European Policies Research Centre news

Fiona Wishlade (EPRC) was an invited speaker at the 7th ELSNIT Conference held at the Kiel Institute for World Economics on October 23-24. The main theme of the conference was trade and regional disparities. A number of issues were explored within this theme, including the potential for conflict between competition policies and policies to address regional disparities. Fiona Wishlade's Fiona Wishdalepaper was entitled "Competition policy and regional disparities in Europe: does state aid control thwart, distort or support regional policy?"

The Euro-Latin Study Network on Integration and Trade (ELSNIT) is sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and aims to create a forum in Europe on integration and trade issues relevant to Latin America and the Caribbean. The main objectives of ELSNIT are to generate research, studies and debate on these issues; draw on the European experience; and increase interaction between European and Latin American researchers.

SBS's European Policies Research Centre hosted a Scotland Europa workshop on the future of European regional policy on November 6. Professor John Bachtler provided an overview on the EU budget review and the emerging thinking about the future of EU Cohesion policy, focussing on the 'Barca Report' and the recent discussions within the Commission. The subsequent panel John Bachtlerdiscussion presented an opportunity for different Scottish actors involved in the implementation of Structural Funds to express views on the future of Cohesion policy. The panel comprised Jim Millard (Scottish Government Structural Funds Division), Gordon McLaren (ESEP Ltd), Malcolm Leitch (Glasgow City Council), Linda Stewart (University of the Highlands & Islands), Serafin Pazos-Vidal (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) and Fiona Jurk (Dundee College).

Dr Martin Ferry presented a paper at the 41st Annual Convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS), held at the Marriott Copley Place in Boston, Massachusetts from November 12-15, 2009. AAASS, a non-profit, non-political, scholarly society, is the leading private organisation in the world dedicated to the advancement of knowledge about the Martin Ferryformer Soviet Union (including Eurasia) and Eastern and Central Europe. Dr Ferry's paper was entitled; "Regional policy and demographic change in Poland". It was part of a panel on "European Union Regional Policy in Central Europe: Responding to Global Challenges"