The fifth EU Annual Report on the State of Regions and Cities was presented by the President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) to European, national and regional leaders, decision-makers and stakeholders at the opening of this year’s European Week of Regions and Cities (7-10 October).

With the new political cycle starting in the EU, President Vasco Alves Cordeiro said that cities and regions across Europe were willing to “co-operate, to help, to join forces to make the EU walk along the path of unity, diversity, and solidarity, because the state of our Union starts with the state of our regional and local communities”.

Regarding recent developments in the debate on the next EU long-term budget, he added: “It is also our clear and loud message, an unequivocal and unapologetic rejection of a recent idea of having one single programme at national level in the new multiannual financial framework, which would abolish the participation of regions and cities.”

EU Regions and Cities are calling for:

• An investment of up to €200bn per year in climate adaptation to address social and territorial vulnerabilities, due to the 120,000 heat-related deaths expected yearly by 2050 due to the climate crisis.
• Targeted financial support to implement the European Green Deal.
• Quality public services, with local and regional authorities responsible for 50% of expenditures on infrastructure, housing, health, education and social services.
• An ambitious and place-based EU budget that supports local investments, with a strong Cohesion Policy at its heart, since regions and cities account for more than half of the total government public investments.
• A stronger role for the European CoR, considering the substantial increase in citizens’ trust in regional and local authorities over the past decade, reaching its highest point in 2024, at 60%, the highest among all levels of governments.

President Cordeiro called on the regions and cities of Europe to take a stand against a proposal that “implies that we will be excluded, side-lined, bypassed. Let’s not forget that it’s more than about regions and cities, this is about the Europe we want to have in the future.”