At the AER Spring Committee meetings in London, the region of Flevoland (NL) was recognised in the #ShineBright session in recognition of its active participation on the topic of Cohesion Policy. A Task Force on Cohesion Policy was set up during the Autumn plenary meeting in Izmir, and Flevoland have been working hard since to develop a survey on the use of structural and investment funds in the regions. The response has been quite good and we now have a broad overview of the situation in the regions. The Task Force met in London to discuss simplification and audit; Cohabitation with other funds and programmes; Multilevel governance and gold plating and finally Philosophy and long term goals of cohesion policy beyond the next programming period. The report will be used for advocacy and lobbying for regions, AER member regions are invited to get involved.
