Forging a sustainable future together : cohesion for a competitive and inclusive Europe : report of the High-Level Group on the Future of Cohesion Policy, February 2024

Cohesion Policy is the prime investment policy of the European Union (EU). It is designed to promote harmonious progress, advancing economic, social and territorial development throughout the Union by channelling investments into regions with lower levels of development and/or specific vulnerabilities (i.e., persistent structural challenges). Its investments are crucial to the EU's competitiveness both locally and on a broader scale. They address key structural bottlenecks faced by EU regions, to enable achievement of the EU's primary economic and social objectives. For more than three decades since the 1989 reform of Structural Funds, Cohesion Policy has lifted many Europeans out of poverty. It has driven social and economic progress across the EU through investments tailored to the unique local conditions and structural issues of each region. Cohesion Policy has become the most comprehensive and sophisticated approach to territorial development globally. It has inspired similar initiatives in other parts of the world as other countries recognise the significant economic, social and political costs associated with a lack of economic, social and territorial cohesion. However, the EU today faces vastly different challenges from those prompting the 1989 reform of the then-nascent Cohesion Policy. Cohesion Policy must evolve to effectively address the structural challenges confronting the EU and continue to improve the well-being of all Europeans.