Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and cohesion policy: what lessons can be learnt?

The establishment of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) marked a turning point in that it introduced for the first time an approach making the disbursement of EU funds fully contingent upon the achievement of outputs/results (defined as targets and milestones). The option of mainstreaming this approach to other EU funds in the future, notably to EU cohesion policy funds, is likely to be part of the political debate on cohesion policy post-2027. On the other hand, the RRF model lacks the territorial approach of cohesion policy and its transposition and implementation has been largely blind to the needs of local and regional governments. Against this background, the Cohesion Alliance high-level event will provide an opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of a fully performance-based approach, as well as the question of how to strengthen the place-based approach in both cohesion policy and other EU instruments to deliver on reforms while ensuring that no people or places are left behind.