On December 7, 2007, at 10 a.m. a Conference entitled “Different Regions – One standard” will start at Vitosha Park Hotel. The conference is aimed at presenting the goals of the European regional policy, the tools for its implementation, as well as the opportunities it provides for decreasing the differences between the European regions.

The conference is organized under the auspices of the Bulgarian MEP Filiz Hyusmenova, who is the Vice Chairwoman of the European Parliament Committee on Regional Development. It is supported by the Political Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe at the European Parliament. Europe Portal is a media partner of the event and supports it as part of its mission of an information mediator between the Bulgarian MEPs and the general public.
Mayors elected under the list of MRF, representatives of the Movement to the Naitional Assembly and the executive authorities, members of the party management will participate in the conference.
Filiz Hyusmenova is the main lecturer of the conference and will place an accent on the significance of the EU regional policy for the economic, social, and territorial cohesion of the Member States, by highlighting the goals of the regional policy for the period 2007-2013, and the tools for their achievement. “The title of the conference – ‘Different Regions – One Standard’ was not selected randomly. It is a summary of the philosophy of the European regional policy and at the same time it is the result that our country strives for,” commented Hyusmenova.
The Program Director of Directorate General for Regional Policy, Ms. Jana Trost, will take part in the conference and will present to the attendees the good practices in the utilization of resources from the regional development funds in the European Union Member States. Mr. Pascal Goergen, Representative of the Brussels Region to the EU, will speak on the “Options and Strategies for Improving the Usage of Structural Funds.”
Especially for the occasion a publication was prepared, also entitled ‘Different Regions – One Standard’, that will be handed out to the participants. The publication was edited by Filiz Hyusmenova and presents the basics of the European regional policy.
Az an Internet site, specialized in all aspects of the regional policy, Europe Portal (www.europe.bg) offers a special Internet-conversation with Mrs. Filiz Hyusmenova ahead of the conference. Free and without special registration, everyone will be able to ask Mrs. Hyusmenova questions in real time – both regarding the opportunities before Bulgarian municipalities for access to European funds, and about the remaining aspects of her activity as a MEP. The on-line discussion will take place on December 6, 2007, from 3.30 pm EET, and Mrs. Hyusmenova will be answering in real time to the questions posted in the chat from her office in Brussels. After the Internet-discussion, Europe Portal will publish the full text in the specialized sections Funds for Bulgaria http://www.europe.bg/htmls/page.php?category=329 (everything about programs, projects, application forms) and The Eighteen http://www.europe.bg/htmls/parliament.php (everything about the activity of the Bulgarian MEPs).