SUMMER 2012 NO 42

inforegioanorama Partnership in cohesion policy Reinforcing implementation of this key principle

Helping recovery from the economic crisis

RegioStars celebrates innovative projects

Promoting regional policy successes on Europe Day

Regional Policy

KNLR12042ENC_001.pdf 1 27/07/12 10:51 Bulgarian and Romanian schoolchildren learnt about cooperation, communication SUMMER 2012 NO 42 and diversity on Europe Day

EDITORIAL ...... 3 Johannes Hahn FEATURE ...... 47 STRENGTHENING THE PARTNERSHIP AT THE HEART OF STRUCTURAL FUND IMPLEMENTATION REGIONAL MANAGEMENT AT A LOCAL LEVEL: THE AUSTRIAN CASE ...... 89 THE PERFORMANCE OF COHESION POLICY 20072013 ...... 1011 STRUCTURAL FUNDS HELPING 4 EU RECOVERY FROM THE ECONOMIC CRISIS ...... 1215 INTRODUCING THE NEW DIRECTORGENERAL ...... 15 CELEBRATING INNOVATIVE PROJECTS AT THE REGIOSTARS AWARDS ...... 1617 MAPS ...... 1819 Planned investments of cohesion policy in capacity building Employment in public administration

HOW BEST TO SELECT PROJECTS FOR COFUNDING ...... 2021 8 PROJECTS ...... 2225 Examples of projects from , , , 16

CELEBRATING EUROPE DAY ACROSS THE EU ...... 2629 COMMUNICATING REGIONAL POLICY ...... 3031 ENTERPRISE AND INNOVATION SUPPORT ...... 3233 A COMPLEMENTARY EUROPEAN REGIONAL POLICY: SWISS, EEA AND GRANTS ...... 3435 AGENDA ...... 36 22

Photographs (pages): Cover: © Ivelin IVANOV Pages 3, 4, 5, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 21: © Page 14: © Biocant, © Casala, © Corallia This magazine is printed in English, French and German on Page 8: © Walter Luttenberger (www.blende16.at) Page 22: © Mater Dei Hospital Oncology Centre recycled paper. It is available online in 21 languages at Page 23: © ZLKL Page 24: © Varpu Heiskanen, UEF http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/information/ Page 25: © BioScience Slovakia Pages 26-29: : © Eiropas Savienības dārza svētki / - panorama/index_en.cfm : © Adina ENE / : © Zavod Antona Martina Slomška / : © INALENTEJO / : © Evi Panagiotakopoulou / Other pictures: © European Commission Pages 30-31: © National Development Agency (HU) / The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily © Ministry of Regional Development (PL) / © Ministry of Economy and Employment (PT) reflect the views of the European Commission.

KNLR12042ENC_001.pdf 2 27/07/12 10:52 panorama SUMMER 2012 NO 42

EDITORIAL

Johannes Hahn Member of the European Commission in charge of Regional Policy

At the heart of the successful use of the EU’s Structural Spreading the word… Funds lies a partnership with local players at various levels in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the pro- Information and communication activities are an integral grammes. To generate maximum impact and ensure the most part of regional policy programme management and imple- effective use of EU resources, the expertise of the different mentation. It is important to tell the public about what is partners has to be effectively harnessed and integrated. being achieved through EU Structural Funds and what fund- ing opportunities exist. In the Commission’s proposals for EU Cohesion Policy 2014- 2020 this partnership process has been given high priority Surveys we have undertaken show a growing awareness of and is being considerably strengthened. The new provisions the EU’s funding activity and the posi