The EU is concerned that if these easternmost regions depopulate, Europe\u2019s ability to defend the border is compromised, said a Commission official granted anonymity to speak freely. Brussels is also worried that the economic woes suffered by those living in the regions could see them turn to fringe parties in elections and make them vulnerable to Russian propaganda.<\/p>\n
W\u0142adys\u0142aw Ortyl, the governor of the Polish region of Podkarpackie, noted that his area is \u201cdirectly affected by the consequences of the ongoing war, including migratory pressure, transport disruptions and increased strain on public services and the regional economy.\u201d He added that \u201cescalating geopolitical tensions\u201d mean the EU should reallocate resources toward \u201cstrengthening resilience\u201d of its border areas.<\/p>\n
A priority of the plan is to revitalize border areas that are economically depressed as a result of the Russian invasion, whether because of a lack of tourism or due to the dangers associated with living near the Ukrainian border.<\/p>\n
\u201cEurope\u2019s security begins at its Eastern frontier,\u201d the Commission wrote in a draft of the plan, officially called the Communication on Eastern Border Regions, which was seen by POLITICO. \u201cA strong, prosperous, and resilient Eastern border is essential to safeguard the entire continent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet the strategy to be presented by Executive Vice President for Cohesion Raffaele Fitto contains no new money as the EU\u2019s current budget, which expires in 2028, is overstretched, said two Commission officials.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we need is direct access to EU funding and a strategy that reflects today\u2019s realities on the ground,\u201d said Milan Majersk\u00fd, governor of the Pre\u0161ov self-governing region in Slovakia. \u201cIn Eastern Slovakia, we feel the economic, social and security impacts of Russia\u2019s war every day. Our GDP per capita is just over 54 percent of the EU average, and the war has deepened long-standing structural gaps.\u201d Majersk\u00fd said he met with Fitto in Bratislava last week ahead of the plan\u2019s unveiling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The EU is concerned that if these easternmost regions depopulate, Europe\u2019s ability to defend the border is compromised,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5174],"tags":[767,331,1111,768,1194,10836,6641,12495,1112,2000,299,5187,95665,1105,769,1195,2190,1197,1113,1114,7965,770,92300,2822,48,1438,2558,5006,657,771,335],"class_list":["post-771766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eu","tag-baltics","tag-banks","tag-belarus","tag-borders","tag-budget","tag-cargo","tag-competitiveness","tag-development","tag-estonia","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-far-left","tag-far-right","tag-finland","tag-growth","tag-hungary","tag-investment","tag-latvia","tag-lithuania","tag-platforms","tag-poland","tag-raffaele-fitto","tag-regions-cohesion","tag-rights","tag-romania","tag-slovakia","tag-tourism","tag-ukraine","tag-war","tag-war-in-ukraine"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116089619962956189","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=771766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}