Notes for a Better Europe

19 October 2012  | Krytyka Polityczna

Europe needs targeted cohesion funding

18 October 2012  | European Voice

On the eve of last Friday’s ‘Friends of Cohesion Policy’ meeting in Bratislava, Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, set out in your newspaper (“The Cohesion policy is good for all”, 4-10 October) why the European Union’s net beneficiary states want no cuts to the future multi-annual financial framework (MFF) 2014-20. Boosting jobs and growth was Fico’s message, reinforced by the countries at the Bratislava meeting, but with very few concrete details and, of course, some obligatory nods to ‘better spending’.

EU’s energy strategy in the Balkans questioned by MEPs

18 October 2012  | Information Daily

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and local Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) worry that the European Commission is bypassing civil society and environmental rules in its Western Balkan strategy.

MEPs question EU’s energy strategy in the Balkans

17 October 2012  | EurActiv

MEPs and local NGOs worry that that the European Commission is bypassing civil society and environmental rules as it devises an energy strategy for the Western Balkan region.

EU budget debate: Some one trillion euro questions and answers

11 October 2012  | EurActiv

Keti Medarova-Bergstrom and Pawel Swidlicki put their heads together to identify why and where EU budgetary spending has got it wrong in the past and propose how roughly €1 trillion can better serve Europe’s environment, economy and people in the next funding period.

Regional Funds: it’s not the quantity, it’s the quality

10 October 2012  | EurActiv

Western and Eastern European governments fighting over some billions less or more to the EU’s next multi-annual budget (2014-2020) would better focus on how to spend this precious resource.