John Bachtler was an invited speaker at a 'Debate on Cohesion Policy 2014-2020' in Latvia hosted by the Representation of the European Commission in Riga at EU House on 5 March 2013.
The round-table debate also included Armands Eberhards (Deputy State Secretary and Head of the Managing Authority in the Ministry of Finance), Märtia Krievia (Head of the Cross-Sectoral Coordination Centre) and Andris Strazds (Senior Economist at Nordea Latvia).
John initiated the debate with an assessment of the budgetary changes to Cohesion policy following the European Council in February and the regulatory issues facing managing authorities in the 2014-20 period, in particular strategic coherence, thematic concentration and greater performance. During the subsequent debate, he also discussed the lessons from implementing Cohesion policy in Latvia and other EU Member States.