With the inter-institutional negotiations on the Multinational Financial Framework still some distance from agreement, pressure is increasing on the Council and European Parliament to find a compromise that provides certainty on the EU’s contribution both to recovery and longer term objectives. The delay is of particular concern for EU Cohesion Policy, which has played a crucial role in the EU’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic through the mobilisation of investment and greater flexibility for Member States to tackle the effects of the crisis. The EU Recovery Package provides additional funding to Cohesion policy on a temporary basis through REACT-EU, but the main budgetary winner is the new Recovery and Resilience Facility. Moreover, the Council agreement on the MFF 2021-27 has cut the cohesion budget by 9 percent compared to 2014-20, and there are concerns that the long terms goals of the policy are being weakened. Further, Member States are faced with the triple challenge of spending the funding for 2014-20, adapting programmes and interventions in response to the crisis, while preparing the 2021-27 programmes and new instruments to support recovery and territorial cohesion.
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