EPRC international conference on regional policy in Europe

EPRC hosted the 31st international conference of the http://www.eprc.strath.ac.uk/eorpa/default.cfm European Regional Policy Research Consortium (EoRPA) at Loch Lomond on 3-5 October. The conference brought together high-level government officials from the nine EU countries that sponsor EPRC's regional policy research (Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom) for intensive discussions on the future directions of regional policy at national and EU levels. EPRC's http://www.eprc.strath.ac.uk/eorpa/default.cfm EoRPA research programme is unique in Europe, having attracted funding to EPRC from a multinational consortium of government ministries continuously for more than 30 years to support policy-relevant research and knowledge exchange undertaken by EPRC. Chaired by http://www.eprc.strath.ac.uk/eprc/cv_jfb.cfm Professor John Bachtler, the conference began by discussing the strategic challenges for regional policy arising from the economic crisis and long term issues like climate change, based on a paper presented by http://www.eprc.strath.ac.uk/eprc/cv_sd.cfm Dr Sara Davies . The management and implementation of regional policy was the subject of a paper by http://www.eprc.strath.ac.uk/eprc/cv_mf.cfm Dr Martin Ferry, covering the spatial orientation, instruments and governance of policy. The discussion then switched to the European level, with papers on: options for reviewing the EU Regional Aid Guidelines (that determine the coverage and aid intensity of regional aid instruments) by http://www.eprc.strath.ac.uk/eprc/cv_fw.cfm Fiona Wishlade; the reform of EU Cohesion policy, notably the proposals being developed by the European Commission for the future of Structural Funds, by http://www.eprc.strath.ac.uk/eprc/cv_cm.cfm Carlos Mendez; and the (in)coherence between EU Cohesion policy and domestic policies, based on case study research in 11 countries, by http://www.eprc.strath.ac.uk/eprc/cv_lp.cfm Laura Polverari. The guest speaker at the conference was Dr Fabrizio Barca, Director-General of the Italian Ministry of Economy & Finance, who provided a wide-ranging assessment of the political thinking underlying the EU budget review and EU2020 strategy and the implications for Cohesion policy.