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In order to assess the effectiveness of individual management systems in the analysed EU countries (Croatia, Poland, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Malta, Cyprus, Slovenia, Hungary), an econometric analysis of the interdependence between the quality of the institutional and regulatory framework and the absorption of EU funds and economic growth was conducted. Conceptually, the econometric analysis aims to identify two levels of interdependence between institutional and regulatory variables on the one hand and dependent variables on the other: (1) the effect of the quality of the institutional and regulatory environment on the absorption of EU funds; (2) the effect of the quality of the institutional and regulatory environment on economic growth. The results of the analysis confirm that EU funds have led to increased economic growth in EU countries which provides basis for economic convergence. However, the allocation of funds alone did not necessarily increase the quality of the institutional framework and competitiveness of the analysed countries. Thus, the paper confirms the importance of improvement of the institutional and regulatory framework of particular grant recipient country, as this not only increases the absorption of EU funds, but also improves the economic growth prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims at disentangling the area-based approach as promoted by the EU to bring about integrated sustainable development in European urban areas. In particular, the paper looks at how this approach has evolved over time and to what extent it has been used to foster the inclusion of migrants through a territorialised or spatial perspective. This paper draws on the experience of the metropolitan area of Venice and the two Sustainable Urban Development strategies implemented there within the framework of the EU cohesion policy 2014-2020. It presents general reflections that shed light on the meaning and scope of the area-based approach in contemporary European cities, as well as the challenges that policy-makers encounter when putting it into practice. In particular, the paper acknowledges the attention to broader scales 'beyond the neighbourhood' that frames current EU policies for urban areas, but considers it insufficient. Instead, attention should also be given to a more granular scale that in certain cases, may involve single streets, part of streets, or even single buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As highlighted by the UN 2030 Agenda, sustainable development is a complex and multidimensional issue that can be effectively implemented and reached at the local level. This implies the evaluation of differences and disparities between territories in order to define local priorities and support cohesion policy objectives. This need has been addressed by the Italian "National Strategy for Inner Areas", which aims to support the growth of territories with a continuous economic and population decline. However, Inner Areas are identified by a set of indicators related to the low accessibility to Services of General Interest, neglecting other important factors that contribute to this condition. This paper proposes a critical analysis of this measurement and of the related "territorialization" of Inner Areas, by introducing a more comprehensive assessment model based on the concept of Territorial Capital (TC), which highlights a more nuanced understanding of complexities and diversities related to the potential development of a territory. In particular, the proposed model evaluates eight TC dimensions (human, social, cognitive, infrastructural, productive, relational, environmental and settlement capital), which cover a broad spectrum of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In order to accurately demonstrate the differences between the results of the two evaluation methods, this paper presents the results of a case study application concerning all 377 municipalities, which compose the Autonomous Region of Sardinia (Italy). The findings of this study confirm the potential of an approach based on the Territorial Capital for place-based policymaking. TC, in fact, can become relevant for defining local priorities and supporting complex decisions, allowing governments to better design and tailor interventions for the effective and efficient management of available resources. Furthermore, these results pose new questions for future research developments in the field of sustainable and equitable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU regional policy pays particular attention to border regions, however, the past decades, underlined also the paradoxical situation surrounding these parts of the EU. Despite the fact that border regions connect Member States' markets into an internal market, and that they mark the natural geographical channels for the free circulation of economic factors, the economic performance of the border regions is generally more modest in comparison with inner territories of the Member States. Recent researches have shown that this contradiction is rooted in specific barriers, which go much beyond the obstacles that are covered by the EU funding treaties in the context of the internal market freedoms. Even though these barriers are also of legal, regulatory and administrative nature and are able to restrict drastically the cross-border interactions, are not explicitly prohibited by the treaties. Therefore, the main question of the paper is how to identify and how to dismantle these legal and administrative obstacles. In line with this objective, the paper conducts a case-to-case analysis to identify the possible forms of obstacles and also scrutinizes the currently deadlocked legislative procedure for establishing a mechanism to eliminate barriers in the border regions (draft ECBM Regulation). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU Cohesion Policy is one of the European Union's key policy instruments for reducing economic and social disparities among its regions. The paper evaluates the policy contribution to regional economic growth in V4 (Visegrad Four) countries. The study establishes a significant variation in ESIF (European Structural and Investment Funds) distribution at the NUTS2 (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) level within the V4 regions over 2000-2018. It suggests that ESIF absorption was not evenly distributed across regions within the V4 countries. This finding indicates that regional disparities in ESIF distribution may have contributed to economic imbalances within the countries. Secondly, a causal link between regional growth and ESIF absorption is identified. Along with other covariates, the use of the ESIF shows a statistically significant, although very modest, effect on the economic growth of V4 countries. Finally, the assumption of cross-country growth dispersion is investigated. The research results suggest statistically significant regional growth differences between Czechia and Slovakia on the one hand and Poland and Hungary on the other. It implies that the impact of ESIF absorption on economic growth may have varied among these V4 countries, potentially due to differences in policy implementation, economic structures or other factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable tourism is a main priority of European Union policies, with the aim of mitigating the potential harmful consequences of this sector on a given territory. The main research goal of this article is to better understand the impact of the public investments financed via EU Cohesion Policy in the tourism sector in the Portuguese Algarve NUT2. This paper focuses on the Portuguese Operational Programme for Sustainability and Efficient Use of Resources (POSEUR 20142020), which was an operational programme of a Portuguese framework to implement EU Cohesion Policy funds in Portugal between 2014 and 2020, and was specifically focused on supporting sustainable development processes. The sustainability performance of POSEUR in the Algarve was evaluated in five different dimensions of analysis: (1) low-emissions economy, (2) adaptation to climate change, (3) risk prevention and management, (4) environmental protection, and (5) resource efficiency. The results showed that POSEUR had a low impact in almost all dimensions in the Algarve, apart from the adaptation to climate change dimension, which exhibits a high impact score, mostly due to the support given for carrying out the Plans for Adaptation to Climate Change (PAAC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an economic context characterized by the balance of 2007-2013 SCF exercise revealed an absorption rate of 54,82 % in the case of Romania, cost-benefit analysis (CBA) plays a decisive role in informing public investment decisions. Beginning with the CBA experience under the Structural and Cohesion Funds of the other important European states, the paper analyze the main developments over the last decade. It presents the relevance of CBA in assisting the allocation of EU funds across projects. In a particular way, it shows how the 'funding gap' method used to determine the level of Community assistance and prevent the crowding out of other sources of finance by increasing the leverage effect and creating incentives for attracting private capital. Analyzing the Romanian situation, the paper presents the most important policy implications in terms of trade-offs and incentives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Research Papers of the Wroclaw University of Economics / Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wroclawiu is the property of Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny we Wroclawiu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The cohesion policy of the European Union has become its primary instrument promoting development in the peripheral member states. The enduring consequences of the 2007-2008 crisis and the economic governance agenda requiring fiscal discipline from the member states have raised the policy’s significance further. However, similar economic inequalities characterize the EU nowadays as several decades ago. The cohesion policy is by no means alone responsible for this, but the reasons for its ambiguous performance deserve further scrutiny. Empirical studies explain variation in fund performance with domestic institutional quality and absorption capacity, but the member states’ fund spending strategies have not been addressed so far. This is puzzling because they are important determinants of the economic effects of EU funds. The paper fills this gap by investigating the spending strategies of the Southern and the Eastern members in two recent programming cycles (2007-2013 and 2014-2020). Assessed on five expenditure categories, the paper reveals that physical infrastructure investments enjoyed priority over long-term growth-generating R&D and human capital projects and that the allocation of EU funds did not reflect domestic development needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper has the dual objective of contributing to theory development as well as to the debate about the added value of EU Cohesion Policy. Experimentalist governance theory suggests that a virtuous feedback loop between policy design and implementation can the input- and outputlegitimacy of policy making. EU Cohesion Policy formally resembles this experimentalist setting, but persistent debates about its added value suggest that the virtuous loop is blocked. The paper uses new institutionalism theory to systematically identify theoretical explanations for this blockage. It argues that the experimentalist link between organizational structure, pooling of experiences, greater participation, and policy learning is highly precarious. First, the rational-choice perspective suggests that the link rests on the optimistic assumption of a common utility function among the participating actors. Moreover, the structural funds provide strong incentives for grantseeking. Second, the discursive perspective shows that the identification of shared interests depends on highly demanding speech conditions. Third, the sociological perspective highlights that the evaluation of information is socially conditioned. Therefore, learning may be based on fallacious assumptions and lead to undesired results. The paper substantiates these insights with empirical evidence from one case of institutionalized crossborder cooperation in East Central Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Gestión y Análisis de Políticas Públicas, Nueva Época (GAPP) is the property of Instituto Nacional de Administracion Publica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Remote rural areas are often rich in natural and landscape assets, which are in turn used as the main focus of tourism development strategies aiming at reverting their decline. However, mono-functional strategies hardly manage to achieve this goal, as in order to restore those structural conditions that are essential to liveability and local development it is necessary to engage in a more comprehensive approach. Acknowledging this challenge, the paper reflects on the possibility to include tourism within multi-level development strategies aimed at tackling marginalisation, drawing on the case of the Italian National Strategy for Inner Areas. More in detail, the authors analyse how the latter enables the integration of tourism-related actions into more comprehensive, place-based development strategies that act upon the peculiarities of the territories they focus on through a mix of top-down and bottom-up logics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing dominance of neoliberalism as the key steering mechanism of the European Union (EU) since the early 1990s has implied the competitiveness-oriented reshaping of cohesion policy. The aim of this paper is to initiate a debate from a critical political economic perspective on the implications of this shift for Central Eastern European (CEE) member states. To this end, the paper discusses the formation of EU centre-periphery relations from a CEE point of view and formulates some preliminary suggestions as to how cohesion policy would need to be rethought in order to ensure the better integration of lagging CEE regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union budget is small and fulfils only a limited range of functions, yet it provokes regular disputes among the Member States and institutions of the Union. This paper describes the structure of the budget and shows that standard theories, such as fiscal federalism, are not well-suited to analysing how the EU budget operates or the political economy behind it. The paper then looks at how much the UK contributes towards the EU budget and explains why some of the claims made about it in the public discourse are inaccurate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the geographical feature of the Croatian-Hungarian cross-border area, focusing on recent changes and socio-economic trends of the last decade. In the paper current demographic, cross-border traffic and mobility trends are examined. Special attention is devoted to the spatial structure of the area and its key demographic indicators, modified during the last intercensal period between 2001 and 2011. Demographic data are analysed on the level of NUTS III units, as they provide the statistical basis for planning and they are designated as co-operation units in the joint bilateral cross-border operational programme financed by the EU. The transition that has taken place in the last years is observed in relation to the Croatian accession to the EU and to the full membership achieved in 2013. The Croatian-Hungarian cross-border co-operation has been intensified since 2007. More EU funds became available than before, which brought about the possibility for stronger cohesion in the area and, accordingly, it has triggered territorial transformations. The main goal of this research is to define whether changes having taken place in the border region since 2007 created a genuine transborder region. The assumption is that current development trends, although the most intensive in the last 100 years, are still not sufficient enough to mitigate the huge geographical handicap, the transport and language barriers and in general the strong periphery status of the border area in comparison to the capital cities Zagreb and Budapest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims at disentangling the area-based approach as promoted by the EU to bring about integrated sustainable development in European urban areas. In particular, the paper looks at how this approach has evolved over time and to what extent it has been used to foster the inclusion of migrants through a territorialised or spatial perspective. This paper draws on the experience of the metropolitan area of Venice and the two Sustainable Urban Development strategies implemented there within the framework of the EU cohesion policy 2014-2020. It presents general reflections that shed light on the meaning and scope of the area-based approach in contemporary European cities, as well as the challenges that policy-makers encounter when putting it into practice. In particular, the paper acknowledges the attention to broader scales ‘beyond the neighbourhood’ that frames current EU policies for urban areas, but considers it insufficient. Instead, attention should also be given to a more granular scale that in certain cases, may involve single streets, part of streets, or even single buildings.

The implementation of the EU Cohesion Policy has contributed to numerous improvements and positive effects on local economies. However, it has not entirely succeeded in overcoming the economic and social disparities across territories. The article reviews the practical aspects of the implementation of the LEADER and Common local led development (CLLD) approaches in Bulgaria. It also provides a comparative analysis of both Integrated Territorial Investments (ITIs) and CLLD. The objective is to show the impact of CLLD on decreasing the economic divergence between urban and rural municipalities and to identify the main difficulties in CLLD implementation that need further improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws the main lines of development of the territoriality of the Polish state, taking into account the divergent dynamics of its regional evolution. Building on a historical account, it describes how the decentralization process unfolded, leading to the reform in 1998/1999, which administratively decentralized the state without, however, changing its unitary nature. By analysing the complexity and diversity of the EU's cohesion policy, the paper also addresses questions that are central to theoretical arguments about EU influence on the divergence of regions. It concludes that even if the EU cohesion policy can be seen as a success in Poland, the amount of funding was not sufficient to reduce the differences between the Polish voivodships, which have been growing in recent decades. Paradoxically, the successful use of EU funding did not prevent the massive electoral wins of an EU-sceptic party in the poorer eastern regions, which were supported by a special EU fund. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the practice of monitoring and evaluating regional development policy in the European Union, as well as impact thereof on key indicators of economic and social development both in separate regions and in the EU as a whole. The authors analyzed developments in the regional policy monitoring practice, while also identified peculiarities characteristic of the monitoring process regarding implementation of development programmes and determined main stages of evaluation. The paper specifies basic difficulties in setting up the system of monitoring and evaluating achievement of objectives and coordination of regional programmes. The authors described major disparity in economic and social development of the EU Member States under their development programmes as well as determined main indicators of EU regional disparities. Principles, instruments and mechanisms for monitoring EU regional policy were also defined. The paper analyzes changes in the EU regional development paradigm focusing on the priorities for concentrating financial resources and instruments in terms of cohesion policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cohesion Policy has provided new impulses for development in Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) that continue to be challenged by regional disparities. This paper investigates the effects of the European Union Cohesion Policy on regional development. After presenting historical development patterns of the investigated area and opportunities afforded by this policy, its effects on a variety of indicators are analysed for the period 2007-2014. The analysis allowed confirming positive effects of EU Cohesion Policy on the development of CEE regions. However, these effects differ across the investigated area. Moving forward, it will be crucial to develop institutions and policies characteristic to each region that are stable and efficient without external funds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Papers in Regional Science is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

As highlighted by the UN 2030 Agenda, sustainable development is a complex and multidimensional issue that can be effectively implemented and reached at the local level. This implies the evaluation of differences and disparities between territories in order to define local priorities and support cohesion policy objectives. This need has been addressed by the Italian “National Strategy for Inner Areas”, which aims to support the growth of territories with a continuous economic and population decline. However, Inner Areas are identified by a set of indicators related to the low accessibility to Services of General Interest, neglecting other important factors that contribute to this condition. This paper proposes a critical analysis of this measurement and of the related “territorialization” of Inner Areas, by introducing a more comprehensive assessment model based on the concept of Territorial Capital (TC), which highlights a more nuanced understanding of complexities and diversities related to the potential development of a territory. In particular, the proposed model evaluates eight TC dimensions (human, social, cognitive, infrastructural, productive, relational, environmental and settlement capital), which cover a broad spectrum of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In order to accurately demonstrate the differences between the results of the two evaluation methods, this paper presents the results of a case study application concerning all 377 municipalities, which compose the Autonomous Region of Sardinia (Italy). The findings of this study confirm the potential of an approach based on the Territorial Capital for place-based policymaking. TC, in fact, can become relevant for defining local priorities and supporting complex decisions, allowing governments to better design and tailor interventions for the effective and efficient management of available resources. Furthermore, these results pose new questions for future research developments in the field of sustainable and equitable development.

Traditionally, the effectiveness of European Cohesion Policy has been evaluated in terms of GDP growth rate. In this paper, we consider the effect of the regional policy in terms of its impacts on two specific fields of intervention, namely 'research, technological development and innovation', and 'transport infrastructure'. Our econometric approach involves the use of a non-parametric regression discontinuity design technique to a uniquely-disaggregated Cohesion Policy dataset broken down according to the specific objectives of each stream of funding. The analysis considers different time intervals and sub-samples. Our results demonstrate a positive impact of Cohesion Policy interventions in these two specific fields of intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart specialization strategies are a new EU approach to cohesion policy, meant to deliver growth and development at EU national and regional level. Bearing in mind its focus on place-based development strategies, this paper intends to shed some light on its appropriateness to tackle uneven development and regional growth divergence. The paper showcases Spanish Extremadura growth trajectory. Extremadura is a poor region in the European context that between 2008 and 2014 diverged from the EU average, despite being eligible for EU funding as a convergence region by cohesion policy. In the 2014–2020 programming period, there was a positive dynamic at the beginning, but from 2017 onwards convergence stopped, which indicates that thematic and regional programmes have not delivered results or have not compensated for higher growth level of other Spanish regions. Moreover, research and innovation strategies for smart specialization (RIS3) seem to have limited impacts on place-based economic transformation in less developed regions. From this example, the suitability of the smart specialisation strategy as the core of cohesion policy in the programming period is discussed. It concludes that this strategy is interesting for intermediate development regions with some industrial base but does not seem appropriate as a convergence driver for poorer regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of a severe economic crisis and austerity, new ideas were put forward to reform cohesion policy to enhance its effectiveness and the return on investment. Among them, financial engineering instruments, such as JESSICA, expected to offer a means to 'do more with less' in this difficult budgetary context. In the case of such instruments, EU funds are not offered as grants co-financing investment projects, but rather are used to provide repayable assistance to projects, a form of support. Such revolving funds approach is in stark contrast with the grant-based assistance typically offered as part of EU cohesion policy and was expected to increase the sustainability and effectiveness of interventions. But does it fulfil those expectations? This paper examines JESSICA through the conceptual lens of policy instruments literature. It verifies whether JESSICA is actually fit for its purpose of supporting sustainable urban development. It also gauges the impacts of instrument on the behaviour of the actors involved in its implementation at the sub-national level. The findings indicate that JESSICA is a flawed and overly complex instrument that instead of doing 'more with less' only allows for achieving 'less with less'. However, it still exerts a positive influence on the sub-national authorities involved by promoting cross-sectoral interactions and facilitating learning. It also promotes a change in the approach to EU cohesion policy and public investment more generally, putting more emphasis on economic viability of investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper has the dual objective of contributing to theory development as well as to the debate about the added value of EU Cohesion Policy. Experimentalist governance theory suggests that a virtuous feedback loop between policy design and implementation can the input- and outputlegitimacy of policy making. EU Cohesion Policy formally resembles this experimentalist setting, but persistent debates about its added value suggest that the virtuous loop is blocked. The paper uses new institutionalism theory to systematically identify theoretical explanations for this blockage. It argues that the experimentalist link between organizational structure, pooling of experiences, greater participation, and policy learning is highly precarious. First, the rational-choice perspective suggests that the link rests on the optimistic assumption of a common utility function among the participating actors. Moreover, the structural funds provide strong incentives for grantseeking. Second, the discursive perspective shows that the identification of shared interests depends on highly demanding speech conditions. Third, the sociological perspective highlights that the evaluation of information is socially conditioned. Therefore, learning may be based on fallacious assumptions and lead to undesired results. The paper substantiates these insights with empirical evidence from one case of institutionalized crossborder cooperation in East Central Europe.

Smart specialization strategies are a new EU approach to cohesion policy, meant to deliver growth and development at EU national and regional level. Bearing in mind its focus on place-based development strategies, this paper intends to shed some light on its appropriateness to tackle uneven development and regional growth divergence. The paper showcases Spanish Extremadura growth trajectory. Extremadura is a poor region in the European context that between 2008 and 2014 diverged from the EU average, despite being eligible for EU funding as a convergence region by cohesion policy. In the 2014–2020 programming period, there was a positive dynamic at the beginning, but from 2017 onwards convergence stopped, which indicates that thematic and regional programmes have not delivered results or have not compensated for higher growth level of other Spanish regions. Moreover, research and innovation strategies for smart specialization (RIS3) seem to have limited impacts on place-based economic transformation in less developed regions. From this example, the suitability of the smart specialisation strategy as the core of cohesion policy in the programming period is discussed. It concludes that this strategy is interesting for intermediate development regions with some industrial base but does not seem appropriate as a convergence driver for poorer regions.

In its efforts to faces the challenges of emerging from the crisis, the EU tries to put the European economies on a sustainable growth path through the 2014-2020 Common Strategic Framework (CSF), sought as an instrument for implementing the Europe 2020 Strategy. According to the CSF thematic objectives, the European Commission proposed for 2014-2020 a new Multiannual Financial Framework, through which thematic concentration and performance incentives are expected to result in more effective spending. The CSF Funds will provide an important source of public investments not only in growth and jobs but in areas supporting them, such as environment protection or resource efficiency. The paper offers a insight of the financing of environmental projects in Romania in the frame of the new Programming period and according to the EU Cohesion Policy objectives for 2014-2020. According to the learned lesson from the previous programming period, for a successful implementation of CSF Funds, with an optimal impact, an appropriate policy and a legal and administrative framework in place are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cuestiones Políticas is the property of Revista Cuestiones Politicas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The increasing dominance of neoliberalism as the key steering mechanism of the European Union (EU) since the early 1990s has implied the competitiveness-oriented reshaping of cohesion policy. The aim of this paper is to initiate a debate from a critical political economic perspective on the implications of this shift for Central Eastern European (CEE) member states. To this end, the paper discusses the formation of EU centre-periphery relations from a CEE point of view and formulates some preliminary suggestions as to how cohesion policy would need to be rethought in order to ensure the better integration of lagging CEE regions.

This paper analyses the geographical feature of the Croatian-Hungarian cross-border area, focusing on recent changes and socio-economic trends of the last decade. In the paper current demographic, cross-border traffic and mobility trends are examined. Special attention is devoted to the spatial structure of the area and its key demographic indicators, modified during the last intercensal period between 2001 and 2011. Demographic data are analysed on the level of NUTS III units, as they provide the statistical basis for planning and they aredesignated as co-operation units in the joint bilateral cross-border operational programme financed by the EU. The transition that has taken place in the last years is observed in relation to the Croatian accession to the EU and to the full membership achieved in 2013. The Croatian-Hungarian cross-border co-operation has been intensified since 2007. More EU funds became available than before, which brought about the possibility for stronger cohesion in the area and, accordingly, it has triggered territorial transformations. The main goal of this research is to define whether changes having taken place in the border region since 2007 created a genuine transborder region. The assumption is that current development trends, although the most intensive in the last 100 years, are still not sufficient enough to mitigate the huge geographical handicap, the transport and language barriers and in general the strong periphery status of the border area in comparison to the capital cities Zagreb and Budapest.

Remote rural areas are often rich in natural and landscape assets, which are in turn used as the main focus of tourism development strategies aiming at reverting their decline. However, mono-functional strategies hardly manage to achieve this goal, as in order to restore those structural conditions that are essential to liveability and local development it is necessary to engage in a more comprehensive approach. Acknowledging this challenge, the paper reflects on the possibility to include tourism within multi-level development strategies aimed at tackling marginalisation, drawing on the case of the Italian National Strategy for Inner Areas. More in detail, the authors analyse how the latter enables the integration of tourism-related actions into more comprehensive, place-based development strategies that act upon the peculiarities of the territories they focus on through a mix of top-down and bottom-up logics.

The paper explores the practice of monitoring and evaluating regional development policy in the European Union, as well as impact thereof on key indicators of economic and social development both in separate regions and in the EU as a whole. The authors analyzed developments in the regional policy monitoring practice, while also identified peculiarities characteristic of the monitoring process regarding implementation of development programmes and determined main stages of evaluation. The paper specifies basic difficulties in setting up the system of monitoring and evaluating achievement of objectives and coordination of regional programmes. The authors described major disparity in economic and social development of the EU Member States under their development programmes as well as determined main indicators of EU regional disparities. Principles, instruments and mechanisms for monitoring EU regional policy were also defined. The paper analyzes changes in the EU regional development paradigm focusing on the priorities for concentrating financial resources and instruments in terms of cohesion policy

The realization of economic convergence of the new member states is one of the biggest challenges that face EU. It raises important questions and problems for research; to determine what processes of regional development are taking place within the Union. In this regard, a key issue that arises and is related to the Bulgarian integration to the economic structures of the EU is the extent to which these processes have an impact on Bulgarian regional development. By applying statistical and economic methods the paper attempts to analyse these processes in the light of similar processes in the EU as a whole and by particular countries - to highlight the general and specific features in the Bulgarian regional development. According the "EU Regional Social Progress Index" and some of its sub-indices the specific places that occupy the Bulgarian regions on NUTS 2 among all other regions of the EU countries are compared and analysed. Based on the obtained results some policy implications are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role and importance of the territorial dimension of EU Cohesion Policy, during its five programming phases (1989-2020), by relating this implementation process with several territorial elements, and by assessing their constant changes, namely in three main components and related elements: (i) the 'policy strategy' designed to include an integrated territorial perspective; (ii) the 'policy impacts' in territorial development and territorial cohesion, together with the use of territorial impact assessment procedures; and (iii) the focus on one or several 'territorial scales', specifically through the support to multilevel-governance, territorial cooperation, and place-based strategies. Paradoxically, despite the continuous attempts to detach EU Cohesion Policy from its initial goals of promoting a more cohesive Europe into a more neoliberalist paradigm type of 'investment Policy', our analysis showed that the territorial dimension is still very much anchored with this Policy, and even gaining importance in several territorial related elements, such as the support to territorial cooperation and governance processes, and the use of territorial impact assessment procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past, EU cohesion policy caused some crucial shifts in European integration, the most important of which was its influence on the emergence and ensuing dynamic of EU multi-level governance (MLG). Its current reform -- the so-called territorial dimension -- is prompting the creation of a new kind of region and thus is significantly influencing relations between the various levels of European governance. European multi-level governance is undergoing a fundamental transformation, which is directed by the European Commission not through hard pressure, but rather through ideas and new storylines. Which of these new regions will 'harden' and become stable actors in European governance, and which, by contrast, will gradually perish, remains an unanswered question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the implementation of European Union (EU) Cohesion Policy in Portugal during the 2014–2020 programming period (Portugal 2020) and its contribution to promoting sustainable territorial development. It starts with an anatomization of the dominant analytic dimensions of the concept of sustainable territorial development. It then examines the approved projects under Portugal 2020 and relates them to the selected five dimensions of territorial sustainable development, which include a circular economy, social environmental awareness, environmental conservation, a global governance sustainability focus, and a global spatial planning sustainability focus. The conclusions are that the Portugal 2020 goals of supporting sustainable territorial development have been, until late 2019, achieved beyond initial expectations in terms of relative allocated funding, and that the renewable energy and circular economy components have not been sufficiently explored, vis-à-vis the sustainable development needs of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper approaches territorial cohesion in SEE from the perspective of social equity with regard to the opportunity to choose to live in one’s native place without compromising the quality of life. It is interested in border areas - both physical and virtual; in real life situations as meeting points of theories and policies influencing human lives; and in the emerging challenges there that often make us question once and again our concepts and actions as experts. Based on the Bulgarian case-study analysis, the authors discuss the effectiveness and current challenges of real-life implementation of EU and national policies aimed at sustainable development of peripheral regions. The rural peripheral municipality of Ivaylovgrad is an indicative case study for the ongoing processes in the peripheral regions of Bulgaria and the efforts to overcome a continuing loss of working places, services, markets and further isolation from the rest of the country since the early 1990s. The paper presents a critical view of initiatives and projects undertaken by interest and local groups in the period 2006-2010. Possible innovative approaches for regional revival are considered and conclusions are drawn about the importance of creating development strategies sensitive to the existing and emerging socio-cultural patterns.

Copyright of Regional Science Policy & Practice is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Our empirical analysis focuses on the effect of regional policies on migration attraction factors in Europe. We employ a regression discontinuity design to assess the causal relationship between the reception of large amounts of public funds and migration flows in the EU‐15 regions. In highly‐subsidised regions, we find a large increase in the share of foreign citizens from less‐developed countries when compared to low‐subsidised regions with similar pre‐treatment characteristics. The analysis shows that such an increase is due to the positive impact of the European regional policy on job market opportunities as well as the improvement of public goods supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is necessary to analyze the evolution of the annual allocations (from the EU budget) for the Cohesion Policy in order to better understand how this policy funds were managed in the aforementioned period. The main points raised in the paper will be the objectives and mechanisms of the cohesion policy, the evolution of budget allocations, as well as the reforms proposed by the European Commission in the field of cohesion policy for 2014-2020. The policy, according to the European Commission, will continue its vital role in stimulating the development of regions and Member States in the 2014-2020 programming period, contributing to the achievement of the objectives of stated in the Europe 2020 Strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU's cohesion policy should now be confluent with the goals of the Lisbon strategy by promoting growth and employment. In this context the promotion of regional innovation systems has become important in the EU for guaranteeing long-term regional economic growth. This paper investigates the major determinants of varying degrees of innovation promotion from one region to another provided in the context of the EU's regional support program for the periods 2000-2006 and 2007-2013. While the new innovation-oriented policy appears to be incompatible with the goal of economic convergence among European regions, our research findings further question the consistency between the cohesion policy's objectives and its practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws the main lines of development of the territoriality of the Polish state, taking into account the divergent dynamics of its regional evolution. Building on a historical account, it describes how the decentralization process unfolded, leading to the reform in 1998/1999, which administratively decentralized the state without, however, changing its unitary nature. By analysing the complexity and diversity of the EU’s cohesion policy, the paper also addresses questions that are central to theoretical arguments about EU influence on the divergence of regions. It concludes that even if the EU cohesion policy can be seen as a success in Poland, the amount of funding was not sufficient to reduce the differences between the Polish voivodships, which have been growing in recent decades. Paradoxically, the successful use of EU funding did not prevent the massive electoral wins of an EU-sceptic party in the poorer eastern regions, which were supported by a special EU fund.