THE CHANGING ECONOMIC SPATIAL STRUCTURE OF EUROPE

Many theoretical and practical works aim at describing the spatial structure of Europe, where spatial relations have undergone continuous change. This article gives an overview of models describing the spatial structure of Europe. Their diversity is highlighted by listing of these models, without any claim to completeness. Our study aims at describing the economic spatial structure of Europe with bi-dimensional regression analysis based on the gravitational model. With the help of the gravity model, we get a spatial image of the spatial structure of Europe. With these images, we can justify the appropriateness of the models based on different methodological backgrounds by comparing them with our results. Our goal is not to create and show a new model that overwrites the existing ones, but rather to contribute to understanding the European spatial structure through a new methodological approach

Transhumant pastoralism in Poland: Contemporary challenges

Since the mid-2000s, transhumant pastoralism and the production of artisanal sheep’s cheeses have experienced a revival in the Polish Carpathians. This revival has largely coincided with Poland’s accession to the European Union in 2004, leading to a re-valuation of extensive livestock production from an economic and environmental liability to a form of ‘High Nature Value’ farming. Supported by Common Agricultural Policy CAP European Union subsidies, Polish pastoralists have been re-classified from being producers of livestock and agricultural products to suppliers of environmental and ecosystem services. Despite these changes, however, they continue to face significant systemic challenges which are rooted in the marked decline of the communist-era pastoral economy in the late 1980s and a subsequent increasing competition for land and labour under market conditions. Based on anthropological fieldwork conducted in Poland’s Carpathian Highland region during the 2015, 2016, and 2017 pastoral seasons, this article provides insight into four sets of challenges deemed most important by working shepherds today: recruiting qualified labour, gaining access to pasture, gaining access to markets, and working within a Polish policy environment which fails to recognise the particular conditions and requirements of pastoral agriculture

Reducing the development gaps between regions in Poland with the use of European Union funds

The paper evaluates the processes of regional income convergence in Poland. This new research approach involves an attempt to assess the process of convergence from the point of view of development gaps. Six key development gaps were considered in the region of Eastern Poland, which is a singular case, significantly different from other regions. A dynamic panel data model was applied to investigate the impact of EU funds on the progress made towards closing these development gaps. Among the analysed development gaps, only the structural gap was not reduced in the period 2004–2015. Studies have also revealed the different impact of structural funds on each category of development gaps (a positive impact on reducing the regional transport accessibility gap and the investment gap, but negative – on reducing the innovation gap). Research has suggested the need for a change in the structure of using EU funds in the period 2014–2020 to favour stronger support for entrepreneurship and the creation of new jobs. Greater stimulation of the economic structure of peripheral regions has been proposed as the prerequisite for the future reduction in the discrepancies between regions and for the intensification of convergence. First published online 2 April 201

Governance capacity and regionalist dynamics

The debate on the effects of regionalism and European integration on European nation states has been prominent for more than a decade. Regionalization of EU states has not brought with it genuine regional autonomy and regionalism has not emerged as a bottom-up public demand in European regions. It is contended here that to determine the future of regional devolution, whether as a result of bottom-up or top-down processes, the factors at play must be contextualized. This paper examines some determinants of regional political capacity, as identified in the policy literature, in tandem with a number of determinants of economic prospects and the existence of an economic milieu. This is done in a comparative context across 12 regions of the EU. It is suggested that the potential for regionalist pressures to emerge is dependent on regional governance capacity and the relative economic weight of a region. © Taylor & Francis