Commissioners Hahn and Ferreira attend the Friends of Cohesion Summit in Portugal

Tomorrow, 1 February, Commissioner for Budget and Administration, Johannes Hahn, and Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, will attend the “Friends of Cohesion” Summit, taking place in Beja, Portugal.The Summit will bring together representatives of 13 Member States and aims to discuss the priorities and budget of Cohesion Policy in the next long-term EU budget. The role of Commissioners Hahn and Ferreira will be to facilitate – in close cooperation with Council President Michel – a compromise between Member States with different positions, so that the EU reaches a long-term budget as soon as possible. The Friends of Cohesion group comprises the V4 countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) as well as Estonia, Croatia, Malta, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Italy, Portugal and Greece. It was set up in 2004 with the aim to defend the importance of Cohesion Policy and its budget in the long-term EU budget negotiations.