John Bachtler was an invited Guest Speaker at the meeting of Directors-General for Cohesion Policy organised by the Latvian EU Presidency in Riga on 30-31 March 2015. The meeting focused on two themes - financial instruments and administrative capacity - both of which are important elements of the reformed Cohesion policy in 2014-20.
John Bachtler's speech reviewed the academic and policy literature on the two themes, drawing partly on the 2nd Academic-Policy Conference on Cohesion Policy (organised by the Latvian Presidency, DG Regio and the Regional Studies Association) and partly on EPRC's own research programmes on financial instruments and administrative capacity. On the first theme, John reviewed the evidence for the sustainability, efficiency, effectiveness, capacity and regularity of financial instruments and the lessons for 2014-20. On administrative capacity, he discussed the importance of the theme, the different definitions and determinants of capacity and the timescales for achieving change.
The presentations provided a context for the subsequent exchanges of views and experiences among Member States and EU institutions.