Brussels: The Right to Stay strategy moved to the centre of EU regional policy on 12 October 2026, when the European Commission and the European Committee of the Regions opened the 24th European Week of Regions and Cities. Nearly 5,000 mayors, regional officials, researchers and project promoters are attending the three-day event under the motto “Strong Regions, Strong Europe”. Executive Vice-President Raffaele Fitto hosts the programme, according to the official event site.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, European Council President António Costa and Committee of the Regions President Kata Tüttő spoke at the opening ceremony, The European Sting reported. The organisers want the week to show how cohesion policy supports regional development, keeps people in the places where they live and lifts competitiveness. On Tuesday, Fitto leads a high-level session, and its conclusions feed into the Right to Stay strategy that the Commission plans to adopt in early 2027.
The numbers explain why the Right to Stay strategy has become a political priority. One in three Europeans, or 149 million people, have lived in a region that lost population over the past two decades. Brussels fears that shrinking regions lose schools, clinics and jobs together, which pushes more young people to leave.
Cohesion money already tries to slow that trend. In the 2021-2027 period, €220 billion of cohesion funds supports the priorities of the Competitiveness Compass. During the mid-term review, regions and member states voluntarily moved €34.6 billion to new areas, and €15.2 billion of that went to competitiveness, with the rest backing housing, defence, water and energy resilience, as the Commission explained in its mid-term review announcement.
The Committee of the Regions adds its own evidence this week. It publishes the seventh edition of its annual report on the state of regions and cities, and Tüttő presented it at the opening. The committee says the report highlights “the pivotal role played by regions and cities” in Europe’s long-term transformations, and it covers competitiveness, resilient places, local democracy and fair living conditions.
Recognition for local projects follows on Wednesday. The REGIOSTARS Awards received a record 274 applications this year, and the jury picked 25 finalists. Organisers announce the winners at 19:00 on 14 October, and they also award the Megalizzi-Niedzielski Prize to three young journalists earlier that evening.
Political timing gives the week extra weight. EU leaders meet in Brussels on 15 and 16 October to discuss the 2028-2034 long-term budget, and the way they treat cohesion spending will decide how much room regions have after 2027. Local leaders therefore use the Right to Stay strategy as an argument that cohesion policy must stay close to citizens and not drift into a general fund.
Several questions remain open. The Commission has not published the content of the Right to Stay strategy, and it has not said which funds would pay for new measures in shrinking regions. Mayors and regional presidents will press Fitto this week for answers on money, on simpler rules and on how national governments will share the work.
Watch two moments in the coming days: Fitto’s Tuesday session and the leaders’ budget debate. If both give regions a clear role, the Right to Stay strategy could turn from a slogan into a funded programme by 2027.
