The EU faces significant challenges, including declining competitiveness, regional disparities, and social fragmentation, which threaten its cohesion and ability to address pressing global issues. Cohesion provides the glue that binds all Europeans together, fostering social unity and ensuring that no region is left behind. To deliver on the EU’s key priorities—competitiveness, the green and digital transitions, and a well-functioning Single Market—a reformed Cohesion Policy is essential. This policy must evolve to become a dynamic tool for economic and social development, prioritising regional transformations, innovation, and equality of opportunity. Only through a more cohesive and united Europe can the EU fully realise its potential on the global stage.
Lecture by Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, Professor of Economic Geography at the London School of Economics
Commentators:
Svein Tuastad, Associate Professor at the Department of Social Studies, University of Stavanger
Silje Haus-Reve, Professor of Innovation and Regional Studies, University of Stavanger