Towards a territorially-based policy for all Europeans?

Adopted on 26 November 2009 at the AER General Assembly

Extract: It is essential that cohesion policy remains European. The current division of tasks between the European Commission and the Member States should be continued. In order to improve the efficiency of the policy and fully follow the line opened by the concept of “territorial cohesion”, the AER recommends the full adoption of a place-based approach, the creation of tripartite agreements for voluntary regions and of a Council of Ministers for Cohesion policy, as suggested in the Barca report. EU regional policy’s first goal is economic, social and territorial cohesion. That means giving all European citizens equal opportunities wherever they live in Europe. Beyond this main goal, cohesion policy should be given clearly identified objectives as well as priorities in line with the main challenges coming ahead. The challenges include climate change, the economic crisis, demographic change, and migration.