2022 European Week of Regions and Cities

Summary

#EURegionsWeekCollege for PhD students and early career researchers (Online)

The European Week of Regions and Cities (#EURegionsWeek) is the biggest annual Brussels-based event dedicated to regional policy. This event serves as a platform for discussing and showcasing the development of EU cohesion policy and making decision-makers more aware of the importance of regions and cities in EU policymaking. More info:  https://europa.eu/regions-and-cities/.

The Regional Studies Association European Foundation (RSA Europe) is pleased to be working again as a key partner during the #EURegionsWeek. The #EURegionsWeekCollege and the #EURegionsWeekUniversity are organised by the European Commission, Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) and the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) advised by the Regional Studies Association European Foundation (RSA Europe) and with the cooperation of the European Regional Science Association (ERSA) and the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP).

The themes for the 2022 #EURegionsWeek are:

• Green transition
• Territorial Cohesion
• Digital transition
• Youth empowerment

In 2022, we organised and delivered the following three #EURegionsWeekCollege sessions. Recordings and additional details can be accessed via the hyperlinks.

Cohesion policy and academic debate With contributions from EU officials and academic researchers, this webinar reflected on the current and future challenges for Cohesion Policy, notably the key questions posed in the 8th Cohesion Report.

Session speakers:

Anna Wagner, Head of Policy Development and Economic Analysis, DG Regional and Urban Policy, European Commission, Brussels, Belgium

Ruth PASERMAN, DG EMPL Director for Funds, Programming and Implementation, EU Commission, Brussels, Belgium

Carlos Mendez, Principle Research Fellow, European Policies Research Centre, University of Strathclyde, UK

Julia Bachtrögler-Unger, Economist, Austrian Institute of Economic Research, Austria

The session was chaired by Marjorie Jouen, Adviser, structural and cohesion policies, Jacques Delors Institute, Paris, France.

 

A conversation with… – Discussion on EU cohesion policy In this session, senior EU officials talked about how Cohesion Policy is shaped by the interplay between the main EU institutions. The panel on the day included Moray Gillard, Head of Unit for Macro-regions, Transnational/Interregional/External Cooperation, Enlargement DG Regional and Urban Policy and Jan Král, Head of the Working Group for Structural Measures, Czech EU Presidency. The session's chair was Professor John Bachtler, European Policies Research Centre, University of Strathclyde.

 

Research at the European Parliament This workshop discussed how the EPRS and the policy department for structural and cohesion policies differ in terms of their contribution to Parliament’s research work and examined how academic researchers can become more closely involved in this process.

Session speakers:

Teresa Lopez Garcia, Information Specialist, European Parliamentary Research Service, European Parliament

Enrico D’Ambrogio, Policy Analyst, European Parliamentary Research Service, European Parliament

Frederic Gouarderes, Parliamentary Research Principal Administrator, European Parliament

Kinga Ostańska, Documentary Information Assistant, Policy Department For Structural and Cohesion Policies, European Parliament

This session was moderated by Balazs Szechy, European Parliamentary Research Service, European Parliament.