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President Ursula von der Leyen used a phrase in this year’s State of the Union that progressive local and regional leaders know well: the “right to stay” or as we prefer the "freedom to stay" just like the other four fundamental freedoms of the EU's single market.
People should be able to build a future where they live. They should not have to leave their hometown or region because they cannot find a decent job, afford a home, access healthcare or rely on quality public services.
So, when the Commission President said “we will invest in our regions”, we listened. Her recognition that staying in your region, accessing care and having a home are rights is very welcome.
But rights need more than words. They need adequate funding. And this is where the biggest contradiction in this year’s State of the Union begins.
You cannot invest in regions while taking cohesion policy away from them
Cohesion Policy did not feature in the speech. That omission matters because negotiations on the next EU long-term budget are already determining how Europe will invest in its territories after 2027.
The Commission proposes bringing Cohesion Policy, agricultural funding, social investment and other programmes together under National and Regional Partnership Plans, with one plan submitted by each Member State. The Commission argues that regions and local communities will be involved in designing and implementing these plans.
We have repeatedly warned that the current architecture does not provide strong enough guarantees for that involvement. More fundamentally, it would delegate responsibility for territorial cohesion from the European Commission to the national level. If adopted, regional budget allocations and priorities would be negotiated in the 27 national capitals, rather than directly between subnational authorities and the European Commission, as is currently the case.
Our position is clear. Cohesion Policy must not become a negotiation between regions and their national capitals. Shared management, the partnership principle, place-based approaches and multilevel governance are not administrative complications. They are what allow European investment to respond to the realities of different territories.
The PES Group insists that the move towards a “one pot per Member State” approach is nationalisation, not simplification. Furhtermore, it risks politicising the allocation of EU funds. The European Committee of the Regions has also opposed the centralisation of the future budget and called for predictable Cohesion Policy support for all regions and genuine involvement of local and regional authorities.
The Commission says it wants people to have the freedom to stay. Then the next EU budget must give their regions the means to make this possible.
"What stands out is the silence on Cohesion Policy and on the European Social Fund, in a speech that nonetheless invokes the "right to stay" in the territories. As rapporteur on the Performance Framework, I reiterate that you cannot talk about regional resilience while failing to protect the instruments that actually finance it."
– Luca Menesini, President of the PES Group in the European Committee of the Regions (CoR)
Social Europe needs delivery
The same question hangs over the social part of the speech.
There were important commitments. A Quality Jobs Act is promised by the end of the year. A European Care Deal was announced. Housing was described as a right. And next year, the European Pillar of Social Rights will turn ten.
But an anniversary is not a social policy and announcements alone will not improve people’s everyday lives.
For cities and regions, the questions come immediately: what will the Care Deal contain? Will local and regional authorities be involved in shaping it? And how will it support the public services and local authorities that already provide care, social inclusion, employment support and essential services every day?
These are not secondary implementation questions. They determine whether European social policy reaches people at all.
The debate over the future European Social Fund shows what is at stake. In July, the European Committee of the Regions opposed absorbing the ESF+ into broader, centrally managed national plans and called for it to remain a strong, autonomous instrument, with a budget of more than €124 billion for 2028–2034. Our own position on the MFF also calls for an ESF+ with a strong territorial dimension, alongside greater investment in public services and measures to reduce inequality.
Europe cannot celebrate ten years of its Social Pillar while weakening the tools that allow cities and regions to deliver it. If the Commission wants a stronger Social Europe, it must match new promises with dedicated resources and give local and regional authorities a genuine role in designing, governing and implementing them.
When Europe needs to act, it acts locally
There was one part of the speech where this local reality was recognised very clearly: climate adaptation.
The Commission announced a new climate resilience framework identifying 100 particularly vulnerable territories and promised a European Heatwave Plan. Von der Leyen explicitly acknowledged that adaptation has to reach the local level.
That is important.
Heatwaves are managed in our streets, schools, hospitals and care homes. Flood prevention is planned territory by territory. Housing policy, public transport, social services, civil protection and the green transition all depend heavily on decisions taken locally and regionally.
This should not only be recognised when Europe faces an emergency. It should be reflected in the way Europe governs and invests.
The same applies to the repeated emphasis on “speed” throughout the State of the Union. Europe needs to be able to act faster. But speed should not become a reason to move decisions upwards to national capitals or weaken essential standards. A stronger Europe also needs democratic accountability, partnership and institutions that involve the levels of government responsible for turning decisions into reality.
Regions must be partners, not an afterthought
A year ago, our reaction to the State of the Union was simple: Europe’s future is local, not centralised.
That argument has not gone away. In fact, the negotiations on the next EU budget have made it even more urgent. In 2025, the PES Group warned against separating competitiveness from cohesion and against turning European structural investment into national allocations.
This year, the language has moved closer to us. The Commission President speaks about the freedom to stay. She speaks about housing as a right. She says Europe will invest in its regions.
Now the actions need to follow.
A real freedom to stay requires good jobs, affordable housing, strong public services and investment that reaches every territory. It requires a Cohesion Policy that remains European, predictable and place-based, with regions and cities shaping the decisions that affect them.
If Europe is serious about investing in its regions, regions must remain in the driving seat.