This reflection paper examines the influence of administrative capacity on the absorption and effective use of Cohesion Policy funds. First, it examines the current level of absorption of Cohesion Policy funds in the 2014-2020 programming period. Second, a literature review on the relationship...

This paper reconsiders the theoretical foundations of EU regional policy in economics. It begins with a discussion of the line of thought of its prevalent explanation in equilibrium economics which is focusing on market failures as its key underpinning and which is the major toolkit of...

Comparing the economic development and current situation of the internal markets of the U.S. and the EU, two things are noticeable. On the one hand, the EU is conducting massive regional policy programmes (notably the Structural Funds) to foster economic cohesion among the 27 nations belonging...

With the aim of contributing to the ongoing discussions on the future of post-2027 Cohesion Policy (CP), this chapter delves into the functioning of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). It examines the interplay between the RRF and CP, illustrating their respective governance structures,...

This chapter discusses factors that contributed to different economic dynamics across European regions and the prevailing disparities. The impact of EU Cohesion Policy in reducing disparities is studied based on the empirical evidence on the effects of EU regional policy. With more than thirty...

This report addresses the legal aspects of how the EU’s Cohesion Policy has changed over the past decade, exploring the legal argumentation behind its transformation. Cohesion Policy used to be understood as a policy with distinct features and clear limits, characterised by its focus on...

A rational financial constitution of the EU should be able to fulfil redistributive objectives at minimum costs. The present financial system of the Community is not compatible with this requirement. After the decisions of the European Council in Berlin on the Agenda 2000 the fundamental flaw of...

Cohesion policy in the European Union (EU) has been widely accepted as a tool to advance the catch-up process, i.e., helping member countries with lower GDP per capita to grow faster economically in order to arrive at similarly high-income levels as member countries with higher GDP per capita....

Recent papers show that the impact of Cohesion Policy is not uniform in space but larger, smaller or insignificant depending on the regions. These outcomes mostly depend on the characteristics of each territory (conditioning factors). This paper reviews them and investigates, through descriptive...

By international comparison as well as compared to other EU policies, the EU‘s Cohesion Policy (CP) evaluation system is far developed and institutionalized. This paper analyses the remaining gaps and shortcomings in the CP evaluation system against principles established by the OECD and...