Citizen Participation for Better Cohesion Policy

Glossary

This glossary is intended to help readers understand key terms and concepts of the EU Cohesion Policy and citizen participation.

Key terms on EU Cohesion Policy

Beneficiaries: Organisations or individuals that receive EU Cohesion Policy funding to implement projects. Beneficiaries may include public institutions, businesses (particularly SMEs), associations, and in some cases individuals. They are responsible for delivering the outputs and results defined in their projects and must comply with all regulatory and reporting requirements linked to EU funding (European Commission, 2025[1]).

Cohesion Policy: Cohesion Policy is the European Union’s investment strategy to promote the development of its Member States and regions, as mandated by Article 174 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Its objective is to strengthen economic, social, and territorial cohesion by reducing disparities in development across regions and supporting long-term competitiveness (European Commission, 2025[1]). For the 2021–2027 period, Cohesion Policy accounts for nearly one-third of the EU budget (around EUR 392 billion). These resources are managed in partnership with Member States, regional and local authorities, and stakeholders. Cohesion Policy targets all EU regions and cities and supports job creation, business competitiveness, economic growth, sustainable development, and improvements in quality of life (European Comission, 2024[2]). Cohesion Policy is implemented through dedicated funds:

• European Regional Development Fund (ERDF): supports economic and social development across regions and cities.

• Cohesion Fund (CF): finances environmental and transport investments in Member States with lower income levels.

• European Social Fund Plus (ESF+): promotes employment, skills, and social inclusion.

• Just Transition Fund (JTF): assists regions most affected by the transition towards climate neutrality.

Cohesion Policy programmes and instruments: Programming refers to the administrative mechanism used to pursue the objectives of the Cohesion Policy funds. Multi-annual programmes ensure consistency and continuity over a seven-year period. Programmes relate to specific geographical areas at international, national or sub-national level, depending on the governance arrangements in place. Programme aims include identifying strategic priorities and indicative actions, outlining financial allocations, and summarising management and control systems. The current programming period runs from 2021 until 2027. The mechanisms and tools through which Cohesion Policy is implemented include:

• Operational Programmes: detailed plans that define how funds will be allocated to achieve policy objectives over the programming period.

• Interreg Programmes supporting cross-border, transnational, and interregional cooperation.

Integrated Territorial Strategies: Strategic frameworks for the sustainable development of specific territories (e.g. urban, rural, or cross-border areas). These strategies are developed through close collaboration between Cohesion Policy authorities, local actors, stakeholders, and citizens. They aim to address territorial challenges holistically by integrating economic, social, environmental, and spatial considerations and include projects and initiatives which are funded through EU Cohesion Policy instruments (European Commission, 2025[1]).

Intermediate bodies (IBs): Entities to which a Managing Authority delegates specific tasks. Their responsibilities are defined in formal agreements and may include preparing and launching calls for proposals, selecting projects, concluding contracts, and supporting beneficiaries. Intermediate Bodies often specialise in a particular policy area or sector (European Commission, 2025[1]).

Managing authorities (MAs): Under the auspices of the EU's Cohesion Policy for 2021-2027, a Managing Authority (MA) is responsible for the efficient management and implementation of a programme. A Managing Authority may be a national ministry, a regional authority, a local council, or another public or private body that has been nominated and approved by a Member State. Managing authorities are expected to conduct their work in line with the principles of sound financial management. They design and implement programmes, select and monitor projects, order payments, and ensure compliance with EU regulations. They may also develop guidelines or handbooks and conduct information and promotional activities to support programme implementation (European Commission, 2025[1]).

Partnership Principle: A core principle of Cohesion Policy requiring close cooperation between public authorities, economic and social partners, and civil society organisations at national, regional, and local levels. Partnerships must be applied throughout the entire programme cycle, from preparation to implementation, monitoring, and evaluation, to ensure transparency, shared ownership, and more effective outcomes (European Commission, 2025[1]).

Key terms on participation

Citizen participation: Citizen and stakeholder participation includes “all the ways in which stakeholders (including citizens) can be involved in the policy cycle and in service design and delivery”. It refers to the efforts by public institutions to hear the views, perspectives, and inputs from citizens and stakeholders. Participation allows citizens and stakeholders to influence the activities and decisions of public authorities at different stages of the policy cycle (OECD, 2022[3]). The OECD Recommendation of the Council on Open Government (OECD, 2017[4]) distinguishes among three levels of citizen and stakeholder participation, which differ according to the level of involvement:

• Information: an initial level of participation characterised by a one-way relationship in which the government produces and delivers information to citizens and stakeholders. It covers both on-demand provision of information and “proactive” measures by the government to disseminate information.

• Consultation: a more advanced level of participation that entails a two-way relationship in which citizens and stakeholders provide feedback to the government and vice-versa. It is based on the prior definition of the issue for which views are being sought and requires the provision of relevant information, in addition to feedback on the outcomes of the process.

• Engagement: when citizens and stakeholders are given the opportunity and the necessary resources (e.g., information, data, and digital tools) to collaborate during all phases of the policy-cycle and in the service design and delivery. It acknowledges equal standing for citizens in setting the agenda, proposing project or policy options and shaping the dialogue – although the responsibility for the final decision or policy formulation in many cases rests with public authorities.

Citizens: Refers to the ‘inhabitants of a particular place’, which can be in reference to a village, town, city, region, state, or country depending on the context. It is not meant in the more restrictive sense of ‘legally recognised nationals of a state’. In this larger sense, it is equivalent of people/individuals.

Civic monitoring: Refers to the process of involving the public in the monitoring and evaluation of public decisions, policies, and services. This participatory method can also be considered as a vertical or social accountability tool, as it allows citizens and stakeholders to directly participate in making public authorities accountable for their decisions or actions (OECD, 2022[3]).

Consultation: A consultation is a two-way relationship in which citizens provide feedback to a public institution (such as comments, perceptions, information, advice, experiences, and ideas). Usually, governments define the issues for consultation, set the questions, and manage the process, while citizens are invited to contribute their views and opinions (OECD, 2022[3]).

Open innovation: Open innovation practices, such as crowdsourcing, hackathons, or public challenges, are a way for public authorities to tap into collective intelligence to co-create solutions for specific public issues. Open innovation is regularly inspired from business development strategies or technological development, and can be defined as “the cooperative creation of ideas and applications outside of the boundaries of any single organisation” (Seltzer and Mahmoudi, 2012[5]; OECD, 2022[3]).

Representative deliberative processes: Structured participation processes in which a broadly representative group of citizens, selected through a civic lottery, learns about a public issue, deliberates with the support of facilitators, and develops collective recommendations for decision makers. Examples include citizens’ assemblies, citizens’ juries, and panels. These processes allow citizens to grapple with complexity, weigh trade-offs, and find common ground. They are particularly well-suited to Cohesion Policy issues that require informed public judgment (OECD, 2022[3]).

Stakeholders: Includes any interested and/or affected party, including institutions and organisations, whether governmental or non-governmental, from civil society, academia, the media, or the private sector (OECD, 2022[3]).

References

[2] European Comission (2024), Forging A Sustainable Future Together: Cohesion for A Competitive and Inclusive Europe: Report of the High-Level Group on the Future of Cohesion Policy, https://doi.org/10.2776/974536.

[1] European Commission (2025), Glossary, https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/policy/what/glossary_en.

[3] OECD (2022), OECD Guidelines for Citizen Participation Processes, OECD Publishing, https://doi.org/10.1787/f765caf6-en.

[4] OECD (2017), Recommendation of the Council on Open Government, https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0438.

[5] Seltzer, E. and D. Mahmoudi (2012), “Citizen Participation, Open Innovation, and Crowdsourcing: Challenges and Opportunities for Planning”, Journal of Planning Literature, Vol. 28/1, https://doi.org/10.1177/0885412212469112.