EU Cohesion Policy aims to correct imbalances between countries and regions by strenghthening economic, social and territorial cohesion. ITI and CLLD are the main mechanisms used to implement EU Cohesion Policy and CEMR have made an analysis on these tools.
Integrated Territorial Investments (ITI) and Community Led Local Development (CLLD) are the main mechanisms used to implement European Cohesion Policy funding in an integrated and place-based manner. As such, they are highly valued tools by the local and regional governments using them since they are directly involved in the governance and implementations of these methods.
Introduced in 2014, they have been further strengthened in the regulations for the 2021-2027 period. CEMR had previously analysed the programming of these tools in 2014 and 2015. The beginning of the new programming period for EU funds is therefore a good moment to take stock on how ITI and CLLD have been effectively implemented during the 2014-2020 period and what evolutions we can already observe for the upcoming period. Besides, at least 8% of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) at national level will be spent for sustainable urban development, and the ITI is one of the instruments that can be used in order to fulfil this obligation.
CEMR have made an analysis on ITI and CLLD tools, now available on their website: ITI and CLLD The use of integrated territorial tools in cohesion policy