Council conclusions on Report from the EU Commission on the implementation of EU macroregional strategies

The report and the conclusions are a part of the ongoing evaluation process of the EU macro-regional strategies. The biannual report and Council Conclusions are there to guide the European Commission in its role within the Strategy. Via the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO), the Commission provides strategic coordination and advice to the National Coordinators’ Group on managing and developing the Strategy. It also gives guidance to the Strategy actors on prioritising strategic frameworks and policies.

The report and the staff working document on the implementation of EU macro-regional strategies was submitted by the Commission on 13 May 2025. The final version of the Conclusions was adopted on 16 September 2025. Read the full document here.

The Strategies have a valuable role in enhancing cooperation

The Council recognises the valuable role of the Strategies in enhancing cooperation, trust, preparedness, and resilience, and invites the participating countries to reinforce their political leadership and ownership of the Strategies. The Council reaffirms the importance of Strategy implementers to be empowered with clear mandates and a clear vision that places their work in the broader policy context in the Strategies’ participating countries and in the EU. The Council encourages concrete actions to facilitate active engagement of civil society organisations, local communities, youth, academia and businesses in the implementation of the Strategies.

To maintain the relevance of the Strategies, the Council encourages the Strategies to adjust the action plans where appropriate. The Council recognises the contribution of the Strategies to tailoring the specific needs and priorities of the participating regions, as well as the role of the Strategies in bridging the gap between local and regional actions and European political priorities.

More emphasis on the mega transitions in Europe

As highlighted in the Commission report, the Council acknowledges the role of the Strategies in advancing the green transition. At the same time, the Council encourages the Strategies to add, where appropriate, more emphasis on competitiveness of the European economy, just energy transition, resilience and security, and the demographic transition, while ensuring a good quality of life for people in Europe.

The possibilities provided by embedding the Strategies in both relevant cohesion policy programmes and programmes directly managed by the Commission are gradually being taken up, enabling financing and implementation of the Strategies’ priorities. The Council calls on the Strategies themselves, managing authorities of relevant cohesion policy programmes, and the Commission to continue facilitating this embedding process throughout the whole funding period.

Supporting the EU enlargement process

Although the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region has no EU candidate countries as members, the Strategy has taken an active role in advancing cooperation with Ukraine ever since Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine started. The Council highlights the possibility that the Strategies offer to candidate countries to work on an equal footing with EU Member States, thus accelerating the process of understanding of and adapting national legislation to the EU acquis, building administrative capacity on various EU policies, and supporting the enlargement process.