European Union Cohesion Policy Post 2014: More (Place-Based and Conditional) Growth – Less Redistribution and Cohesion

Abstract

The paper argues that the European Union Cohesion Policy 2014–2020 is re-oriented, away from the traditional goal of promoting balanced socio-economic development, towards a regional growth-policy perspective that puts the issue of competitiveness as a prerequisite for regional convergence. Through the analysis of two sets of reforms of the new Cohesion Policy, namely the place-based approach and the conditionalities, thematic priorities and the performance reserve, we show that the new Cohesion Policy provides a novel policy context that is likely to exacerbate the already existing disparities in economic performance amongst the European Union territories and augment existing uneven spatial relations.

Extracto

En este artículo se debate que la política de cohesión de la Unión Europea de 2014 a 2020 se está reorientando, puesto que se aleja del objetivo tradicional de fomentar el desarrollo socioeconómico equilibrado y se orienta hacia una perspectiva de política de crecimiento regional considerando la cuestión de competitividad un requisito previo para la convergencia regional. A través del análisis de dos grupos de reformas de la nueva política de cohesión, es decir, el enfoque basado en la ubicación y las condicionalidades, las prioridades temáticas y la reserva de eficacia, mostramos que la nueva política de cohesión ofrece un nuevo contexto político que podría exacerbar las desigualdades ya existentes en el desempeño económico entre los territorios de la UE y aumentar el desequilibrio actual en las relaciones espaciales.

摘要

本文主张，2014—2020 年的欧盟凝聚政策进行了再定位，扬弃了促进平衡社会—经济发展的传统目标，转而迈向将竞争力的议题视为区域凝聚前提的区域成长政策视角。透过分析新凝聚政策的两大系列改革，意即根据地方的方法，以及受限制性、主题优先顺序和表现储备，我们显示，新的凝聚政策提供了新的政策脉络，该脉络将有可能恶化欧盟领土中既存的经济表现差异，并扩大既有的不均空间关係。

Résumé

L'article affirme que la politique de cohésion de l'Union européenne de 2014 à 2020 sera réorientée de l'objectif traditionnel, à savoir la promotion du développement socio-économique équilibré, vers un point de vue qui porte sur la politique en faveur de la croissance régionale et qui met l'accent sur la question de la compétitivité en tant que condition préalable de la convergence régionale. L'analyse de deux séries de réformes de la nouvelle politique de cohésion, c'est-à-dire une approche axée sur le lieu et les conditions, les priorités thématiques et la réserve de performance, permet de démontrer que la politique de cohésion fournit un cadre d'action original susceptible d'aggraver les disparités qui existent au niveau de la performance économique des territoires de l'Ue et de creuser les relations spatiales déséquilibrées actuelles.

Keywords:

• place based
• Cohesion Policy
• European Union
• competitiveness
• uneven spatial development

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Prof. Grigoris Kafkalas and four referees of the journal for their useful comments and suggestions to earlier versions of the paper.

Notes

1. The then Belgian Foreign Minister who compiled the first report concerning the integration of the six founding members of the EU on issues of economic policy.

2. Named after the British Commissioner for Regional Policy.

3. Apart from Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Spain, richer countries such as the UK, Austria and Sweden encompassed territories that fell far behind the average growth rates of the EC/EU.

4. Titled ‘An Agenda for a Growing Europe’ the report was published in 2003 by an Independent High-Level Study Group, chaired by André Sapir, and established on the initiative of the President of the European Commission in 2002.

5. The yet undecided research concerning the Structural Funds' contribution in promoting interregional convergence is admitted by Farole et al. (2011, p. 1090). Regardless, the authors assign particular explanatory weight to this argument in order to justify the radical reorientation of the EUCP towards the complete abandoning of the convergence objective.

6. The report was prepared at the request of the then Commissioner for Regional Policy Danuta Hubner between 2007 and 2009 and was presented by the Italian economist Fabrizio Barca in April 2009.

7. The Lisbon earmarking mechanism of the 2007–13 period had a provisional character for member states that had acceded to the EU after 1 May 2004.