Professor Nicolae Păun was invited by the organisers of the Committee of the Regions’ 2011 Thesis Competition to be a member of the Competition Evaluation Board for the 20 papers selected as being the most relevant for this year’s topic, namely Local and Regional Authorities in the European Union. Hence, he was assigned four ample theses for direct evaluation:
– “Fondurile comunitare și bugetul Uniunii Europene”, by Dr Claudia Diana Sabău-Popa; – “Politiques publiques, territoires et inégalités – les politiques régionales d’éducation en France et en Allemagne (1969-2004)”, by Dr Claire Dupuy; – “Culture et eurorégions – enjeux institutionnels de l’action culturelle eurorégionale”, by Dr Thomas Perrin; – “L’Union européenne et les collectivités locales”, by Dr Aurélie Noureau.
The evaluation sheets of the abovementioned papers were submitted on the 12th of September 2011 and focused on a thorough analysis of the contents, methodology and quality of these theses, as requested by the format of the competition. After this stage of the contest, Professor Păun was invited to sustain his reports in Brussels, on the 13th of October 2011, along with other prominent academics from the European Union. The meeting hosted the main discussion on the compliance of the theses with the criteria established, among all the members of the evaluation committee. Hence, the hierarchy of the papers was finalised, as Professor Păun upheld his findings on the four scientific works submitted to his attention.