EXPECTED NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 70

EVENT DESCRIPTION:
Cohesion is a fundamental objective of the European Union but is currently challenged by growing economic, social and territorial divisions. Cohesion Policy has a key role to play in addressing these challenges. However, it is not acting in isolation. New EU instruments have the potential to support it; equally, the priorities and funding of Cohesion Policy programmes may be diverted to support the objectives of new instruments. The most important of these instruments is the RRF, created to mitigate the economic and social impact of the Covid-19 emergency. Others include the funding for climate action under the Modernisation Fund supporting energy security in lower-income Member States as part of the EU’s green transition agenda. Within Cohesion Policy, there is the Just Transition Fund for alleviating the impacts of transition to climate neutrality in territories most affected.

In principle, complementarities and synergies between Cohesion Policy and new EU instruments should be facilitated by integrating support from multiple EU sources, sharing of capacities, resource and knowledge across funding bodies and establishing a more visible link between EU policies and needs and realities at national and regional levels.  In practice, however, there has been mixed progress in achieving potential benefits, with fragmented coherence across instruments, funds and levels of governance.

CONTENT:
The aim of the Expert meeting is to share Member States’ experiences and develop practical recommendations to strengthen complementarity between Cohesion Policy and new EU instruments in the pursuit of cohesion. Based on EU-level perspectives and contributions from Member States, the Workshop will discuss the most pressing challenges, exchange knowledge and good practice, and identify principles for ensuring positive interaction between Cohesion Policy and new EU instruments contributing to the objective of cohesion in 2021-2027 and beyond. The main points/conclusions will be reflected in the following discussion on the future role of Cohesion policy that is going be conducted during CZ PRES. 
 
ORGANIZING BODY:
Department of EU Funds Management and Coordination

CONTACT PERSONS:
Ms Lenka Růžičková, +420 704 951 033, +420 224 861 588, e-mail: Lenka.Ruzickova@mmr.cz
Ms Pavla Jurášková, +420 731 628 184, e-mail: Pavla.Juraskova@mmr.cz