MEPs push for EU regional funds to build affordable housing and climate-proof cities

Members of the European Parliament are urging the EU to use its regional development funds to tackle the bloc’s housing crisis and prepare cities for climate emergencies. In a non-binding report passed on Tuesday 20 October with 601 votes in favour, 20 against and 36 abstentions, MEPs called for additional investments in housing and for strong cohesion funds to help cities adapt to climate change. The report insists that the principle of a “right to stay” be written into new budget legislation, aiming to protect residents of rural areas and small cities that often face depopulation due to few job opportunities. Cohesion funds, which currently total €48.03 billion in the 2021-2027 EU budget and make up a third of the bloc’s spending, are usually used for infrastructure projects in countries with lower-than-average per capita gross national income.

MEPs also demanded that small and medium-sized cities have access to cohesion funds “on an equal footing as bigger cities,” as Denis Nesci, the Italian conservative MEP spearheading the file, put it. He echoed the centre-right commission’s position on simplifying regulations, noting that smaller municipalities often struggle with the formalities linked to EU funds. The parliament’s push comes as the European Commission has proposed significant cuts to regional funds in the next multi-annual budget, set to cover 2028-34. A group of 16 member states that often benefit from the funding has opposed the reduction. During a plenary debate on Monday 19 October, Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, a Lithuanian MEP from the Left group, called regional development the “only instrument which can unite all of us,” while German centre-right MEP Fredis Beleris said it “could be the response to the radicalisation of Europe.”