This article seeks to trace the growing dissension over the logic of European cohesion policy. Two perspectives are fighting for dominance, the European and the national. Only the European Commission and the European Parliament are actively promoting the European logic, which has gained ground over time through the overarching strategization (or Lisbonization) of European policies. In contrast, the memberstates subscribe to a national logic concerning European cohesion policy. This outlook is particularly notable among the ‘friends of cohesion policy’, a group that includes the southern, central, and eastern European countries. The funding allocated through the EU is applied in individual national markets, not in the single European market. In this regard, the concept of European cohesion policy to adjust national markets towards the European level has been sidelined by the national logic. This contribution attempts to reconstruct the dispute over the purpose of European cohesion policy since the reform of structural funds in 1988, focusing primarily on the latest rounds of negotiations over the multiannual financial framework (in which cohesion policy funds are a central issue) and the emerging conflict between the core and the periphery in the political economy of the European Union. If the European logic regarding the single European market’s construction does not prevail, European integration will stagnate or even reverse, and national compartmentalization of cohesion policy may become the dominant spatial model in Europe.
Ágh, A. (2019). Declining democracy in East-Central Europe. The divide in the EU and emerging hard populism. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Annoni, P., & Dijkstra, L. (2019). The EU Regional Competitiveness Index 2019. Brussels: European Commission.
Bachtler, J., Mendez, C., & Wishlade, F. (2013). EU cohesion policy and European integration. The dynamics of EU budget and regional policy reform. Farnham, VT: Ashgate.
Bartolini, S. (2005). Restructuring Europe. Centre formation, system building and political structuring between the nation-state and the European Union. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/0199286434.001.0001
Baun, M. J., & Marek, D. (2014). Cohesion Policy in the European Union. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Bertelsmann Foundation (2019). Policy Performance and Governance Capacities in the OECD and EU. Sustainable Governance Indicators 2018. Retrieved from https://www.sgi-network.org/docs/2018/basics/SGI2018_Overview.pdf
Blauberger, M., & Kelemen, D. R. (2016). Can courts rescue national democracy? Judicial safeguards against democratic backsliding in the EU. Journal of European Public Policy. 24(3), 321-336. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2016.1229357
Bloom, S., & Petrova, V. (2013). National Subversion of Supranational Goals: 'Pork-Barrel' Politics and EU Regional Aid. Europe-Asia Studies, 65(8), 1599-1620. https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2013.833014
Böhme, K., Doucet, D., Komornicki, T., Zaucha, J., & Świątek, D. (2011). How to strengthen the territorial dimension of 'Europe 2020' and the EU Cohesion Policy. Report on the Territorial Agenda 2020. Warsaw: Ministry of Regional Development.
Bradley, J., & Zaucha, J. (2017). Territorial Cohesion: A missing link between economic growth and welfare. Lessons from the Baltic Tiger. Gdańsk: University of Gdańsk.
Brunet, R., & Boyer, J.-C. (1989). Les Villes "européennes". Rapport pour la DATAR, Délégation à l'aménagement du territoire et à l'action régionale. Paris: Documentation Française.
Bull, M., & Baudner, J. (2004). Europeanization and Italian policy for the Mezzogiorno. Journal of European Public Policy, 11(6), 1058-1076. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350176042000298101
Castells, M. (2000). End of Millennium. Volume III of The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture. London: Blackwell.
Council (2020). Infographic - EU budget 2021-2027 and recovery plan. Council of the European Union. Retrieved from https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/infographics/recovery-plan-mff-2021-2027/
Cowles Green, M. (1995): Setting a New Agenda for Europe: The ERT and EEC 1992. Journal of Common Market Studies, 33(4), 501-526. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5965.1995.tb00548.x
Damro, C. (2015). Market power Europe. Exploring a dynamic conceptual framework. Journal of European Public Policy, 22(9), 1336-1354. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2015.1046903
Darvas, Z., Mazza, J., & Midoes, C. (2019). How to improve European Union cohesion policy for the next decade. Brussels: Brueghel Institute.
Del Bo, C. F. (2018). Fiscal Autonomy and EU Structural Funds. Public Finance Review, 46(1), 58-82. https://doi.org/10.1177/1091142116661409
Del Bo, C., Florio, M., Sirtori, E., & Vignetti, S. (2011). Additionality and Regional Development: Are EU Structural Funds Complements or Substitutes of National Public Finance? Milan: University of Milan-Centre for Industrial Studies. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2723402
EC (2004). Facing the challenge. The Lisbon strategy for growth and employment. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Commission. Posted at https://ec.europa.eu/research/evaluations/pdf/archive/fp6-evidence-base/evaluation_studies_and_reports/evaluation_studies_and_reports_2004/the_lisbon_strategy_for_growth_and_employment__report_from_the_high_level_group.pdf
EC (2017). White paper on the future of Europe. Reflections and scenarios for the EU27 by 2025. COM(2017)2025. Brussels: European Commission.
EC (2020). European Innovation Scoreboard 2020. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2873/6063
EC (2020). Fact check on the EU budget. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/eu-budget/how-it-works/fact-check_en#howbigistheeubudget
ECA (2019). Rapid case review. Allocation of Cohesion policy funding to Member States for 2021-2027. Luxembourg: European Court of Auditors. Retrieved from https://www.eca.europa.eu/Lists/ECADocuments/RCR_COHESION/RCR_COHESION_EN.pdf
EP (2015). Regulation (EU) 2015/1839 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 October 2015 amending Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 as regards specific measures for Greece. L270/1-3.
EP (2020). New Boost for Jobs, Growth and Investment. Proposal for a Regulation on the Protection of the Union's Budget in Case of Generalised Deficiencies as regards the Rule of Law in the Member States. European Parliament, Legislative Train Schedule. Retrieved from https://www.europarl.europa.eu/legislative-train/theme-new-boost-for-jobs-growth-and-investment/file-mff-protectionof-eu-budget-in-case-of-rule-of-law-deficiencies
ERT (1983). Foundations for the Future of European Industry. Amsterdam: European Round Table of Industrialists.
ERT (1984). Missing Links. Upgrading Europe's Transborder Ground Transport Infrastructure. A Report of the European Roundtable of Industrialists. Paris: European Round Table of Industrialists.
Euronews (2020, July 22). Hungary claims victory in EU recovery fund talks. Euronews. Retrieved from https://www.euronews.com/2020/07/22/hungary-claims-victory-in-eu-recovery-fund-talks
Eurostat (2020). Eurostat database. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat
Fabbrini, S. (2015). The constitutional conundrum of the European Union. Journal of European Public Policy, 23(1), 84-100. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2015.1031158
Faludi, A. (2010). Cohesion, Coherence, Cooperation. European Spatial Planning Coming of Age? London: Routledge.
Faludi, A. (2018). A historical institutionalist account of European spatial planning. Planning Perspectives, 33(4), 507-522. https://doi.org/10.1080/02665433.2018.1437554
Faludi, A. (2018). The Poverty of Territorialism. A Neo-Medieval View of Europe and Spatial Planning. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Faludi, A., & Waterhout, B. (2002). The making of the European spatial development perspective. No masterplan. London: Routledge.
Ferreira, P. (2020, August 3). Há dinheiro e plano. O que pode correr mal? Quase tudo, como sempre. Eco. Retrieved from https://eco.sapo.pt/opiniao/ha-dinheiro-e-plano-o-que-pode-correr-mal-quase-tudo-como-sempre/
Gonzalez, C., Dallison, P., & Gray, A. (2020, July 25). POLITICO EU Confidential: EU budget and recovery summit - Deal, drama and details. Politico. Retrieved from https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/eu-confidential/politico-eu-confidential-eu-budget-and-recovery-summit-deal-drama-and-details/
Graziano, P. (2004). Europeizzazione e politiche pubbliche italiane. Coesione e lavoro a confronto. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Graziano, P. R. (2010). From Local Partnerships to Regional Spaces for Politics? Europeanization and EU Cohesion Policy in Southern Italy. Regional & Federal Studies, 20(3), 315-333. https://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2010.484568
Györfi, A., Molnár, T., Reszketö, P., & Varádi, B. (2016). The impact of cohesion policy on corruption and political favouritism. Budapest: Budapest Institute for Policy Analysis. Retrieved from http://www.budapestinstitute.eu/BI_Green_Cohesion_201610_final2.pdf
Hallstein, W. (1969). Der unvollendete Bundesstaat. Europäische Erfahrungen und Erkenntnisse. Düsseldorf: Econ Verlag.
Hombrado Martos, A. (2013). Como se negocian, gestionan y coordinan las politicas europeas de cohésion en España? Capacidad de acción administrativa y colaboración intergubernamental de la politica europea. In C. Colino (Ed.). Las Comunidades autónomas frente a los retos de la nueva política de cohesión europea en la Europa ampliada. Capacidades y estrategías (pp. 123-154). Oviedo: Consejería de Hacienda y Sector Público del Principado de Asturia.
Hübner, D. (2016). The European Parliament and Cohesion Policy. In S., Piattoni & L. Polverari (Eds.). Handbook on Cohesion Policy in the EU (pp. 140-156). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Husson, C. (2002). L'Europe sans territoire. Essai sur le concept de cohésion territoriale. La Tour d'Aigues: Editions d l'Aube.
Kasimati, E. (2015). Post-Olympic Use of the Olympic Venues: The Case of Greece. Athens Journal of Sports, 2(3), 167-184. https://doi.org/10.30958/ajspo.2-3-3
Khanna, P. (2019). The Future is Asian. Global Order in the Twenty-First Century. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson.
Laffan, B., & Lindner, J. (2015). The Budget: Who Gets, What, When, and How? In H., Wallace, M. A., Pollack & A. R., Young (Eds.). Policy-making in the European Union (7. ed., pp. 220-242). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Leonard, M., Pisani-Ferry, J., Ribakova, E., Shapiro, J., & Wolff, G. (2019). Strategic Sovereignty. How Europe can Regain Its Capacity to Act. London: European Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved from https://www.ecfr.eu/page/-/2_Redefining_Europe%E2%80%99s_economic_sovereignty.pdf
Liargovas, P., Petropoulos, S., Tzikfakis, N., & Huliaras, S. (Eds.). (2016). "Beyond Absorption". The impact of EU Structural Funds on Greece. Sankt Augustin, Berlin: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Greece.
Magone, J. M. (2006). The New World Architecture. The Role of the European Union in the Making of Global Governance. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
Magone, J. M. (2016). From 'superficial' to 'coercive' Europeanization in southern Europe. The lack of ownership of national reforms. In J. M., Magone, B., Laffan & C., Schweiger (Eds.). Core-periphery Relations in the European Union. Power and Conflict in a Dualist Political Economy (pp. 87-98). London: Taylor & Francis.
Magone, J. M., Laffan, B., & Schweiger, C. (2016). The European Union as a dualist political economy: Understanding core-periphery relations. In J. M., Magone, B., Laffan & C., Schweiger (Eds.). Core-periphery Relations in the European Union. Power and Conflict in a Dualist Political Economy (pp. 1-16). London: Taylor & Francis.
Makszimov, V. (2020, November 11). EU institutions strike deal on bloc's long term budget. Euractiv. Retrieved from https://www.euractiv.com/section/economy-jobs/news/eu-institutions-strike-dealon-blocs-long-term-budget-and-recovery-fund/
Marks, G. (1993). EC Structural Policy and Multilevel Governance in the EC. In A. W., Cafruny & G., Goldstone Rosenthal (Eds.). The State of the European Community. Vol. 2: The Maastricht debates and beyond (pp. 391-409). Harlow: Longman.
Marques, A. (2017). Três décadas de fundos comunitários em Portugal. Competitividade: as oportunidades perdidas. Relações Internacionais, 53, 39-54. http://dx.doi.org/10.23906/ri2017.53a04
Medeiros, E. (2014). Assessing Territorial Impacts of the EU Cohesion Policy: The Portuguese Case. European Planning Studies, 22(9), 1960-1988. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2013.813910
Medeiros, E. (2017). European Union Cohesion Policy and Spain: a territorial impact assessment. Regional Studies, 51(8), 1259-1269. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2016.1187719
Medeiros, E. (2018). EU Cohesion Policy in the Iberian Peninsula: Main Territorial Impacts (1986-2013) and Challenges for a More Efficient New Programming Period (2014-2020). European Structural and Investment Funds Journal, 6(4), 284-295.
Medeiros, E., & Zézere, J. L. (2016). The EU Cohesion Fund and Spatial Planning Strategies in Transport and Risk Prevention: Portugal (1995-2013). European Structural and Investment Fund Journal, 5(2), 87-109.
Medve-Bálint, G. (2017). Funds for the wealthy and politically loyal? How EU Funds may Contribute to increasing Disparities in East Central Europe. In J., Bachtler, P., Berkowitz & S., Hardy (Eds.). EU cohesion policy. Reassessing performance and direction (pp. 220-240). London, New York, NY: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
Medve-Bálint, G. (2018). The Cohesion Policy on the EU's Eastern and Southern Periphery: Misallocated Funds? Studies in Comparative International Development, 53(2), 218-238. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12116-018-9265-2
Milio, S. (2007). Can Administrative Capacity Explain Differences in Regional Performances? Evidence from Structural Funds Implementation in Southern Italy. Regional Studies, 41(4), 429-442.
Milio, S. (2008). How Political Stability Shapes Administrative Performance: The Italian Case. West European Politics, 31(5), 915-936. https://doi.org/10.1080/01402380802234581
Milio, S. (2014). The conflicting effects of multilevel governance and the partnership principle: Evidence from the Italian experience. European Urban and Regional Studies, 21(4), 384-397. https://doi.org/10.1177/0969776413493631
Moravcsik, A. (1998). The choice for Europe. Social purpose and state power from Messina to Maastricht. London: UCL Press.
OLAF (2019). The OLAF report 2018. Anti-Fraud Office of the European Union. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2784/695669
Papp, Z. (2019). Votes, money can buy. The conditional effect of EU Structural Funds on government MPs' electoral performance. European Union Politics, 20(4), 543-561. https://doi.org/10.1177/1465116519862875
Paraskevopoulos, C. J. (2005). Developing Infrastructure as a Learning Process in Greece. West European Politics, 28(2), 445-470. https://doi.org/10.1080/01402380500060494
Paraskevopoulos, C. J., & Leonardi, R. (2004). Introduction: adaptational pressures and social learning in European regional policy - cohesion (Greece, Ireland and Portugal) vs. CEE (Hungary, Poland) countries. Regional & Federal Studies, 14(3), 315-354. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359756042000261342
Piattoni, S. (2010). The theory of multilevel governance. Conceptual, empirical, and normative challenges. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pollack, M. A. (1994). Creeping Competence: The Expanding Agenda of the European Community. Journal of Public Policy, 14(2), 95-145. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0143814X00007418
Pollack, M. A. (2000). The End of Creeping Competence? EU Policy‐Making since Maastricht. Journal of Common Market Studies, 38(3), 519-538. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5965.00233
Polverari, L. (2016). Cohesion policy in the southern periphery. In S., Piattoni & L., Polverari (Eds.). Handbook on Cohesion Policy in the EU (pp. 231-249). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Putnam, R. D., Leonardi, R., & Nanetti, R. Y. (1994). Making Democracy Work. Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Sidman, A. H. (2019). Pork barrel politics. How government spending determines elections in a polarized era. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
TA2030 (2019). Territorial Agenda 2030. A Future for All Places. Draft Document (August 20).
Tömmel, I. (1998). Transformation of Governance: The European Commission's Strategy for Creating a 'Europe of the Regions'. Regional and Federal Studies, 8(2), 52-80. https://doi.org/10.1080/13597569808421051
Trantidis, A. (2016). Clientelism and Economic Policy. Greece and the Crisis. London: Routledge.
Vachudova, M. A. (2020). Ethnopopulism and democratic backsliding in Central Europe. East European Politics, 36(3), 318-340. https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2020.1787163
Valero, J. (2020, December 10). EU leaders to decide on compromise to unblock EU budget package. Euractiv. Retrieved from https://www.euractiv.com/section/economy-jobs/news/eu-leaders-to-decide-on-compromise-to-unblock-eu-budget-package/
Valero, J. (2020, November 16). Hungary and Poland veto stimulus against pandemic. Euractiv. Retrieved from https://www.euractiv.com/section/economy-jobs/news/hungary-and-poland-veto-stimulus-against-pandemic/
Valero, J. (2020, October 18). Parliament and Council near agreement on rule of law conditionality. Euractiv. Retrieved from https://www.euractiv.com/section/economy-jobs/news/parliament-andcouncil-near-agreement-on-rule-of-law-conditionality/
Vauchez, A. (2015). Methodological Europeanism at the Cradle: Eur-lex, the Acquis and the Making of Europe's Cognitive Equipment. Journal of European Integration, 37(2), 193-210. https://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2014.990135
Wallace, H. (1996). Politics and Polity of the EU: The Challenge of Governance. In H., Wallace, W., Wallace & C., Webb (Eds.). Policy-Making in the European Communities (pp.4-36). London: John Wiley.
Wallace, H. (1996). The Establishment of the Regional Development Fund: Common Policy or Pork Barrel? In H., Wallace, W., Wallace & C., Webb (Eds.). Policy-Making in the European Communities (pp.137-164). London: John Wiley.
Wallace, W. (1999). The Sharing of Sovereignty. The European Paradox. Political Studies, 47(3), 503-521. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9248.00214
WEF (2020). The Global Competitiveness Report 2010. Geneva: World Economic Forum. Retrieved from http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_TheGlobalCompetitivenessReport2019.pdf
Wimmer, A., & Glick Schiller, N. (2002). Methodological nationalism and beyond: nation-state building, migration and the social sciences. Global Networks, 2(4), 301-334. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0374.00043
oai:rcin.org.pl:189103 ; 1429-7132 ; 10.7163/Eu21.2020.38.6
CBGiOŚ. IGiPZ PAN, call nos.: Cz.6406, Cz.6407 ; click here to follow the link
Creative Commons Attribution BY 4.0 license
Copyright-protected material. [CC BY 4.0] May be used within the scope specified in Creative Commons Attribution BY 4.0 license, full text available at: ; -
Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Oct 13, 2023
May 11, 2021
486
https://rcin.org.pl/publication/217370
Cotella, Giancarlo
Lepesant, Gilles
Jakubowski, Andrzej
Degórska, Bożena (1956– )
Epasto, Simona