John Bachtler has co-chaired an international seminar organised by the Finnish Ministry of the Interior to examine options for a new Objective 2 after 2006. Participants from 10 Member States discussed the principles and objectives underlying future EU intervention outside Objective 1 in an enlarged EU and considered the priorities, spatial coverage and implementation arrangements for such funding.
A conclusions paper, summarising the debate at the seminar, is being submitted to the Informal Meeting of Regional Policy Ministers to be held in Chalkidiki in May.