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Today, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) launched a public consultation on the future orientation of European cohesion policy. The focus of the consultation is on the further development of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The Economic Affairs Ministry, which is responsible for the coordination of the European Structural Funds at national level, wants to collect inspirations and ideas for the negotiations on the 2028-2034 programming period at an early stage.

State Secretary Giegold said: "In the context of the forthcoming reorganisation of regional funding, nearly one third of the EU budget is at stake. As regards German regions, this corresponds to investment in the economy and the transformation totalling €21 billion in the 2021-2027 programming period. This large amount of tax-payers’ money must go hand in hand with high expectations in the further development of regional policy. The Structural Funds must be made fit for the challenges of the green and digital transition. To this end, we need innovative ideas for projects and fewer bureaucratic barriers when it comes to implementing them. As we are talking about regional policy, we need to address regional stakeholders. The consultation therefore provides an opportunity for all interested parties to share their experience and make proposals for the reorientation of cohesion policy and especially of the European Regional Development Fund."

Interested organisations, municipalities, research institutions, universities, companies, associations and citizens are invited to feed in their opinions and proposals by completing an online questionnaire (in German) by 15 March.

This consultation is embedded in a research project which is drawing up recommendations for action for future-proof governance and implementation of cohesion policy on the basis of the expertise of academia and stakeholders. A consortium headed by the DLR project management agency, which can be contacted for matters related to the consultation (konsultation-efre@dlr.de), has been commissioned to implement the project.