Professor John Bachtler was 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 16 November.
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.
John 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.