Challenges at the Horizon 2025

Good governance is based upon foresight that allows decision makers to highlight their choices under a new perspective. The Committee of the Regions (CoR) has turned to forward planning and foresight to react to new political and socioeconomic developments in Europe.

The aim of this report is to identify the future challenges that confront the CoR and the European local and regional authorities (LRAs) at the horizon in 2025. It draws up three possible scenarios with predictions about the future evolution of European integration and the implications for the LRAs and the CoR. The future evolution of European integration necessarily involves an identification of a number of trends, challenges and opportunities over the coming decades.

Subsequently, the report formulates key questions for debate and provides practical options and suggestions on how LRAs can make progress. As a first step in the CoR’s Horizon 2025 process, the report invites engagement with these issues and preparation for the EU in 2025. Against this background, the report aims to generate debate on the policies that will be formulated and implemented given the challenges ahead.