State Secretary Sanja Bošnjak at informal ministerial meeting in Warsaw

The EU Member States ministers responsible for territorial cohesion, urban matters and cohesion policies gathered in Warsaw on May 21, 2025. The head of the Croatian delegation was State Secretary Sanja Bošnjak. The informal ministerial meeting was organised within the framework of the Polish presidency of the Council of the European Union (PL PRES), with the aim of strengthening the territorial approach to policies.

The presiding Polish minister Katarzyna PEŁCZYŃSKA-NAŁĘCZ explained that, in the context of growing challenges and particularly in times of creating cohesion policies for a new financial period following 2027, it is extremely important to strengthen the territorial approach to policies and consider the particularities of each territorial area of the European Union. The ministers discussed the role of territorial and urban dimension and regional policy in the sustainable development of Member States and their regions, the future of the EU Territorial Agenda 2030 and the support for sustainable urban development in functional areas.

Themis Christophidou, the director of Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO), emphasised the importance of the moment and welcomed the PL PRES initiative which suggests achieving consensus on important priorities and approaches to creating cohesive and other EU policies through informal collaboration.

Andrés RODRÍGUEZ-POSE from the London School of Economics and the presiding member of the high-level working group focused on the future of cohesive policies, held an interesting lecture in the form of an overview of the new policies starting points.

During the meeting, the heads of delegations expressed views on how to ensure territorial sensitivity through other EU sectoral policies as well, not only through cohesive policies, with special emphasis on areas which require special attention under the circumstances of current challenges and to assess whether the existing mechanisms are sufficient to ensure the territorial approach, or new mechanisms and tools are needed.

State Secretary Bošnjak stated that, when creating EU sectoral policies, which usually imply a top-down approach, it is essential to enable a high-quality and informed participation of a wide range of participants, particularly at the local level. Sectoral policies are becoming increasingly interlinked and entail a far-reaching impact on other sectors, and the cohesion in general. The application of the “Do no harm to cohesion” principle, i.e. the implementation of impact assessment of sectoral policies and instruments on the goals and values of the cohesion policy, should be considered a priority in this sense.

Moreover, she claimed that local areas and communities face a series of challenges and that territorial cohesion implies a uniform and balanced development of the entire EU territory, considering all particularities of individual areas - on the example of Croatia, she emphasises that special attention is paid to islands and mountain regions, assisted areas and areas of special state concern, and, recently, areas affected by the earthquake.

Border EU regions are particularly vulnerable and require special attention. The existing implementation mechanisms are considered sufficient to ensure the territorial approach, but the possibility of additional simplification and flexibility to better respond to needs is welcomed - she gives the example of the integrated territorial programme which Croatia carries out in this programme period, and which, by using the bottom-up approach, ensures integrated investment into urban areas, island and regions under industrial transition, which enables a stronger territorial approach.

PL PRES concluded the meeting by adopting the ministerial declaration, as a demonstration of political commitment to said goals. Its key elements entail the call for a coordinated approach based on a common vision, the cohesive policy is highlighted as the foundation of investment, it emphasises the need to apply approaches tailored to local conditions for all policies and it calls for a better multilevel governance. The European Commission is called upon to better coordinate the EU policies with emphases on elements which should be a part of the future Urban Agenda for the EU and the European Affordable Housing Plan.

State Secretary Bošnjak was accompanied by Ingrid Gojević and Željko Šokčević.

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