Abstract
The European Cohesion Policy is the largest and most complex policy of the European Union. As it is a policy focused on reducing the intra-EU gaps in development, the Cohesion Policy is particularly relevant for less developed economies and regions, where it has a key contribution to stimulating economic competitiveness and accelerating growth, boosting and spreading the positive effects of the internal market. In this chapter we aim to introduce a theoretical foundation for public interventions on cohesion in the process of European integration, as well as to explain the system of Cohesion Policy coordination, regulation and implementation, to present critically its impact on the European economy and explain the way in which Structural and Investments Funds contribute to and may be used for business sector development in the European Union.
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Notes
- 1.
The territorial dimension was added to the Treaty of Lisbon (TFEU) (EU 2007) that reconfirmed the cohesion as the priority aim for the European policies and the policies of other member States.
- 2.
The NUTS system was adopted in order to ensure harmonisation with the European regional statistics and to facilitate the cohesion policy implementation. More information at: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/3859598/6948381/KS-GQ-14-006-EN-N.pdf
- 3.
Absolute β-convergence occurs when the poorer economies are growing faster than the rich ones and they all tend to converge to the same stationary level of real income per capita in the long run. β-convergence differs to σ-convergence, which occurs when there is a decrease in income per capita dispersion between regions (e.g. Barro and Sala-i-Martin 2004).
- 4.
If the EAFRD and the EMFF are also included, the less developed and CF regions get about 54%.
- 5.
The 4th priority is the exception as it relates to the sustainable growth objective of the Europe 2020 Strategy.
- 6.
Therefore, the countries eligible for benefiting from this fund for the 2014–2020 programming period are: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
- 7.
The models use impact indicators, mainly GDP, investment, employment, productivity.
- 8.
For an exhaustive list, please see: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/overview-funding-programmes_en
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Pascariu, G.C., Incaltarau, C. (2018). European Cohesion Policy. In: Dima, A. (eds) Doing Business in Europe. Contributions to Management Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72239-9_4
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