DEMOGRAPHY : COHESION POLICY CAN HELP DEAL WITH DEMOGRAPHIC CHALLENGES.

• Position: Brief article - Conference notes

The European Structural Funds can co-finance investments to help the regions adapt to the challenges brought on by demographic change (ageing of the population, declining birth rate, etc). That was the message put across by two European Commissioners, Danuta Hubner (Regional Policy) and Vladimir Spidla (Social Affairs, Employment and Equal Opportunity), at a conference on Regional policy responses to demographic challenges,' held in Brussels on 25 and 26 January. Their remarks were timely, since the national strategic frameworks and operational programmes for the 2007-2013 programming period are currently being negotiated by the European Commission and member states. The two commissioners also stressed the need to take the demographic factor into account in the operational programmes. In her opening remarks, Danuta Hubner noted that "we need to integrate the...