Hosted by the European Commission as a means to benchmark the efficacy of Cohesion Policy and address its implementation challenges, the forum has historically acted as a mouthpiece for closer partnership between Member States. However, this year's forum took a more sombre tone, offering less of its customary enthusiasm.

European Accession: A Brief History

While the idea of Cohesion funds was conceptualised in the 1980s - with the Cohesion Fund itself being established in 1992 - the 2004 EU en