Professor John Bachtler attended the Third Cohesion Forum in Brussels as part of the national delegation of ministers, officials and experts from the UK.
The Forum 'A New Partnership for Cohesion' was organised by the European Commission on 10-11 May as an opportunity for national and regional representatives from the EU25 Member States, Candidate Countries and international organisations to discuss the EC's proposals for reforming Structural and Cohesion Funds (outlined in the Third Cohesion Report).
The presentations and discussions at the Forum underlined the deep divisions among Member States on the future EU budget and the allocation of EU cohesion policy resources but also raised many interesting points about the future priorities for the Structural Funds and ways of ensuring more simplification, decentralisation and coordination in the management of the Funds.