Arnaoutakis: Scrapping the Regional Programmes would be a "mistake"

A meeting of the Managing Authorities of Regional Operational Programs (PEPs) took place in Chania on Wednesday 23 September 2026, with the subject of scenarios for the new programming period and the management of European funds. At the meeting participated Stavros Arnaoutakis, President of the Crete Region, who is also First Vice-President of the Union of Greek Regions (ENPE), representatives of the General Directorate of Regional Policy of the European Commission (DG REGIO), General Secretary of ESPA Vasiliki Pantelopoulou, as well as officials from regional managing authorities from around the country, according to what was reported by the media HANIA.news, CNA.gr, Kriti360 and CretaLive.

According to the same reports, Mr. Arnaoutakis and the managing authorities expressed at the meeting opposition to any possible abolition or downgrading of Regional Programs of ESPA within the framework of the next programming period and called for a common front of Regions and Managing Authorities against this possibility. The argument presented by the President of the Region, as recorded by the four media outlets, is that European funds are utilized more effectively, with greater transparency and efficiency, when their management is conducted at the regional level, and that the decentralization of funds is non-negotiable for regional development. Mr. Arnaoutakis characterized as a great mistake the possible concentration of all funds in Athens, stating at the meeting that “if regional programs are abolished, the Regions will have no reason to exist”. This is a position of the President of Crete Region, which he expressed as First Vice-President of ENPE, and not an announcement of a decision by the European Commission.

For Crete, which manages through its own Regional Operational Program significant part of European funds for infrastructure, development and social policy works, the outcome of the discussion about the new programming period has immediate significance. The position expressed by the President of Crete Region, that management at the regional level ensures greater transparency and effectiveness, reflects the concern of regional authorities of the island about a possible shrinking of their role in the management of funds that directly concern local works in Chania and across Crete. This position, as well as the demand for a common front of Regions and Managing Authorities, is recorded as a political stance by Mr. Arnaoutakis and does not constitute a given plan of the European Commission.

The European Commission has not announced a decision to abolish or downgrade Regional Programs of ESPA, as the discussion currently concerns scenarios for the next programming period of European funds, in which representatives of DG REGIO participated. The continuation is expected to be determined within the framework of negotiations for the next multiannual financial framework of the European Union, with the Greek managing authorities and the Regions, according to what was transmitted from the meeting in Chania, seeking a common stance against any plan to concentrate the management of funds at central level. Developments on the issue are expected to be monitored also by the economics sector, as the distribution of European funds for the period after 2027 will affect the planning of development works in all Greek Regions.