The European Union is at a crossroads. A growingly unstable global order and various internal challenges require fundamental changes to the way the European Union acts within and outside of its borders. In the Communication published on 11 February 2025, the European Commission announced that it would propose significant changes to the way that European funds are structured and disbursed. The European Community of Practice on Partnership (ECoPP) discussions at the February 2025 Plenary expressed significant concern that the involvement of economic and social partners, and bodies representing civil society at national, regional and local levels is not guaranteed, and that the new centralised structure will weaken the long-established Partnership Principle and the effective implementation of Cohesion Policy. To this end, the ECoPP calls for the Partnership Principle to be linked to the European Semester and more integrated policies and funds after 2027, and for European institutions, in particular the European Commission, to actively support its application and endorse its legally binding nature through a revised European Code of Conduct on Partnership.
Please find the ECoPP statement on the future of the partnership principle, April 1, 2025 here.
Leda Stott and Anette Scoppetta act as experts for the European Commission for the ECoPP.
