Navigating a fragmented future: Towards a cohesive vision for Europe

December 2023

Three years ago, the Territorial Agenda 2030 was adopted aiming at a more green and cohesive Europe. Despite all nice words, territorial and societal fragmentations in Europe are on the rise, posing a threat to the continent's future. Mega-trends and transitions are accelerating these fragmentations, influencing local and regional development paths. Various policy efforts, including the Territorial Agenda 2030 and Cohesion Policy, have not managed to combat fragmentation challenges.

The Territorial Agenda 2030 – redefining cohesion

This makes the objectives of the Territorial Agenda 2030 ever more relevant. In December 2020, the ministers responsible for spatial planning, territorial development and/or territorial cohesion, adopted the Territorial Agenda 2030 ‘A future for all places’ (Si apre in una nuova finestra). It builds on the work of earlier Territorial Agendas and is rooted in the understanding that Europe faces major economic, social and environmental challenges which require a strong territorial sensitivity of policy making. The Territorial Agenda 2030 emphasises the need to act due to growing imbalances, demographic changes, and environmental pressures. It calls for a sustainable future for all places and people in Europe. For this purpose, it defines two overarching objectives, a just Europe that offers future perspectives for all places and people, and a green Europe that protects common livelihoods and shapes societal transition.

Taking a closer look, the Territorial Agenda actually builds on a contemporary understanding of cohesion, which even might be useful for the debate about the future of Cohesion Policy.

Some of the main points of this more contemporary understanding of cohesion are:

• Future orientation. While most cohesion debates focus on present disparities – often in terms of GPD per capita – the Territorial Agenda puts a clear focus on cohesion in terms of future perspectives and a sustainable future for all places and people.

• For all places and people. Going beyond the territorial dimension, the Territorial Agenda emphasises that territorial development essentially serves the people living in the territories. It also acknowledges that people may have different perspectives of what cohesion is, and assess it by comparing themselves with others. This makes cohesion both interpersonal and linked to people's perceptions of their place in comparison to others.

• Green Europe. The objective of a green Europe focuses on the protection of common livelihoods and shaping societal transition. In that sense cohesion has got a environmental or green dimension. It concerns both the state of the environment and climate change as well as the cohesion dimension of responses to climate change and green transition.

• Place-based. It goes without saying that the Territorial Agenda put a strong emphasis on place-based approach as prerequisite for advancing cohesion.

• Partnership. It also outlines that cohesion can only be achieved through the collaboration of a wide range of players. Therefore, it calls for collective action and for all policies to contribute to cohesion. In that sense it goes far beyond the EU call for no harm to cohesion, and asks for active contribution by policies at all levels.

Still, the Territorial Agenda does not offer a clear vision for a cohesive Europe. Maybe that could be the next step. Indeed, to Europe more cohesive, one needs to re-define cohesion in a future proof way, to guide decision making alongside with a shared vision that goes beyond economic and territorial aspects.

Messages for Cohesion Policy post 2027

Even if the Territorial Agenda is already three years hold, it holds a number of messages which are relevant for the debate on the future of Cohesion Policy. The most obvious messages are that Cohesion Policy should ...

• … update its cohesion understanding. Along the lines above, the approach to economic, social and territorial cohesion underpinning Cohesion Policy could do with an update.

• … become more foresight oriented. Cohesion Policy is rather static in the way it defines who or which areas are eligible for support. It might help to integrate more foresight oriented approaches and consider place’s and people’s future perspectives rather than just their current situation.

• … keep all places eligible. Since 2007 all regions in the EU are eligible for Cohesion Policy. Currently there are debates of whether the eligibility should be restricted to the places most in need. However, following the spirit of the Territorial Agenda, this would be counterproductive.

• … strengthen the place-based approach. Territorial tools such as integrated territorial investments (ITI) or community-led local development (CLLD) have been become more prominent in Cohesion Policy. Still, they stand only for a fraction of the efforts supported by the policy. The place-based approach needs to go beyond specific tools and underpin most if not all investments of the policy.  

• … empower local & regional players. Smart investments that support place-based approaches and contribute to cohesion rely on administrative and governance capacities of local and regional players.  Cohesion Policy can contribute to capacity building and empowerment of players needed for broad partnerships and place-based approaches.

• … strengthen the partnership dimension. The partnership principle and code of conduct are essential parts of Cohesion Policy. Along the line of the Territorial Agenda calling for collective actions and need of a wide range of players to contribute cohesion, the partnership dimension of Cohesion Policy should be further strengthened.

• … strengthen synergies with (all) policies. Cohesion is too big a task to be achieved by a single policy. Synergies with (all) relevant policies at local, regional, national and EU level should be further developed. This needs to go beyond the concept of ‘do no harm to cohesion’.

• … make cooperation a conditionality. Lacking collaboration across sectors and administrative borders is still one of the biggest obstacles to cohesion. In 2020-2027 Cohesion Policy has pushed for embedding cooperation. Maybe it could go one step further and make cooperation a conditionality post 2027.

Considering these lessons from the Territorial Agenda, Cohesion Policy could become stronger on leaving no one and no place behind. This should, however, not imply that Cohesion Policy becomes a spending instrument which people can expect to solve their problems. It rather needs to be understood as an instrument for capacity building and empowerment so that people can help themselves.

Conclusion

Growing spatial and societal fragmentations in Europe demand urgent attention. To navigate the fragmented future successfully, a contemporary understanding of cohesion is needed. The Territorial Agenda provides a first stepping stone for this. The ongoing stocktaking review by ESPON may help to further strengthen this. It may also help to further spell out what Cohesion Policy can learn from the Territorial Agenda and how the cohesion perspective can be strengthened. To start with, fostering future-oriented thinking is essential to overcome short-termism and build a resilient, cohesive Europe.

by Kai Böhme