Regional and local leaders in the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) have urged the European Commission to keep the European Social Fund as a standalone programme and to raise its budget to more than €124 billion for 2028 – 2034.
The position was set out in an opinion adopted unanimously by the Committee’s plenary session on 2 July, drafted by Tom Jungen, the mayor of Roeser in Luxembourg, the CoR informed on Thursday.
The Committee said it opposed Commission plans to merge the European Social Fund (ESF) with other EU funding tools into single national plans, arguing the fund should remain a separate instrument.
It called for the ESF’s seven-year budget to increase from the current €100 billion to at least €124.19 billion, in 2025 prices.
The Committee linked its demands to challenges including depopulation in rural areas, energy poverty, unemployment and homelessness, and said the 14% minimum target for social spending set out in the Commission’s proposal for the EU’s long-term budget for 2028 – 2034 was not sufficient.
Poverty, skills and youth support
An estimated 94.6 million people in the EU — around two in ten citizens — live in households at risk of poverty or social exclusion, while 42% of the EU population lack basic digital skills, the Committee said. More than 50 million workers need training.
One in four children in the EU is at risk of poverty or social exclusion and the youth unemployment rate is nearing 15%.
The Committee also called for the European Child Guarantee and the Youth Guarantee — EU initiatives intended to help children access essential services and support young people into work — to have dedicated budgets, along with indicators tailored to local needs and the involvement of specialised civil-society organisations.
Tom Jungen said the issue was whether the ESF would remain “a strong and protected European instrument or become just another spending objective.”
