EU regional and cohesion policy 2021-2027

Also in the new 2021-2027 programming period, regional or cohesion policy will continue to help promoting economic, social and territorial cohesion in the European Union and reducing regional development disparities. To this end, 392 billion euros will be available for all regions of the EU in the coming years.

The five political objectives of cohesion policy

The European Union has set five political objectives for the new funding period to promote growth, according to which the cohesion policy funds are orientated:

1. A more competitive and smarter Europe by means of innovation, the promotion of SMEs, as well as by means of digitalisation and digital networking
2. A greener, low-carbon Europe, moving towards a zero-carbon economy and becoming more resilient as a result
3. A more interrelated Europe by improving mobility
4. A more social and inclusive Europe by means of measures to promote effective and inclusive employment, education, qualifications, social inclusion and equal access to healthcare, and to strengthen the role of culture and sustainable tourism
5. A Europe closer to citizens by supporting local development and sustainable urban development in the EU

The political objectives are realised in several funds:

• The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) supports investments for all policy objectives, but focusses on 1 and 2. The ERDF is implemented by means of two programme strands:
  • "Investments for jobs and growth" (IJG) to strengthen: Innovation, digitalisation, support for SMEs and a low-carbon economy.
  • "European Territorial Cooperation" (ETC / Interreg) to strengthen cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation within the EU.
• The European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) for measures in the fields of labour, education and social inclusion
• The Cohesion Fund (CF) supports investments in the environmental sector and in transport infrastructure, however, only economically less developed EU countries have access to this fund
• The Just Transition Fund (JTF ) is not directly part of the

Joint responsibility of the European Commission and its Member States

Like the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), cohesion policy funds are managed jointly by the European Commission and the Member States.

As the fund-corresponding Ministry for the Cohesion Fund, the Federal Ministry has the task of coordinating the positions of the partners from the federal government, the Federal Provinces, cities and municipalities as well as the economic and social partners on changes to EU legislation in the joint umbrella Regulation for all funds and in the ERDF Regulation and of representing the position in Brussels. ERDF implementation is monitored within the framework of the implementation committees organised by the Austrian Conference on Spatial Planning.