The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) held a stakeholder consultation on the next EU Multi-annual Financial Framework on Wednesday 8 October, gathering views on the Commission’s July proposals. Led by Rapporteur Sari Rautio (Finland, EPP), the consultation emphasised that the next EU budget represents far more than a simple funding exercise, requiring constructive collaboration from all actors and multi-level governance to meet Europe’s challenges. 

Before opening the floor to stakeholders, the Committee presented its initial recommendations for the next EU budget. While welcoming flexibility and agility, Ms Rautio called for the reinstatement of existing operational programmes for cohesion policies and guaranteed participation of local and regional actors throughout the fund management cycle. The Committee strongly rejects the centralisation proposed by the National and Regional Partnership Plans, seeking to avoid repeating the shortcomings of the Recovery and Resilience Facility upon which the new MFF is modelled. Ms Rautio emphasised the need to embed partnership and subsidiarity principles within the proposal, and for cohesion and competitiveness to move forward together, rather than at the expense of one another. 

Euromontana Director Guillaume Corradino took the floor to emphasise the principles of subsidiarity and partnership, calling for dedicated earmarked support for mountain areas as key territories legally recognized under Article 174 TFEU. While often under-acknowledged, mountain areas deliver vital strategic services for Europe, and therefore require long-term, stable investment to guarantee the right to stay. Guillaume Corradino argued that simplification must prioritise the needs of those on the ground, rather than merely a streamlined policy architecture. Ms Rautio welcomed the intervention, acknowledging the Right to Stay as an important component for the upcoming opinion. 

Euromontana continues to advocate for a ‘Mountain-friendly MFF’ with common objectives, mandatory territorial chapters within the National and Regional Partnership Plans, dedicated funding streams, and preserving place-based approaches that recognise mountain areas’ unique challenges. 

Stakeholders can submit written input to coter@cor.europa.eu this week for consideration in the Committee’s opinion.