(07 May 2019) – The European Commission will present tomorrow the first results of its initiative for regions in industrial transition covering 12 regions and Member States.

The regions and countries concerned are: Cantabria (Spain), Centre-Val de Loire (France), Grand Est (France), Greater Manchester (United Kingdom), Hauts-de-France, North-East Finland, North-Central Sweden, Piedmont (Italy), Saxony (Germany), Wallonia (Belgium), Lithuania and Slovenia.
They asked for the Commission’s support and expertise to ensure a successful industrial transition and to design development strategies based on their areas of competitiveness, also known as “smart specialisation” assets.
François Bonneau, President of the Centre-Val de Loire Region, will participate in a round-table meeting with experts from the Commission and the OECD on the lessons learned from the initiative and how best to replicate the experience with cohesion policy funding in the next long-term EU budget.