VALLETTA, June 9 (Xinhua) -- EU Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu said Friday the EU's cohesion policy needs to be more flexible considering challenges such as Brexit, migration and security.
Her comments came as the future of the EU's cohesion policy was discussed at an informal EU ministers meeting here on Friday.
Europe is facing a wave of extremism due to "uncertainty about our future and the cohesion policy alone will not heal Europe, but Europe will not heal without the cohesion policy", Cretu said.
She added that the Estonian presidency needs to prolong this discussion in the coming six months as the cohesion policy is a priority for each member state.
Maltese Parliamentary Secretary Aaron Farrugia remarked that the policy should continue supporting investment and job creation, addressing the particular local needs of the regions.
Farrugia added that the rationale behind the policy post 2020 should see projects that can attain regional sustainable development programs and economic well-being of the regions.
Ministers highlighted the importance of ensuring the cohesion policy remains relevant for all regions, stressing the need for a differentiated approach in the way the distribution of budgets is devised throughout the way the policy is implemented.
The EU cohesion policy is the EU's main investment policy seeing hundreds of thousands of projects all over Europe that receive EU funding.
Its aims are to support job creation, business competitiveness, economic growth, and sustainable development to improve citizens' quality of life.
