COTER External Seminar







Programme of the COTER External Seminar

Functional areas' role in strengthening Cohesion Policy


Venue Balatonfüred Congress Center, 8230 Balatonfüred, Huray u. 3.

The goal of this seminar is to explore opportunities for the development of policy instruments for functional areas and effective forms of territorial cooperation supporting functional areas. The seminar will first take stock of the use of territorial tools and functional areas in Cohesion Policy in the 2021-2027 period and present available guidance tools. Based on experiences from the ground, the added value of functional areas for territorial development and the challenges in their use will then be discussed, leading into reflections on how to enhance efficiency of functional areas in Cohesion policy in the next period and through national measures.


Friday 11 July

All dayIndividual arrivals
19:00Official dinner


Friday 12 July

08:45

Registrations
Please bring your national ID or passport

09:00 Welcome and opening statement

Dr István Bóka (HU/ECR), Member of the COTER commission, Mayor of Balatonfüred

Emil Boc (RO/EPP), Chair of the COTER commission, Mayor of Cluj-Napoca Municipality
Dr Tibor Navracsics, Hungarian Minister of Public Administration and Regional Development

09:30Information on functional areas and territorial tools in the 2021-2027 period

To set the frame for the following discussions, preliminary information will be given on the use of functional areas and of territorial tools in Cohesion Policy in the current 2021-2027 period, in the sense of Article 28 of the current Common Provisions Regulation (ITI, CLLD, other territorial tools).

Peter Berkowitz, Director for policy, Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO), European Commission

09:45Session I. Functional areas: a powerful tool for territorial development – Success criteria and challenges

This session will explore the role of functional areas for territorial development, the conditions for exploiting their best potential and the challenges met by regions and cities. In particular, we will discuss the situation of functional rural areas, the partnerships in functional areas and the tools to improve territorial cooperation.

Moderator
Nicolas Rossignol, ESPON EGTC

Speakers
Lewis Dijkstra, Head of Urban and Territorial Analysis, Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission
Eva-Viorela Sfârlea, Consultant, World Bank Group
Markéta Dvořáková, Chief Manager of the Brdy-Vltava Manager Local Action Group (LAG), Czech Republic
Katrin Neuss, Deputy Secretary-General, Eurodistrict Strasbourg-Ortenau EGTC
Nicolas Rossignol, ESPON EGTC

11:00Coffee break
11:10