President of the European Committee of the Regions. Member of the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of the Azores since 1996 and President of the Regional Government from 2012 to 2020, Cordeiro has been the leader of the Socialist Party of the Azores since January 2013.
08/05/2024
In a speech at the first Intergovernmental Conference delivered on 9 September 1985, the late Jacques Delors, then president of the European Commission, laid a clear marker regarding the way the single market should be constructed within the European Union. He said: “history teaches us that a large single market cannot be of universal benefit unless its growth is sustained by flanking policies. It is time to reaffirm the resolve to achieve the essential cohesion of the Europe of Twelve, with all that that implies”.
The single market, according to Delors, should be developed with the objectives of solidarity and cohesion in mind, so as to avoid leaving people and regions behind. ‘Flanking policies’ at the level of the European Union would be created to counteract the negative effects of market liberalisation and to ensure that all regions fully participate in and benefit from the opportunities provided by the single market. A year after Jacques Delors’s speech, the Single European Act was signed, paving the way for the foundations of cohesion policy as we know it today.
Let us fast-forward to the present. With the European elections just around the corner, the European Union finds itself at a crossroads. There has never been a better time to remind ourselves that the single market and cohesion policy are two sides of the same coin.
This is very important, because the case for the EU to seriously deliver on its treaty objective to promote harmonious development within all territories in Europe needs to be made more forcefully than ever. The evidence presented in the recently published 9th Cohesion Report is compelling: 30 years on from the creation of the single market and of cohesion policy, and 20 years after the 2004 enlargement, there is no doubt that many parts of Europe have experienced upward economic and social convergence. But convergence has been uneven across the EU, with many regions falling behind into the now familiar ‘development trap’ conundrum. For instance, one third of the EU’s population lives in places that are slowly falling behind.
Enrico Letta’s report on the future of the single market, published last month, rightly confirms that economic, social and territorial cohesion should continue to be the central objective of the single market. The Letta report includes promising proposals stating that efforts to deepen or expand the single market should be accompanied by actions at the EU level to prevent major economic and social imbalances.
The question that remains is how to ensure such an ambition can become at the very top of the EU agenda for the coming five years and beyond.
From my point of view, the starting point is to ensure that the pursuit of economic, social and territorial cohesion is put at the very top of the EU agenda for the coming five years. Beyond that, we need to ensure that such an essential objective is integrated as part of all EU policies. The ‘do no harm to cohesion’ principle has to become a reality for all EU policies, many of which are unfortunately blind to the reality of territories across Europe.
Secondly, the only way to guarantee that the single market continues to provide benefits to all regions, including those considered as less developed, is to work towards a stronger cohesion policy in the future which continues to support all regions in Europe. The European Committee of the Regions studyCohesion Policy and the Single Market: the cost of non-cohesion published in February this year makes it crystal clear that restricting cohesion policy support to a limited number of regions in the future would achieve nothing but increase disparities in the future.
Thirdly, we must redefine the type of ‘flanking policy’ – to use Jacques Delors’ words – to address the potential imbalances caused by the completion of the single market. And of course, we are talking about cohesion policy. Let us be clear: cohesion policy as we know it today, as the decentralised EU investment instrument delivered in partnership with all regions and cities, is at risk. We must not succumb to the temptation – echoed by some inside the European Commission and in some EU capitals – to radically rethink the main EU investment instrument so that it becomes more centralised and less focused on territorial realities. Instead, we should take this opportunity to renovate cohesion policy by strengthening its very foundations so that it can lead to a more inclusive single market.
This call is not only mine. It is also the one of thousands of mayors and regional leaders who gathered in Mons for the European Summit of Regions and Cities. It must be the one of our progressive Socialist and Social Democrat family. It must be the one of all candidates for the European elections who have progress and fairness at heart.
As we face the most complex period of our common history, facing enlargement, the green and digital transitions, and an ageing population, we cannot afford to leave people behind when addressing such structural transformations. It is up to us to ensure that Europe answers with solidarity, progress and a strong cohesion policy at the heart of the European Union and of all our regions and cities.
How do we manage to maintain a focus on long-term goals in times of crises? […]
XThis website uses cookies. Some cookies are necessary for the proper functioning of the website and cannot be refused if you wish to visit the website.
Other cookies are used for Advertisement and Analytics (Sharing on social networks, video playing, analysis and statistics, personalized advertising ...) You can refuse them if you want to. REJECTACCEPTCookie settings
Manage consent
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement
1 year
Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category .
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
csrftoken
past
This cookie is associated with Django web development platform for python. Used to help protect the website against Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks
JSESSIONID
session
The JSESSIONID cookie is used by New Relic to store a session identifier so that New Relic can monitor session counts for an application.
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Cookie
Duration
Description
__cf_bm
30 minutes
This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management.
S
1 hour
Used by Yahoo to provide ads, content or analytics.
sp_landing
1 day
The sp_landing is set by Spotify to implement audio content from Spotify on the website and also registers information on user interaction related to the audio content.
sp_t
1 year
The sp_t cookie is set by Spotify to implement audio content from Spotify on the website and also registers information on user interaction related to the audio content.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Cookie
Duration
Description
CONSENT
2 years
YouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data.
iutk
session
This cookie is used by Issuu analytic system to gather information regarding visitor activity on Issuu products.
s_vi
2 years
An Adobe Analytics cookie that uses a unique visitor ID time/date stamp to identify a unique vistor to the website.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Cookie
Duration
Description
NID
6 months
NID cookie, set by Google, is used for advertising purposes; to limit the number of times the user sees an ad, to mute unwanted ads, and to measure the effectiveness of ads.
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
5 months 27 days
A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface.
YSC
session
YSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages.
yt-remote-connected-devices
never
YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
yt-remote-device-id
never
YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
yt.innertube::nextId
never
This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
yt.innertube::requests
never
This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.