Who gets to decide how EU billions are spent after 2028? According to member states, it should not be Brussels. The Council has backed new rules that give national governments a stronger say over the bloc’s major cohesion funds — the money that supports a wide range of projects across Europe, from roads and schools to retraining programmes and social initiatives. The stated aim is simple: cut red tape and speed up how quickly funds reach the ground.
The Council of the EU has agreed on a so-called partial negotiating position for the rules that will govern the EU’s main cohesion policy funds in the 2028–2034 budget cycle.
This covers the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), including the cross-border cooperation programme Interreg, and the Cohesion Fund. At the same time, lawmakers are also preparing rules for the European Social Fund (ESF), which supports jobs, skills and social inclusion.
It builds on an earlier agreement over broader National and Regional Partnership Plans (NRPP). Those plans aim to bring investments and reforms under one single framework.
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More unified planning, more national responsibility
The biggest shift lies in planning. Member states will rely more heavily on national and regional plans that combine investment priorities with reform agendas. In practice, this gives governments more room to decide how to spend EU money. The European Commission will increasingly set the framework rather than micromanage individual programmes.
Cyprus Finance Minister Makis Keravnos called the change a step towards a “more flexible and resilient Europe”, where countries set their own priorities and direct funds where they can make the biggest difference.
Cross-border programmes: Interreg gets clearer rules
The Interreg programme, which supports cooperation between regions across EU borders and beyond, will also see significant changes. The new rules clarify what is decided directly in the regulation and what will be left to later implementing acts by the Commission. More detail now moves into the core legal text itself, which should give the system greater legal certainty before the new budget period even begins.
At the same time, the EU is tightening and clarifying the rules for approving and changing programmes, aiming to make the process more predictable and easier to navigate in practice.
Social Fund: jobs, skills and inclusion
The European Social Fund will continue to focus on employment, upskilling and social inclusion in the next funding period. The Council wants to better align its rules with the new unified framework for national and regional plans, while also clarifying exactly which areas can receive support. The goal is to make funding easier to understand and better linked to other EU investment tools.
What happens next
The Council agreement is only the start of negotiations. Member states will now enter talks with the European Parliament on the final shape of the rules.
The actual size of the funding envelope for these programmes for 2028–2034 has not yet been decided. It will form part of the broader negotiations on the EU’s next multiannual financial framework.
