Implementation of European Cohesion Policy at the sub‐national level: Evidence from beneficiary data in Eastern Germany

Abstract

Regional governments' discretion in allocating structural funds is limited by the competences of the European Commission to control fiscal activities of decentralized governments. Regional political behaviour and the complexity of the implementation process shape the policy outcome. Who benefits from structural funds? In this paper, we analyse implementation of ERDF funds in East Germany in the financial perspective 2007 to 2013. We find that less rural regions and some economic sectors benefit by more than others.A few beneficiaries control the highest share of the funds. The Gini coefficients vary by group of actor and show high inequality in the distribution of the funds. This indicates that a few actors have better access to the funds than others.

Regional diversity in experiences of cohesion policy: The cases of Emilia‐Romagna and Calabria

“…Both dimensions involve a mix of formal and informal relations. Within the context of CP, vertical co‐ordination is mostly based on relations of the first kind, as the co‐operation between different levels tends to rely on formal structures with a hierarchized division of roles and principal/agent schemes whereby higher authorities set frameworks, rules and targets to be reached by lower tiers (Bachtler & Ferry, ; Dettmer & Sauer, ). Horizontal co‐ordination, on the other hand, is more reliant on voluntary participation (Davoudi, Evans, Governa, & Santangelo, ) and aims at facilitating the integration of policies.…”

Beyond the EU Structural Funds’ Absorption Rate: How Do Regions Really Perform?

“…In addition, recent evidence highlights that, although low capacity is an important factor of absorption problems, it may be an insufficient explanation; in fact, political instability (i.e., alternating parties) could worsen the absorption performance (Aiello et al 2019), mainly due to changes in local priorities and staff in the management and control systems (Hagemann 2019). As regional political behavior could determine the CP outcome (Dettmer and Sauer 2019), the quantification of the regional accountability effect on the SFs' absorption efficiency, becomes even more imperative. In this respect, the analysis of several EU regions belonging to different countries and along multiple policy cycles may shed more light on the temporal, spatial and/or political factors that determine the diverse absorption rate patterns.…”

The Impact of the Implementation of Cohesion Policy on the Sustainable Development of EU Countries

“…By allocating funds in line with the partnership principle, Cohesion Policy has been transposed into national development plans in CEE countries so that the use of European funds can be achieved through strategic investment programs negotiated with the European Commission and structured in Operational Programs [21][22][23][24]. As a consequence, cohesion policy has been the subject of many debates, because each programming period for the next seven years has created debates for new reforms and new development opportunities.…”