General Affairs Council (Cohesion), 30/11/2018, 30 November 2018

Main results

Cohesion policy after 2020

The Council discussed the legislative package for cohesion policy for the period 2021-2027. Cohesion policy is the key EU policy for investing in Europe's regions and cities to create jobs, reduce economic and social gaps and improve people's lives. Over one third of the EU budget goes to cohesion policy.

Ministers focused and gave political guidance on three issues reflected in the presidency discussion paper. A majority of delegations supported the presidency suggestions concerning:

• a mandatory Partnership Agreement
• the duration of programming and the nature of the mid-term review
• territorial cooperation

Ministers also took note of the progress achieved in examining the package of five regulations:

• the Common Provisions Regulation
• the European Regional Development Fund and Cohesion Fund Regulation
• the European Social Fund Plus Regulation
• the European Territorial Cooperation (Interreg) Regulation
• the European Cross-Border Mechanism Regulation

Their political guidance will serve as a basis for further work at expert level.

The Austrian presidency has worked intensively on the cohesion package, focusing on the elements most needed for national and regional administrations to start preparing for the next programming period. I am happy to say that substantive progress has been achieved in this work. The presidency remains committed to advancing the discussions at a fast pace in order to agree on the Council's position on some parts of the package by the end of our term. Elisabeth Köstinger, Austrian Federal Minister for Sustainability and Tourism and President of the Council

• Legislative package for cohesion policy after 2020 - Presidency discussion paper
• Commission proposals for regional development and cohesion beyond 2020
• Commission proposal for 'European Social Fund Plus'