Cohesion Policy and Defence: A New Strategic Convergence

The European Union’s cohesion policy has historically been conceived as a tool to reduce regional disparities, promote social inclusion and strengthen territorial integration. Through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Cohesion Fund and the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), cohesion instruments have traditionally been deployed to finance infrastructure, innovation, employment and social services across Member States. Their purpose was to ensure that less developed regions could converge towards the Union’s average economic performance while safeguarding social and territorial cohesion. For decades, these instruments have been considered separate from the Union’s external and security policies, operating primarily in the socio-economic domain and only indirectly touching upon matters of strategic autonomy. The geopolitical upheavals of the last decade, and in particular Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, have profoundly altered this separation.