The European Pillar of Social Rights stipulates that everyone has the right to easy-to-use and affordable key services, including water, sanitation, energy, transport, financial services and digital communications. The first-ever European Commission’s "Access to Essential Services in the EU" report published in June 2023 indicated that people at risk of social exclusion and disadvantaged groups face particular challenges. Local and Regional administrations are in many cases at the forefront of delivering key public services.

The provision of public services in lagging regions and areas with special needs is a territorial cohesion priority of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU. To better understand the current state of play and international good practices, the Presidency and the ESPON EGTC launched a research study in March 2024, called ESPON DESIRE. The objective of the research was to deliver a comparative outlook on how the provision of services in lagging regions and regions with special needs is addressed in European countries and regions.

The ESPON DESIRE study delivered (1) pan European analysis on the access to services, (2) five longer case studies (Latvia, Hungary, Spain, Finland and Ireland) to examine in-depth how public service delivery is adapted to the needs of specific territories, (3) 32 shorter case studies from all over Europe, describing good practices and innovative solutions in service delivery.

The above mentioned analysis have been synthesised in a executive report which summarises all study deliveries in a comprehensive manner. The document can be downloaded here (70MB) You can also read the ESPON DESIRE Policy Brief