Executive summary 1

1 Introduction 2

2 Cohesion spending in the EU budget 3

3 The main criticisms of the proposed approach to cohesion spending 5

3.1 Reduction in cohesion policy funding 5

3.2 No minimum funding for transition and more-developed regions 6

3.3 Combining multiple policy areas within NRPPs 7

3.4 Fear of re‑nationalisation and sidelining of regional authorities 8

3.5 Limited role of the European Parliament 9

3.6. Conditioning sub‑national cohesion investments on unrelated national reforms 10

4 Additional critical issues 13

4.1 Target setting 13

4.2 Results focus 13

4.3 Consistency of regional and national targets 14

4.4 Independent evaluation 14

4.5 Cross-border projects 14

5 Conclusion and summary of recommendations 14

References 16