The Fifth Cohesion Forum will take place on Monday 31 January and Tuesday 1 February in Brussels.
The main goal is to discuss the orientations for the future EU Cohesion Policy and its contribution to the Europe 2020 strategy. The Forum will also close the public consultation on the policy orientations of the Fifth Report on Economic, Social and Territorial cohesion which was adopted by the Commission on 9 November 2010.
The programme includes high-level speakers such as the President of European Commission José Manuel Barroso, the Prime Ministers of Hungary (Viktor Orban), of Poland (Donald Tusk) and of Lithuania (Andrius Kubilius), and the OECD Secretary General Ángel Gurría. The hosts of the forum will be Commissioners Johannes Hahn and Lászlo Andor.
The interest in the Cohesion Forum has been overwhelming. Therefore, registration has only been possible by invitation, and by now more than 800 people have registered. Among the participants there are mostly representatives from national, regional and local authorities (including some ministers, presidents of regions and mayors), social and economic partners, and some high level EU officials.
However, you can follow the debate of the Forum via webstreaming on Inforegio.