The challenge of socio-economic cohesion in the enlarged European Union; a research project

Under the enlarged European Union, many new regions will become eligible for specific support targeting the convergence of the income and development levels in the so-called ‘cohesion’ (or NUTS 2) regions with those of the more advanced regions in the European Union. In fact, every single region in the 10+2 (including Bulgaria and Romania) new member states is eligible for such support, with the sole exception of the city of Prague. This puts the European cohesion/regional policy in a qualitatively new situation.

Social capital

A crucial element of this new situation is the effectiveness of the regional policy-making structures in the new member states. If the cohesion policy of the Union is to be effective, these structures have to be administratively capable and accessible for developing projects that would boost the socio-economic conditions in the regions. Social networks play a crucial role in the policy-making structures. Social capital is of great importance in social decision making, in the formulation of policies, and in their consequent implementation. Thus, the levels of trust (both generalized trust and trust in institutions) and of civic participation are important too, because they help determine the strategies imployed by the various players involved and their ability to find solutions to specific challenges.

Project

After a complicated application process under the 6th framework program of the European Union, an international consortium of think tanks and academic institutions led by the London School of Economics and Political Science was successful in promoting the project ‘The challenge of socio-economic cohesion in the enlarged European Union’. Apart from the lead partner LSE and the Centre for Liberal Strategies (CLS), the team also includes representatives from Warsaw University, the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Central European University, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, and Darmstadt University of Technology. The fundamental goal of the project is to study the link between social capital and economic development through the role of social capital in regional policies and regional development.

Activities

Through its various phases, the project will study the regional policy-making structures in different countries in the European Union, concentrating on new members (Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria), but also looking at older members (Germany) and the experiences of regions from an old member with many cohesion regions (Spain). These structures will then be analyzed in terms of the social networks involved in their activities, with the goal of identifying opportunities and threats, and of finding possible champions of efficient policies. On the basis of what is available on the ground in terms of policy-making structures and local social networks relevant to the process, the project will prepare a final document describing the situation and providing food for thought about how the cohesion fund could be improved in terms of administration, procedures, criteria and local relevance.

One size fits all?

Regional policies and local social networks are always highly contextual, and it is realistic to expect that there is no one-size-fits-all type of prescription on how to disburse the cohesion fund. It will have to become more flexible and able to take into account various contexts. This is a general expectation of the team members, but what precise lessons will be drawn from the empirical work remains to be seen.

Georgy Ganev, Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia

This article was puclished in Politeia Newsletter 41 - March 2006