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The current paper investigates the implications of the EU Cohesion Policy instrument Interreg through the implementation of cross-border cooperation projects on social entrepreneurship. Cross-border cooperation projects are implemented in Euroregions and invest in new knowledge and innovative solutions in policy priorities spread over social, environmental, and economic domains. Policy priorities in social and environmental domains overlap fields of play where social entrepreneurs operate. We build on the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship and use a quantitative design to investigate the influence of EU-funded cross-border cooperation projects on the number of social enterprises in Luxembourg. We employed a rolling window analysis with ARIMA on a sample of 207 cross-border cooperation projects implemented between 2000 and 2020. We predicted social entrepreneurial activity in Euroregions in Luxembourg using investments through the EU Cohesion Policy in the social, environmental, and economic domains and identified a positive relationship in the social domain. The current study shows that investments in the social domain positively and significantly predict social entrepreneurial activity, supporting the critical role of the EU Cohesion Policy on social entrepreneurship. Our study discusses how social entrepreneurship can benefit from EU cross-border cooperation projects as recipients of potential knowledge spillovers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to propose a revision of the Entrepreneurial Discovery Process (EDP) as a key driver in the Smart Specialization Strategy (S3) policy framework. To this end, the paper makes three major contributions. First, drawing on recent contributions that redefine entrepreneurship as a quasi-scientific process based on experimentation, we redefine the role and process of EDP within the S3 policy framework. Second, by referring to the concepts of the adjacent possible and speciation, we revise the scope of the discovery process, overcoming the traditional trade-off between technological relatedness and unrelatedness. Third, we address the implications of these changes in the context of the innovation gap between knowledge-intensive and lagging-behind regions in the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decentralization of funding management poses a conceptual challenge to the study of political criteria in the allocation of funding in the EU Cohesion Policy, as existing research often assumes unidimensional actor constellations and motivations. Combining insights from distributive politics and multilevel party politics, this article uses a unique data set of beneficiary data at the local level from Polish Regional Operational Programs (2007–2013) to explore the ability of regional authorities to engage in vote-seeking and explores how institutional and political multilevel structures affect these strategies. We demonstrate that the vote-seeking of sub-national authorities is constrained in two ways. Competition between regional and national authorities limits the possibility of regional governments that are politically opposed to the national government targeting their electoral strongholds. In contrast, partisan harmony between different institutional levels incentivizes a vote-seeking strategy that takes into consideration electoral dynamics at both the regional and national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite being one of the main European Union (EU) policy goals, expressed in the EU treaty and expected to be fostered by EU Cohesion Policy, territorial cohesion is still an under-researched scientific concept and policy process. Against this background, this special issue provides novel theoretical and practical perspectives on the relationship between EU Cohesion Policy and territorial cohesion, particularly through the analysis of EU Cohesion Policy impacts and its contribution to territorial cooperation processes, regional and urban development strategies, as well as sustainable transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union (EU) has been developing a model for urban intervention since the 1980s, which we refer to in this study as the Integrated Sustainable Urban Development Model (ISUDM). A defining element of this model is its integrated nature and understanding of a city as a complex, multidimensional social system. We analysed the EU's database of urban development initiatives (the Urban Data Platform) and studied the relationship between the procedural and substantive dimensions of the urban development strategies implemented within the framework of EU Cohesion Policy. Our findings indicate those strategies that were supported by multiple EU funds and delivered through decentralised instruments targeting several cities that were the more integrated ones. In contrast, strategies financed by a smaller number of EU funds or a single fund, using more centralised delivery instruments, and targeting only one city, were less integrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understood in some conceptual analysis as a pillar of territorial cohesion and due to its critical role in promoting territorial integration, territorial cooperation is often presented as one of the major positive achievements of European Union (EU) Cohesion Policy. In this context, this article proposes a conceptual framework to assess the contribution of the European Territorial Cooperation process, including the beyond-funding support from the Border Focal Point, to the ultimate goal of EU Cohesion Policy: territorial cohesion. For that, expertise from the leaders of European cross-border associations is used, as well as European Commission officials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how governments from different administrative traditions reformed their innovation policy governance following the adoption of the Smart Specialisation approach of EU cohesion policy for the 2014–2020 funding period. Based on four case studies, it argues that different administrative settings played a role in the uptake of intended governance reforms and that thematic ex ante conditionalities were not sufficient to guarantee substantial change in the absence of continuing political and bureaucratic support. The analysis supports the idea that governments and administrations which were already better aligned with the Smart Specialisation logic may have had limited incentive to update their governance structures, while those less aligned with it appeared sincerely motivated to overhaul existing arrangements, yet without proving capable of sustaining the desired changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, 'place-based' interventions have become influential in shaping economic development policy, especially at the European level. From the 2007 to 2013 programming period onwards, EU Cohesion policy, adopted a 'place-based' approach to encourage the competitiveness of all regions. Rather than spatially-blind interventions, the focus is on tackling territorial inequalities via a more sophisticated spatially-sensitive approach to stimulate economic change, at the local level. The challenge is that place-based policies are complex, risky and the performance indicators used to capture the achievements from EU Cohesion policy focus on direct results rather than expected policy change, making it hard to prove effectiveness and value for money. This paper contributes to ongoing academic and policy debates about how to capture the achievements of EU Cohesion policy, through an in-depth case study of 'place-based' interventions made via Interreg funding, to encourage cross-border cooperation between Spain and Portugal. The evidence illustrates that there is a need for novel approaches, which are conceptually informed and spatially sensitive to be able to capture not only the quantitative but also the qualitative achievements generated through EU 'place-based' interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether territorial characteristics and, in particular, regional administrative capacity influence the effects of European Union (EU) Cohesion Policy support to firms. A novel two-step methodology is applied. First, the effects of Cohesion Policy on employment growth of supported manufacturing firms are estimated separately for the regions of six different EU countries. Second, potential territorial factors influencing these effects are explored using meta-analysis techniques. The empirical results point to a significant relationship between firm-level policy effects and territorial capital, especially mixed-materiality assets, as well as administrative capacity as proxied by citizen engagement and administrative efficiency. [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]

Environmental sustainability has been a key policy goal of the European Union (EU), particularly under recent EU Cohesion Policy strategic frameworks. This paper contributes to the analysis of the relevance of EU Cohesion Policy-related environmental sustainability investments, by assessing the impacts of the Operational Programme for Sustainability and Use of Resources (POSEUR 2014–2020), in the Portuguese North NUTS II. In detail, the impact scores of the following five analytical dimensions related to this programme were obtained: (i) low-emissions economy, (ii) adaptation to climate change, (iii) risk prevention and management, (iv) environmental protection and (v) resource efficiency. The analysis was supported by a territorial impact assessment methodology (TARGET_TIA) which was complemented by an online analytic geographic information system (GIS) policy evaluation platform (Impact-WEB_GIS). The results showed that the POSEUR's regional implementation efficiency fell short of the stakeholders' expectations. This can be explained by factors such as the obstacles posed by the prior underdeveloped infrastructural conditions, coupled with the panorama created by the Covid-19 outbreak. Nonetheless, the risk prevention and management dimension had a solid positive impact score that reflected the efficacy of POSEUR in tackling environmental threats, mostly in rural ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how the overall impact of the European Cohesion Policy depends on the composition of the regional investment in Hard (infrastructure) and Soft (business and technical support) projects. The study employs a generalized propensity score (GPS) analysis in a multidimensional treatment context. In particular, the two dimensions considered are given by the Hard and Soft investments. The GPS estimation is based on a set of relevant idiosyncratic features of the regions. The second step estimates a dose–response function in a two‐dimensional setting. The results confirm the existence of nonlinearities in the effect of different amounts of funds, but more importantly, show a degree of complementarity between Hard and Soft investment and that for policymakers, it is crucial to exploit such features to achieve more significant impact. The EU's more developed regions could have achieved a doubled GDP p.c. growth rate by pursuing a policy mix where Hard investments are reduced in favor of Soft investments. This improvement is comparable to the one obtained by at least doubling the available resources. The findings add to the evidence collected on the impact of the Cohesion Policy, suggesting a shift of the debate from the quantity to the quality of the expenditure pursued under the umbrella of territorial policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide the first evidence of the role played by the Cohesion Policy in terms of insurance against income shocks affecting the European Union (EU) regions. By following state‐of‐the‐art modelling, we measured income risk‐sharing amongst 270 NUTS‐2 regions over two concluded programming periods (2000–2006 and 2007–2013), distinguishing across several sub‐groups of regions characterized by different macroeconomic conditions, integration of markets and regional levels of economic disadvantage. We found that, by and large, the income risk‐sharing role of the EU Funds inflow is non‐negligible and it becomes particularly relevant in the second programming period. Further, the Cohesion Policy exerted a significant and positive role in income stabilization after the Global Financial Crisis and the Sovereign Debt Crisis and during the negative phases of the business cycle, particularly for those regions lagging or belonging to less stable countries from the macroeconomic point of view (Less Developed regions and Mediterranean EU). This novel evidence of the short‐run stabilizing effect of the Cohesion Policy aims to contribute to the debate on the role of EU institutions in improving the capacity of regions to tackle economic shocks, which is particularly relevant at the launch of the Next Generation EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Territorial cohesion is a formal EU policy goal since 2010, when it was placed in the Lisbon Treaty, alongside the long-term EU goals of economic and social cohesion. Understandably, by itself, a policy goal is irrelevant if it cannot be assessed. In this light, this article discusses potential methodological approaches to measure territorial cohesion trends in a given territory, their advantages and limitations, based on existing literature. It uses European NUTS 2 and the Portuguese and Polish NUTS 3 as concrete case studies to assess territorial cohesion trends from 2005 to 2020 via a Territorial Cohesion Index. As such, it presents an updated and unique picture on the territorial cohesion trends in Europe and in two specific EU member states, based on available data. It concludes that measuring territorial cohesion trends is challenging mainly due to lack of available data in certain key dimensions of territorial cohesion, but it is possible and needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

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.)

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 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.

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]

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 aim of the paper is to perform a bibliometric analysis of the scientific literature of the European cohesion policy based on articles published in more than three decades, from 1986 to 2019. The period considered covers the main events that have characterised European policy for regions and cities, starting from the signature of the Single European Act in 1986 to the implementation of Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) since 2014, which has been guiding investment policies in scientific research and innovation funded by cohesion policy. One of the key results concerns the exponential interest of researchers on the topic of Smart Specialisation which has the potential to monopolise the debate in the coming years, especially if it will be associated with the emerging topic of sustainability under the EU regional policies. The mapping and evaluation of the literature relating to cohesion policy can represent an important point of reference to inspire future research. [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 European Union Cohesion Policy lies on a variety of policy instruments including Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3) on a regional level. Despite its proximity to Europe, there is currently no strategy of its own for North Africa, only a strategy-building process. Since Smart Specialisation claims to address regional disparities by initiating catch-up processes and exploiting endogenous growth potential, the concept is particularly promising for less-developed regions. The authors present five steps to define priority sectors for the development of a Smart Specialisation strategy for the country of Tunisia, using the regions of Sfax and Medenine as an example. These steps involve regional qualitative and quantitative assessment, trend analysis and an analysis of sectoral internationalisation potential. The findings align with previous work and contribute to the discussion about Smart Specialisation on the African continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past, EU cohesion policy has led to 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 – helps create a new kind of region and thus significantly influences relations among the levels of European governance. European multi-level governance is undergoing a fundamental transformation, which is not directed by the European Commission through hard pressure, but rather through ideas and discourse. 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.

The smart specialization approach has guided regional innovation policies in Europe for roughly a decade. However, the policy practice under the approach has met considerable criticism which suggests the existence of significant gaps between the conceptual level and the level of policy implementation. To explain and understand the reasons for these gaps, this article proposes an institutionalist perspective rooted in neo-institutional sociology. In particular, the article draws on concepts such as ceremony, myth, and isomorphism and argues that such an institutionalist perspective can provide one of several fields of further research on the political economy of regional innovation policy. Pursuing such research is particularly relevant to inform policymaking in the coming years, given the current tendency to re-orient smart specialization towards challenge orientation, directionality, normativity, and sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates regional trade resilience and the role of the EU cohesion policy to support exports during the first wave of the Covid-19 crisis. We compare regional export resilience during the pandemic shock and the Great Recession in order to find possible similar patterns. We also use panel estimates obtained for the years of the Great Recession to construct regional trade adjustment scenarios at time of Covid-19. Our results suggest that the main adverse consequences of the first wave of the pandemic crisis on regional exports are localised in the regions that show high integration in international global value chains, and high exposure to tourism activities. We also find that the drop in regional exports observed during the first wave of the Covid-19 shock can be limited if more EU funds are timely transferred to beneficiaries. We develop different trade adjustment scenarios to account for heterogeneity among the Italian regions and specific characteristics of the Covid-19 crisis. The main policy implications of our study are finally discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Policy Analysis 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.)

In recent years, a growing number of studies have applied regression discontinuity designs (RDDs) to the analysis of prominent regional economic development and business incentive policies. As a result, impact evaluations of these policy interventions are being increasingly commissioned under the assumption that local linear regressions have superior impact identification properties in the cases in which an eligibility boundary, geographical border or application cutoff is identifiable as a source of treatment assignment. This paper shows that in a number of frequently encountered cases, however, economic development and business incentive programs pose peculiar impact identification conditions in terms of violations of main assumptions for the validity of RDDs and of running variables that have little or no influence of the outcome variable. Under these circumstances, that bear generalizable relevance also for the analysis of other public programs at large, no adequate testing to support the internal validity of the applied discontinuity design is often performed in the literature and the use of local linear/polynomial regressions, or cross-border comparisons, becomes an inadequate choice. When these conditions apply, adopting instead other quasi-experimental methods to achieve an actual adequate treatment-control balance of the relevant baseline characteristic will often be a better approach. JEL classification; O1; R5; C23 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ager: Journal of Depopulation & Rural Development Studies / Revista de Estudios sobre Despoblación y Desarrollo Rural is the property of Rolde de Estudios Aragoneses 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.)

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]

The success of EU cohesion policy, as it happens more generally with the public policies that are made at the EU level, is dependent on the administrative capacity of the public organizations with implementing powers within each Member State, including the regional and local tiers. The necessity to develop these skills in different territories and sectors, to guarantee the execution of the investments assigned, has required the European Commission, in cooperation with the OECD in some initiatives, to provide diverse tools for national Administrations to help them to strengthen these skills. This contribution reviews the conceptual literature on policy capacity, and it clarifies the definition of administrative capacity. Furthermore, it examines various empirical papers that deal with the link between administrative capacity and the absorption of EU funds, along with the main projects for administrative capacity development that have been conducted by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

This article identifies a set of practices through which multiple actors, from the European Commission to local governments, perform the concept of the metropolitan region. It specifically investigates the practices and actions which brought this concept into being in the Prague metropolitan region of Czechia. We uncover how the meanings associated with the concept of the metropolitan region evolved through material‐discursive practices constitutive of regional institutionalization. The article unpacks five practices which lie behind the initial stages of regional institutionalization: advocacy, framing, customization, implementation and evaluation. It contributes to both the conceptualization and practical knowledge of metropolitan development, planning and institutionalization in three ways. First, in suggesting a set of institutionalization practices, it redirects attention towards what actors do. Second, it highlights the role of materiality mutually intertwined with discursive elements. Finally, it documents how the intersection of multiple governance levels provides key actors with the resources needed to engage in the reconceptualization and institutionalization of the metropolitan region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union identifies the regional level as the ideal spatial scale for resources’ redistribution, in so doing turning European regions into key spatial development players. This raises challenges due to the heterogeneity of the EU in terms of administrative configurations, and spatial governance and planning systems. The contribution of this article draws on the results of three interlinked ESPON research projects to shed light on the matter. Building on an overview of the institutional variables that may influence successful regional development, it proposes a typology of multi-level regional development governance in the EU and reflects upon the potentials for delivering economic, social, and territorial cohesion.

In the light of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (Treaty of Rome) of 25 March 1957, the primary aim of the Common Agricultural Policy is to provide European Economic Community citizens with adequate amounts of food at reasonable prices and to guarantee farmers a decent standard of living. That is more, the EU fund transfers were to eliminate differences between regions and promote development of individual regions. These aims proved to be particularly important following the EU enlargement in 2004. The indispensible effect of the integration process has been connected with changes in the directions of agricultural production and efficiency of utilisation of individual inputs. Nevertheless, it is difficult to evaluate the effects of the implemented policy based on univariate comparisons. In view of the above, the aim of this paper is to assess the effects of the agricultural policy and the cohesion policy implemented in the EU, focusing on the valuation of the impact of the greatest EU enlargement on this relationship. This goal was achieved thanks to constructing multivariate rankings applying the DEA super-efficiency model for average farms specialising in plant, animal and mixed production in individual EU member countries for two period. The application of the DEA efficiency model makes it possible in the computation process to take into consideration the fact that in the course of agricultural production three groups of products are manufactured involving four basic types of inputs. The starting point for the analyses was provided by data published within the FADN agenda for average farms operating in the countries being the EU members. The results showed that after the largest enlargement of the EU, in the case of plant and livestock production, a simultaneous increase in agricultural production and improvement in efficiency in the individual EU members was achieved, with a gradual reduction of disproportions in the efficiency of agricultural production between regions. The only area where such a relationship could not be observed was related to the production of mixed-type farms. The novelty of the proposed in this article approach is that it allows for simultaneous analysing of changes in EU agriculture while taking into account several perspectives: changes in the assumptions of the common agricultural policy, the consequences of EU enlargement, and results of the implementation of the cohesion policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]