Boosting accessibility to services of general interest in European regions

Nicolas Rossignol

The concept of accessibility to services is often limited to physical proximity or catering to disabilities. This narrow view misses the bigger picture: how easily users can access a service in all its aspects. Effective accessibility encompasses indeed factors like timeliness, convenience, inclusivity, affordability, quality or choice.

It includes not only the digital dimension which is too often seen as a simplistic alternative, but also the social and cultural dimension. To what extent can people effectively access specific services? Why such high levels of non-uptake for some categories of people, in some categories of territories?

Enhancing accessibility goes beyond simply adding more services. It requires optimizing and coordinating existing resources, especially in underserved areas. Place-based approaches are crucial, considering the connections between territories and the roles of local municipalities. This allows for cost-effective strategies tailored to the specific needs of each region.

The aim would be to give every European citizen access to a minimum package of public services within those gateways acting as shared service centers.

Improved access to affordable, high-quality services is a core element of Cohesion Policy, as it addresses the needs of lagging regions, those facing depopulation due to geographical or economic challenges, or even those stuck in development traps. Accessibility is also a key priority for the EU's Territorial Agenda 2030 and of the latest report on access to essential services in the EU published by the European Commission.

Despite its recognized importance, accessibility to services often struggles with a lack of practical solutions. Users need more than just service availability. They require ways to fully utilize these services, including training and personalized support, and even cost-effective options through activity consolidation.

Service gateways for personalized support and user journey

Combining personalized support with budget savings can be achieved through service gateways. Staffed by welcoming qualified professionals, these centers would offer a one-stop shop for users. They would provide first-level information on behalf of various service providers and organise optimised on-site or digital users journeys.

The aim would be to give every European citizen access to a minimum package of public services within those gateways acting as shared service centers. One key requirement would be to ensure minimum opening days and hours so that users can obtain comprehensive answers to their day-to-day needs without being systematically redirected.

The nature of the targeted services would depend on the territorial and institutional context and would require place-based approaches. But, some common objectives could be identified for most of the cases:

Ensuring accessibility for digital services

Enabling mobility for those who need it

Providing access to essential social services

Maintaining, developing, and coordinating the presence of health services

Facilitating smooth and accessible educational pathways for young people

Structuring a diverse range of cultural, sport, and leisure services

Supporting and adapting local private and retail services in underprivileged areas

The location of these centers is crucial. Targeting areas furthest from existing services is a priority, with a focus on remote, sparsely populated, and cross-border regions. Small and medium-sized towns in rural areas and deprived neighborhoods within larger cities would also benefit significantly. However, the key factor of success relies on the capacity of local authorities to offer service operators the proper conditions so that they accept to revise their own delivery mechanisms and territorial approaches and embed into a new collective project (taking into account that these service operators can be public or private, local, national or even cross-border).

To draw a parallel with the recently launched ?talent booster mechanism?by the European Commission, a new mechanism aiming at boosting access to public services could be envisaged.

Obviously, to ensure both inclusivity and to take benefit from what technology allows, digital services shall be made systematically available for those with limited mobility and for those more well-off who would find there simplified and cost effective solutions. On the other hand, support should be offered to those facing digital exclusion, physical limitations, or financial barriers, making use of the productivity gains acquired thanks to the development of digital services.

A new mechanism to boost access to public services?

In the context of the future Cohesion Policy, INTERREG programmes could obviously play a key role as well. Indeed, those programmes can provide analysis and stocktaking of existing services to understand how they are currently accessed. They can also offer further support for tailored and comprehensive place-based strategies that would consider the unique needs of functional rural, urban, and cross-border areas.

Territorial evidence and analytical knowledge are crucial for evidence-based policies and plans. These can be delivered through programmes like ESPON. More generally, interregional cooperation programmes (INTERACT, Interreg Europe, URBACT, and ESPON) can facilitate experience sharing and best practices. For instance, ESPON could further contribute by supporting pilot actions under the EU's Territorial Agenda 2030.

Beyond European Territorial Cooperation, calls for innovative actions, pilot projects or capacity building support could also be relevant. They could target for instance cities with deprived neighborhoods facing challenges in maintaining high-quality and accessible public services. They could also focus on strengthening local authorities' capacity to access Services of General Interest (SGIs) and implement tailored, comprehensive strategies, including capacity building for their employees and service providers.

Eventually, other EU policy tools, like the Technical Support Instrument, could equally be activated to assist Member States upon request. They could usefully focus on designing service pooling initiatives, including horizontal and vertical cooperation, as well as contractualization between public and private SGI providers.

To draw a parallel with the recently launched "Talent Booster Mechanism" by the European Commission, a new mechanism aiming at boosting access to public services could be envisaged. This initiative, that could be named "European Mechanism to Boost Access to Public Services", has the potential to gain support from many driving forces among the European institutions, starting with the European Parliament and the Committee of the Regions, who have constantly supported the Cohesion Policy's goal of "leaving no region behind."

Nicolas Rossignol, ESPON EGTCAssistant Director, Research and Policy