The European Union (EU) has been facing multiple crises recently, e.g. migratory crisis, structural crisis etc. Thus, the process of European integration is at a crossroads. In such turbulent times the questions of common values, standards and their place in the policies have arisen. In the paper, the main focus is put on the analysis of the place of EU values in the Cohesion Policy and impact of current socio-economic challenges on its future shape. The paper is of analytical character and it is based on secondary data, legislation and track of the integration process based on press-releases complemented by author’s participation in the process of implementation of the policy in Poland (advisory role to the executive bodies, expertise etc.). Therefore, this article may be treated as a policy-debate paper.