LDnet Webinar (19.2.2025) – “A new architecture of EU policies and funds post-2027 – what place for local development?” – Summary, presentations, recording

This event took place online on 19 February 2025 as part of the 2025 series of LDnet webinars. It was attended by more than 120 people. The summary of the proceedings is available below together with links to the presentations and the recording of the event.

A new architecture of EU policies and funds post-2027 – what place for local development?

By mid-2025 the new European Commission is expected to present its proposals for EU budget and policies for the post-2027 period. The preparatory documents that have already been published (e.g. the Communication on ‘The Road to the next Multiannual Financial Framework’ and the communication on A Vision for Agriculture and Food) indicate major changes compared to previous and current periods.

The webinar offered an opportunity to reflect on:

– the role of territorial and place-based approaches in the EU policies post-2027,

– different scenarios of change, especially concerning the future Cohesion Policy and the place of rural development,

– the expected consequences of these changes for local communities across Europe.

After opening words from the facilitator, Joanna Storie, a short presentation by Urszula Budzich-Tabor showed the expected process and timeline for adopting the post-2027 EU policies.

Serafin Pazos Vidal in his contribution on the “Key challenges of Cohesion Policy – why and how is it going to change?” he reminded the audience that in 2020 the EU policies were already subject to major changes (with the introduction of the Next Generation EU, payment based on reforms and milestones, and a de facto centralisation of decision-making in the hands of national governments). The changes foreseen for post-2027 build on these changes and envisage a single plan to use EU funding for each Member State. This is not necessarily a bad thing: tying reforms to investments in Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) has unblocked persistent policy blockages in some Member States. Also having a single plan would avoid the current policy and funding silos that exists between DGs, Ministries and regional departments. However, if implemented in the same way as RRF, with far too many decisions held by individual ministries with little EU oversight; no partnership principle; a lax performance framework of milestones, inputs, outputs and investments completely unrelated to reforms; it may worsen the serious concerns already levelled by the European Court of Auditors and others with regards to the RRF.

Stefan Kah spoke about “Territorial tools in a changing Europe – how were they applied in the past and what might emerge?”. He presented an overview of how territorial tools, notably Integrated Territorial Investments (ITI) and Community-led Local Development (CLLD) were used in Cohesion Policy (CP) in the period 2014-2020, and how they are likely to be used in the current period (2021-2027, where implementation on the ground is only starting). It appears that Member States largely continue their ITI models and often expand these to additional territories, while in terms of CLLD there is a mixed continuation and discontinuation, with several countries and regions introducing CLLD for the first time. Beyond the compulsory elements (e.g. minimum allocation to sustainable urban development), countries and programme authorities can decide about whether to make use of territorial instruments. Influencing factors include the alignment with broader decentralisation or devolution processes; the degree of ‘fit’ with CP governance models; local administrative capacity levels and trust across government departments; importance and scale of CP funding; and the availability of domestic tools equivalent to those offered by CP. Looking ahead in post-2027, the current discussions make little mention of the territorial dimension in future policy models. However, where countries have established reasonably strong implementation systems for territorial instruments, it can be argued that these might continue to play a role in policy delivery.

Urszula Budzich-Tabor in her reflection on “The shaping of EU rural policies – what role for rural communities?” she reminded participants that local development in rural areas is currently funded from several sources, including the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), Cohesion Policy (CP) and national and regional budgets. Community-led Local Development (CLLD) is of key importance, and considerable progress has been made recently to demonstrate the value added that this approach brings to rural communities. For the post-2027 period a number of open questions remain unanswered, for example: the link with other EU policies such as agriculture or cohesion; the amount of funding; and the scope of local decision-making. These need to. Be addressed to ensure an adequate response to future rural challenges and opportunities.

In the discussion, participants raised several concerns about the future of EU policies. Expected issues include:

– the situation of regionalised Member States in the context of the expected national-level plans,

– the fact that in each programme period more is left to Member State discretion and the territorial granularity of interventions seems to decrease,

– the insufficiency of the CAP and current territorial tools to address all rural needs,

– that resilient rural areas, especially close to the EU borders, are essential for security,

– that the expected future focus of EU policies on competitiveness will happen at the expense of cohesion and solidarity.

Some participants were interested to know about the future EU support for the neighbouring and candidate countries, but so far very little is known on this topic. An explanation was also provided on the term “local development”: in the context of EU policies, this term primarily refers to specific tools (such as Community-led Local Development) with a well-defined methodology, which foster local autonomy, involvement and cooperation.

The organisers announced that the discussion on this topic will continue once more is known about the Commission’s proposals for the future (tentatively in May 2025, tbc).

The recording of this webinar is available HERE.

Click below for speakers’ presentations: