Brussels, 24/03/2005 (Agence Europe) - The Commissioner for Regional Policy, Danuta Hübner, made an official visit on the 23 and 24 March to the Czech Republic and Austria. The aim of the visit was to have an exchange of views on the negotiations for the financial perspectives 2007-2013, and a discussion on the next generation of social cohesion programmes, and also cross-border cooperation between Austria and the Czech Republic and the implementation of measures co-financed by the solidarity fund following the floods in 2002. The Commissioner also visited a number of sites where projects are co-financed by the structural funds.
In the Czech Republic on 23 March, Ms Hübner me the vice-Prime Minister and Minister for Transport Milan Simonovsky, the Mayor of Prague Pavel Bem, the Secretaries of State for European Integration and Housing Policy Vera Jourova and Ivan Prikryl , and the Minister for Regional Development Jiri Paroubek. The following day, she was received by the Prime Minister of the government of Upper Austria Mr Pühringer and had an exchange of views with representatives of the regional government there on the future of Objectives 1 and 2 of regional policy.