions are one-day field visits of up to four EPP Group MEPs to Member States, EU regions, cities and rural areas, hosted by a respective EPP Group MEP. The activities include multiple EU project site visits, meetings with EPP leaders, mayors, governors, ministers and MPs, members of regional and city parliaments as well as press briefing and other outreach and communications activities. The activities also include meetings with beneficiaries of EU financing (such as SMEs, universities, individuals, NGOs, farmers, public bodies) in order to underline the outcomes and the positive impact of EU investments.

Project areas may include COVID-19 funding; SME support; R&I; digitalisation; farming; urban infrastructure; tourism; large transport infrastructure; culture and education; healthcare; cross-border projects; energy transition; energy efficiency; climate and environment Ukraine-related financing.

There are two objectives:

To show the success stories across the EU, their impact on people and the economy as well as to discuss implementation challenges.
To underline the causal link between the ecosystem of EPP Group policy makers and the inflow of EU investments, which underlines the EPP Groups role and carries a pro-EU message of cohesion in the context of the crises. EPP leaders, mayors, regional governors, ministers, governments, MPs, members of regional and city parliaments and MEPs have contributed greatly to the regional inflow of EU investment.

What is the EPP Cohesion Monitoring Group?

The Cohesion Monitoring Group (CMG) is an EPP Group format established as a cross-committee platform open to all EPP Members who are interested in how approximately one third of the EU budget is channelled towards investments, delivering the EU political priorities and strengthening the EU economic, social and territorial cohesion. Andrey NOVAKOV, EPP REGI coordinator, chairs the format.

CMG has three focus areas:

Providing visibility of cohesion policy results and impact on EU citizens, businesses and regions;
Tracking the closure of the 2014-2020 cohesion policy and the implementation of the 2021-2027 programming periods;
Shaping the future of cohesion policy beyond 2027.

The CMG operates in various formats by inviting Commission representatives, representatives of regional and national authorities, mayors, managing authorities, beneficiaries and stakeholders. It is a platform for presenting cohesion policy success stories and for organising mission visits to Member States, regions, cities and specific projects.

So far, the events of the CMG involved: Chairman Weber; Commissioners Johannes Hahn; Elisa Ferreira; former Commissioner Mariya Gabriel; Ville Itälä, Director-General of OLAF; Iliana Ivanova, former Member of the European Court of Auditors; Olgierd Geblewicz, President of the EPP Group in the CoR; Siegfried Muresan, EPP Group Vice-Chair & Chair of WG Budget and Structural Policies; EPP MEPs from four committees; cooperation with the EPP Group Outreach and Communication.