Projects

The project involved research on the potentials and needs of the ten Member States that joined the European Union in May 2004, as well as Bulgaria and Romania, in relation to Cohesion policy co-financing in 2007-2013, and specifically the future Convergence objective. The study drew on these analyses to develop separate conclusions and recommendations for each of these States as to the main future priorities for Cohesion policy expenditure

The project involved research for the UK Presidency Conference ‘Regional and Rural Development Programmes (2007-2013): Delivering the Lisbon and Gothenburg Agendas’ held in Newcastle-Gateshead, North East England, in November 2005.

The project involved critical research contributions to the drafting of the National Strategic Reference Framework for Austria (STRAT.AT).

The project involved research on the challenges facing policymakers in the Central and Eastern European countries in implementing Structural and Cohesion Funds based on the experiences of EU15 countries.

The project involved comparative research on the design and implementation of regional policies in Central and Eastern Europe, and the organisation of a conference to facilitate dialogue between regional policy-makers from old and new Member States, as well as Romania and Bulgaria, on the directions of regional development policies at European, national and sub-national levels.

This project comprised the mid-term evaluation of the 2002-06 INTERACT programme. INTERACT is an innovative learning initiative which is part of the Community Initiative INTERREG. Launched on 16 December 2002, it aims to facilitate capacity building and exchange of experience between actors involved in INTERREG III programmes.

The project involved reearch and policy advice for the Ministry of Economy and Finance on the negotiations and discussions relating to the EU Financial Perspective for 2007-2013 and the reform of EU Cohesion policy associated with the enlargement of the European Union. This involved, in particular, establishing budgetary scenarios for the allocation of EU funding among the priority objectives of the EU and for distributing Cohesion policy support among the Member States of the EU, and identifying the implications for Greece.

The project involved expert assessment of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats faced by the eligible regions for the new regional competitiveness objective and provide a policy analysis about priorities to be financed through the ERDF.

The project examined options for future regional development policy in Scotland. The specific aim of the project was to consider how regional development policy in Scotland could evolve in the context of past experience, the changing European policy environment and lessons from other parts of Europe.

The project involved assessment of the lessons from INTERREG and external cooperation programming experience in order to identify a list of priorities for enhancing the effectiveness of INTERREG Programmes. The study informed both the operational support services provided by INTERACT to INTERREG actors during the 2000-06 programming period, and contributed to the strategic debate on the future of Cohesion policy.