European Union News - Regional Policy

Johannes Hahn, European Commissioner for Regional Policy, will put the spotlight on the development of a European Strategy for the Danube Region, as closing speaker of a major conference, taking place next week 19 to 21 April in Vienna (Austria) and Bratislava (Slovakia). This conference is the third in a series of broad consultation events aimed at shaping plans for the Strategy, which seeks to improve environmental conditions and develop the huge economic potential of the Danube Region.

Over the next 4 years, more than 60 researchers from 15 countries will work together to improve the coastal management of the Mediterranean Sea. For the first time under the one research agenda, the EU-funded project will undertake an all-inclusive study of the sea, its coasts and marine ecosystems in a bid to build consensus on the future governance and prosperity of the ailing basin.

The Directorate General for Regional Policy of the European Commission has published several studies that assess how the ERDF has boosted transport networks and environmental initiatives in Europe.

The DG Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission has launched a public debate on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the European Union.

The European Commission plans to monitor the actual results of foreign aid operations financed by the European Union according to a tender published on April 13, 2010.

The Committee of the Regions (CoR) is organising a Forum on Macro-Regions with regional representatives, experts and other stakeholders from existing and emerging 'macro-regions' at the CoR headquarters in Brussels. Baltic Sea, Danube and North Sea-English Channel are the major figures of this event.

€93 billion of EU funding has been allocated to projects for investment in jobs and growth in Europe over the last three years, according to a report today into the EU's cohesion programmes for the 2007-2013 funding period. Presented by Commissioners Johannes Hahn (Regional Policy) and László Andor (Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion), the report assesses, for the first time, the rate of progress of each country towards delivering agreed objectives against the EU average.

The Commission’s annual work programme translates the annual policy strategy into policy objectives and an operational programme of decisions to be adopted by the Commission. It sets out major political priorities and identifies legislative initiatives, executive and other acts that the Commission intends to adopt for the realisation of these priorities

Regional development projects in EU Member States will get faster and easier access to EU structural funding, thanks to new rules backed by the Regional Development Committee on Thursday. As part of the EU's "anti-crisis" measures, advance payments will be increased for projects that help create jobs in countries worst hit by the downturn.

European Commission has launched the ninth edition of the European Innovation Scoreboard, which shows how crisis has affected not only economy and employment, but also innovation across Europe, despite the efforts to make it a key issue on European recovery.