Nearly 5,000 policymakers, regional leaders and local authority representatives gathered in Brussels for the 24th European Week of Regions and Cities on October 12–14, amid disputes over the future of EU cohesion funding and the 2028–2034 budget. Regional leaders warned that a proposal to give national governments more control over investment after 2027 could weaken municipalities and widen territorial inequalities. The three Baltic states have been allocated about €14.2bn in cohesion funding for 2021–2027, with Lithuania receiving roughly €6.4bn, Latvia €4.4bn and Estonia €3.4bn. A report by the European Committee of the Regions found that 149mn Europeans, one-third of the population, have lived in regions losing population over the past two decades, while wildfires have risen 57% over four years.
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