The Director General of Foreign Action, Pablo Hurtado, defended today in Brussels the need to guarantee an adequate balance between the rural and urban world in terms of design the action framework for European policies in general, and cohesion policy in particularwith the aim of coping with the impact of demographic change in its entirety. Hurtado spoke in these terms during a debate held in a plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR).
The head of external action of the regional executive proposed reviewing the Functional urban areasto prevent small municipalities close to large cities from being grouped together in the same reference framework, which “generates territorial distortions and dilutes these rural areas in an urban context which does not take into consideration their real needs”.
Likewise, he defended that these municipalities can access funds and specific policies for rural areas, “recognizing their crucial role in demographic and territorial balance.” He further pleaded for adjust the instruments of cohesion and regional developmentwith the aim of better reflecting the differences between rural and urban areas within functional urban areas. “In this way, a more fair and equitable distribution of resources would be facilitated, helping small rural municipalities to receive the support they really need,” he added.
The CoR plenary allowed representatives of European regional and local authorities to exchange their impressions on the balance of the 20 years since the last major enlargement of the European Union in 2004 and the future prospects in this area.
They also discussed the priorities of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU with Barna Pál Zsigmond, Hungarian Deputy Minister for European Union Affairs, and the investment opportunities thanks to the support of the European Investment Bank with Nadia Calviño, the current president of this body, as well as on extreme weather phenomena.
In addition, the draft opinions on “Mid-term review of the European recovery plan after COVID-19”, “A fair transition for all EU regions”, “Promotion of local tourism”, between others, were analyzed and voted on. for sustainable local revitalization”, “Joint implementation plan of the Pact on Migration and Asylum”, “Demographic change in Europe: a set of policy instruments”, “Reinforced quality framework for internships” and ” Recommendations for the next framework program for research and innovation » ‘.
Finally, a urgent draft resolution concerning the state of regions and cities in the EU and the political orientations of the next European Commission 2024-2029. It should be noted that precisely this week the “Report on the State of EU Regions and Cities 2024” was published, an annual document that includes the territorial perspective in the face of major challenges at the European level. This year’s edition focuses on local democracy, green transition, cohesion policy and investments, as well as the enlargement of the European Union and Ukraine.
