Territorial cohesion storylines in 2014–2020 Cohesion Policy

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to elaborate the concept of territorial cohesion in the context of 2014–2020 Cohesion Policy. The main goal is to investigate how European Union (EU) Member States (MSs) are coping with territoriality in their policies and to assess whether they are only fulfilling the minimum standards of a place-based approach or whether they are moving towards a new paradigm of policy-making characterized by a more territorially sensitive approach. This paper analyses Partnership Agreements which were signed between the European Commission and EU MSs and identifies the perception of territorial cohesion in the Cohesion Policy in the programming period 2014–2020. The analysis shows that different MSs choose different ways of addressing territoriality of their policies. It is thus possible to categorize countries into several groups sharing similar features and to discuss underlying ideas and approaches, which could shed some light on the still rather fuzzy concept of territorial cohesion.

KEYWORDS:

• Territorial cohesion
• Cohesion Policy
• regional policy
• storylines

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 The first mention of cohesion (social and economic) was in the European Single Act in 1986.

2 The chapter focusing on macro-regional and sea-basin strategies (4.6) was not evaluated due to its low relevance to the territorial dimension of policies implemented within countries.

3 In Slovenia, the ‘CLLD Cooperation Committee’ will be established as the body that will choose Local Action Groups and Local Development Strategies that will be supported.

4 Strategies which receive at least 70 points out of 100.

5 The European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund (with complementary support from the European Agricultural Fund for Regional Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund).