[FR] Reaction to the debate: “What role and aim for the European cohesion policy?”

In his article ‘What do you really know about European cohesion policy?’, Dirk Ahner deliberately focuses on the economic and political foundations of cohesion policy, its ‘spirit’ and its objectives. By defining it as ‘a development policy aimed at improving the conditions for sustainable growth and jobs, well-being and environmental quality in European regions and strengthening the integration of regional economies’, he follows the line taken in Fabrizio Barca’s report. The CPMR, which defines this policy as ‘the EU’s instrument for providing European territories with the means to develop their potential in order to reduce their vulnerability in a globalised economy and maximise the benefits they can derive from it for the quality of life of their citizens’, also recognises this approach. ‘, also recognises this approach.

While Mr Ahner provides a detailed answer to the question ’what?‘, he chooses not to address the “why” or ’how”, which are nevertheless intrinsically linked and raise other questions that are also present in the debate on European cohesion policy. His approach is also entirely decontextualised. However, no policy can be fully understood outside a given institutional, political and economic environment. This contribution therefore aims to shed some light on these two questions by reconnecting cohesion policy to the world and Europe in which it exists.