OPEN DAYS Investing in Europe’s future

10.-13.10.2011 in Brüssel

The 9th OPEN DAYS will be held over four days from 10 to 13 October, in a period during which the debate on the European Commission’s legislative proposals for cohesion policy post-2013 and the budget debate in the Council and the European Parliament about size, duration and priorities of the forthcoming Multi-annual Financial Framework will dominate the political agenda. This will happen against the backdrop of continued efforts at all levels of governance to exit the financial and economic crisis and the 2nd year of implementation of the ‘Europe 2020′ strategy. The latter will influence the discussion about objectives of the new generation of cohesion policy programmes.
Regions and cities will play a major role in the discussions on the above-mentioned issues. Their input with regard to a more efficient delivery of cohesion policy will be particularly valuable.
The OPEN DAYS will take good account of the political and institutional circumstances. In parallel, it will continue to be the annual platform of good practice showcasing results and projects from current ‘convergence’, ‘regional competitiveness and employment’, and ‘territorial cooperation’ programmes, in order to support sharing of experiences and to stir debate about good local, regional and cross-border governance and management of EU funding. This exchange between practitioners will be mixed with input from academia. Another successful element will be the participation of third countries, which are keen to hear and learn from European regions’ experiences in regional policy.

Programme