Nicosia: Promoting territorial cohesion as a key driver of Europe's long-term competitiveness is among our central priorities, Minister of Interior Konstantinos Ioannou said on Tuesday evening. Ioannou was addressing the inaugural session of the Territorial Futures Forum, organised in the framework of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union, in Nicosia.
According to Cyprus News Agency, the Minister emphasized that competitiveness should be understood not only in aggregate economic terms but also in relation to the regions, their specific characteristics, their development potentials, and their capacity to adapt to change. He noted that a truly competitive Europe is one that mobilises the strengths of all its regions while ensuring balanced and inclusive development.
He further highlighted that inequalities in economic performance, access to services, and connectivity persist across the European Union. Addressing these challenges requires place-based policies, effective cross-sectoral coordination, and responsiveness to the diversity of territorial realities. Ioannou reiterated that competitiveness must also be understood in relation to regions and their growth potential.
The Minister pointed out that strengthening territorial competitiveness requires an anticipatory and forward-looking approach, underlining that foresight is increasingly recognised as a valuable tool for policy-making. This approach allows for a better understanding of long-term trends, emerging risks, and uncertainties, supporting more informed decision-making and enhancing the capacity to design resilient and future-oriented policies.
Referring to Cyprus, Ioannou noted that for Member States such as Cyprus, located at the geographical edges of the Union, this perspective is particularly important. Constraints such as insularity and accessibility continue to shape development prospects and highlight the importance of coordinated and proactive policy responses.
He also stressed the need to strengthen the capacity to support both territorial cohesion and competitiveness in a constantly evolving environment. This involves strengthening the knowledge base underpinning policy-making at the EU level, including through more systematic use of prospective analysis and ensuring that long-term strategic objectives are more effectively translated into policy action.
However, Ioannou acknowledged that the integration of perspective analysis into territorial governance remains limited, calling for further reflection on how it can be more consistently embedded into policy development and implementation. He explained that the Forum is a direct contribution in this direction, supporting a more informed and forward-looking approach to territorial development through a combination of analytical evidence and policy dialogue.
The Minister concluded by underlining that a competitive, resilient, and cohesive Europe recognises its territorial diversity as a strength and enables all regions to contribute to its development. He expressed hope that the Territorial Future Forum would be a valuable opportunity to promote this objective through the dialogue, evidence, and perspective it offers.