60 experts from the EU and beyond at Schloss Leopoldskron for five day program supported by the European Commission and OECD
“Europe can only be built together,” claims German Chancellor Angela Merkel.Building Europe together has seen countries across the continent make massive investments to promote regional development and reduce inequality, goals which have been at the heart of the EU policy and integration framework for decades.Focusing on the reformed EU Cohesion Policy 2014-2020, Salzburg Global Seminar today opens the session '
Mind the Gap! Innovating for Regional Cohesion and Smart Growth' at Schloss Leopoldskron from May 17 to 22.
The program, which launches a new collaboration with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO), along with programmatic input from the OECD, will address key challenges and opportunities to boost competitiveness and sustainable growth.
Making over €350 billion available to invest in Europe’s real economy, the reformed Cohesion Policy is the EU’s principal investment tool to deliver the Europe 2020 goals: creating growth and jobs, tackling climate change and energy dependence, and reducing poverty and social exclusion. Operating at local, regional and trans-boundary levels, it is perhaps one of the most pioneering and ambitious components of the European construction and solidarity and a key framework for innovation and investment to benefit communities and social groups on the periphery.
As the second largest item in the EU budget after the Common Agriculture Policy, the reformed Cohesion Policy is a crucial tool to reduce disparities in development across the Union. Yet, with recession, many countries have struggled to address rising socio-economic problems faced in particular by youth, women and ethnic minorities. Effective use of EU funding instruments has never been so critical, given the economic downturn still severely affecting economies in all corners of Europe, the high rates of structural unemployment impacting on youth, and the new challenges facing neighboring countries such as Ukraine.
Participants at the session will examine the key changes and design elements of the new Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 and exchange best practices with “third countries” such as in Latin America and Asia, that are also facing challenges of rising regional inequality. The session will ask Fellows to consider how sustainable and inclusive growth can be accelerated and what role local and regional constituencies can most effectively play across such a diverse continent. It will specifically address issues of urban development to highlight zones of potential exclusion as well as policies for human capital and skills-building. In addition to a high-level roster of speakers and plenary session leaders, the EC Commissioner for Regional Policy, Johannes Hahn, will deliver a keynote speech under the auspices of the annual Jacques Delors Lecture on the State of the European Union. Other influential people in the field include Ronald Hall, Principal Advisor to DG REGIO; Rudiger Ahrend, Head of Regional Economic and Government Unit, OECD; Madlen Serban, Director, European Training Foundation; and Bernardus Djonoputro, President of the Indonesian Association of Urban & Regional Planners who will share perspectives on Europe from outside the EU. Other speakers include leaders in the field of regional development and innovation from Europe and beyond, to provide a cross-cutting framework to share and compare alternative models for cohesion.With the aim of launching a multi-year platform for dialogue and exchange of best practices between the European Commission, Member States, neighboring countries and other regions confronted with challenges of widening inequality, participants will look to engage with key target groups, from young stakeholders, to representatives of countries applying for EU membership, to fully understand opportunities and the impact and realization of the 2014-2020 Cohesion Policy.
You can follow all the discussions in real time on Twitter using the hashtag #SGSeuro. Interviews and recaps will be available on the session page: www.salzburgglobal.org/go/534 
