Professor John Bachtler (European Policies Research Centre) was the main speaker at two government seminars in Finland on the future of EU Cohesion policy. The seminars were held in Tampere (November 4), involving programme managers from the Western Finland Structural Funds programme, and in Helsinki (November 5), involving mayors and regional council leaders from across Finland as well as officials from various Finnish government ministries.
Professor Bachtler's presentations discussed the evidence for the performance of Structural Funds in Europe over the past decade, drawing on recent evaluation studies, and the prospects for the future in the context of the EU budget review and emerging thinking on the need for cohesion policy reform. The presentations provided the basis for a discussion of the Finnish interests in the reform debate.
Professor John Bachtler was also an invited speaker at a conference on the impact of the economic crisis and regional challenges in Austria organised by the Österreichische Raumordnungskonferenz (ÖROK - Austrian Conference for Spatial Planning) in Graz on November 16.
The conference was held to consider the impact of EU Cohesion policy in Austria, in the context of the first 'strategic report' to the EU recently submitted by the Austrian government to the European Commission. Professor Bachtler's paper provided an international perspective on strategic reporting across the EU, examining changes in regional socio-economic conditions, the progress and impact of Structural Funds programmes, and the use of EU funding for responding to the effects of the economic crisis.