Place-based policy and regional development in Europe

The past two decades have seen a shift in the paradigm of regional policy in Europe. This article reviews the trends in regional policy design and delivery at national and European Union scales, and considers the degree to which the principles of place-based policy operate in practice, highlighting the issues and challenges that have arisen

Implementing structural funds in the new member states: ten policy challenges

Paper presented at the ‘Roundtable on Benchmarking the Ten New Member States’, organised by the Scottish Executive EU Office

EU cohesion policy and the role of the regions : investigating the influence of structural funds in the new member states

This paper undertakes a critical assessment of the influence of the EU Cohesion policy on regionalisation and the role of regional institutions in Central and Eastern Europe. It addresses questions that are central to ongoing theoretical debates about the role of the region in the new member states. Have the powers and resources of the regions been strengthened by their involvement in EU support programmes? Are regions increasingly involved in integrated 'bottom-up' responses to regional development challenges? The paper offers a fresh perspective on these issues, with a cross-national analysis of practical experience in the postenlargement period and a detailed assessment of the technical, variable, and complex reality of working with EU Structural Funds. A distinctive approach of the analysis is to disaggregate the stages of Structural Funds programme management and delivery, thereby highlighting the varied nature of regional involvement in Structural Funds. Ultimately, the paper questions the notion that Structural Funds build regional structures and competence, and lead to 'stronger regions'. Instead, it is argued that there is no guarantee that the Structural Funds will necessarily promote regionalisation in Central and Eastern Europe, at least in the short to medium terms

Review and assessment of simplification measures in cohesion policy 2007-2013 : Report to policy department B: structural and cohesion policies

Simplification has been an ongoing feature of Cohesion policy reform debates since 1988, and the most recent simplification exercise responds to the economic crisis and involves measures for speeding up programme implementation. The study by John Bachtler and Carlos Mendez drew on an online survey of IQ-Net partners in May 2010 to assess their experience of individual simplification measures. The research also made extensive use of material from IQ-Net Review papers published over the past 18 months which have reported on the relevance and utility of the simplification exercise. The study found that these measures have been at least partially effective, with some programmes playing a major role in dealing with the crisis, through accelerated spending or special instruments. The longer term focus of attention is on how the current, administratively complex management and control system can be simplified while maintaining assurance on the regularity of spending

Renewing cohesion policy: recent progress and long-term challenges : Paper prepared for the 28th meeting of the EoRPA Regional Policy Research Consortium at Ross Priory, Loch Lomondside on 7-9 October 2006

Reviews the reform of cohesion policy in the last five years

The geography of the crisis in western Europe : national and regional impacts and policy responses

In the course of 2008, the countries of Western European began to experience the full impact of the global economic crisis. The financial crash was followed by a drying-up of bank liquidity and slowdown in trade. Every country saw a decline in GDP growth over successive quarters in late 2008 and the first half of 2009. During the latter part of 2009, most Western European economies saw the resumption of growth (notable exceptions were Spain and the United Kingdom), with varying predictions of the sustainability of the recovery in the course of 2010. For much of the 2008-09 period, the attention of policymakers was fixed on emergency measures to contain the effects of the crisis, notably to rescue banks in danger of collapse and to stabilise the financial sector. Various packages of crisis measures have been implemented across Western Europe, generally with the aims of stimulating consumer demand and investment and reducing the effects of the crisis on (un)employment. For the most part, the policy measures in response to the crisis have been implemented on a nationwide basis. There is however an important territorial dimension both to the effects of the crisis - only gradually becoming apparent - and the policy responses. This chapter examines the geography of the crisis in Western Europe, discussing regional impacts and regional responses. It begins with a short review of the development of the crisis, the main differences in its impact across countries and the different types of policy measures implemented to contain the effects of the crisis. The chapter then investigates the different types of regional impacts - in particular on regional unemployment rates - and the geographical characteristics of policy responses by national and regional authorities

A comparative analysis of EU funding and policy support structures : Report to Scotland Europa (Scottish Enterprise)

The study involved a comparative assessment of support structures for attracting EU funding in Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Emilia Romagna (Italy), and Nordrhein Westfalen (Germany). Against a backdrop of declining receipts for Scotland from EU Structural Funds, the question is whether Scotland could better exploit some of the other sources of EU funding, notably: the EU Framework Programme for Research and Development (FP); the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP); the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP); Trans-European Networks (TEN-T and TEN-E); and the Community Initiative, formerly known as Interreg, which in 2007-13 is part of the new Territorial Cooperation Objective

New Budget, New Regulations, New Strategies : the 2006 Reform of EU Cohesion Policy

Examines the reform of EU cohesion policy in 2006

Taking stock of structural funds implementation : current challenges and future opportunities

This paper highlights several themes which have informed programme management since IQ-Net meeting in June 2002, held in Lulea, Sweden. First, it provides an overview of the main development in programme implementation and the financial execution of programmes, including an exploration of the risks of automatic decommitment faced by the programmes. Second, it describes the progress made with the mid-term evaluations, following on the IQ-Net thematic paper on this subject presented at the Lulea conference. Third, it presents an overview of the current EU-level debate on simplification, highlighting the views of the network's partners as well as, where available, the member state

Reconsidering Cohesion Policy : the Contested debate on Territorial Cohesion

The incorporation of territorial cohesion as a regional policy objective has focused attention on the potential role of territorial cooperation in pursuing this goal. However, the broad agreement on the positive effects of territorial cooperation is not always matched by the same enthusiasm when funds are being allocated. The concrete impact of territorial cooperation is often difficult to identify. At the same time, in terms of the qualitative impacts of territorial cooperation, the added value of INTERREG for territorial cohesion is difficult to dispute