1. 1 Challenges and risks of new regional and rural programming in the period 2007 – 2013: Case of the Czech Republic Martin PELUCHA, PhD student European Week of Regions and Cities, Brussels OPEN DAYS 8th – 11th October 2007 Making it Happen Regions Deliver Growth and Jobs Seminar 11E35 IEEP, Institute for Economic and Environmental Policy

2. 2 Content of the presentation: general theoretical and practical context of the programming approach for the period 2007 – 2013; relation of defined conditions to Czech Republic´s present situation; Concluding remarks.

3. 3 IEEP, Institute for Economic and Environmental Policy 1.General Theoretical Framework context of the core-periphery theories and EU cohesion policy; Trends of economic growth polarization and rural development policy; Concept of polycentrism.

4. 4 IEEP, Institute for Economic and Environmental Policy 2. General Practical Framework different methodological approach to EU cohesion policy and EU rural development policy implementation; high fragmenation of the EU cohesion policy financial sources; question of the capacity building in the Czech Republic; inadequate reflection and reactions to EC attitudes due to unclear political situation in 2006; complicated implementation structure of EU SF in the CR.

5. 5 IEEP, Institute for Economic and Environmental Policy 2. General Practical Framework – possible barriers for SF spending:* Parallel implementation of 2 programming periods; Increase in amount of allocated funds; Increase in the number of OPs; Emphasis of the new legislation on the control arrangements, monitoring and evaluation. RURAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY: broken settlement structure in the Czech Republic; low cooperation in complex development (polycentricism); 1 national strategic plan and also 1 implementing programme. *Source: NSRF of the CR, page 106

6. 6 Suggested system of 24 OPs in the Czech Republic for the period 2007 - 2013

7. Percentual share of ROPs on the total allocation of financial resources determined for all ROPs in the framework of Convergence Objective

8. Division of financial resources per axes of EAFRD 2007 – 2013 in the Czech Republic

9. 9 IEEP, Institute for Economic and Environmental Policy Concluding remarks learning the lessons from 2004 – 2006 by the cohesion policy in the Czech Republic; increased interinstitutional competitiveness; high fragmentation of the European cohesion policy interventions; rural development policy demands a high level of coordination in perspectives between relevant ministries; national and EU programming in the 2007 – 2013 period (challenges) and expected style of programming in 2014 – 2020 period (risks of impact) in the Czech Republic (case of the East Germany).

10. 10 IEEP, Institute for Economic and Environmental Policy Martin PELUCHA, PhD student Email: martinpelucha@seznam.cz Website of the University: www.vse.cz Website of the IEEP: www.ieep.cz