A stakeholder-based EU territorial cooperation: the example of European macro-regions

ABSTRACT

In the last decade, European regional policy has faced considerable changes typified by the introduction of the place-based approach with the Barca Report. One of the most prominent changes in European territorial cooperation (ETC), supposedly reflecting this shift, is the development of macro-regions, the dynamic of which are only just beginning to influence policy-making. This paper aims to analyse contemporary styles of ETC under the place-based narrative by identifying characteristics of macro-regional cooperation. Drawing on empirical studies in the Danube, Alpine and North Sea regions, the paper shows that stakeholders’ primary rationale for getting involved is the opportunity for agenda-setting, and the intention to evoke changes in debates and in other stakeholders’ influence. The main argument the paper follows is that macro-regional experiences reveal a crucial dependence on relatively strong stakeholders. With the term ‘stakeholder-based’, the paper draws attention to the importance of stakeholder settings in these new forms of ETC. The paper concludes that conceptualizations of approaches to European regional policies would need to acknowledge the regional differences of stakeholder settings more explicitly, and highlights the need to better acknowledge the implications for political transparency and relative power in agenda-setting.

KEYWORDS:

• Macro-regional strategies
• place-based approach
• European territorial cooperation
• stakeholder-based approach

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Erratum

Acknowledgements

I thank Phil Allmendinger, Emma Lees and Andreas Faludi for their comments on a draft version of this paper. Thanks also go to the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on this manuscript, which surely helped to sharpen the argument.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The interviews were partially recorded and transcribed, or documented with minutes. Anonymity was guaranteed.

Additional information

Funding

This research was partially supported by the German Academic Exchange Service.