Abstract
The term “macro-region” is a political construct, mainly discussed in EU policy documents. The definition of a macro-region is deliberately vague and fuzzy, allowing for a diverse set up of governance arrangements and topics to be addressed. We identify three main trajectories of the rise of macro-regions in Europe: the development of European integration and an increasing focus on Cohesion and Regional policies; the changed geopolitical situation following European enlargements in 2004 and 2007; and the pre-existence of different forms of cooperation within these perimeters. Macro-regional cooperation has not initially generated new EU institutions, new EU legislation or new EU funding, but despite or maybe because of these constraints, macro-regions have attained considerable political commitment. A committee of representatives of the partner countries steers the overall progress of the macro-regions and acts as the decision-making body to guide their general direction. The potential avenues for the future of macro-regions are not clear.
The original version of this chapter was revised: Belated corrections have been incorporated. The erratum to this chapter is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74887-0_14
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31 October 2018
In the original version of the book, belated corrections from author for Chapters 2, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, frontmatter and cover have been incorporated. The erratum book has been updated with the changes.
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Sielker, F., Rauhut, D. (2018). The Rise of Macro-Regions in Europe. In: Medeiros, E. (eds) European Territorial Cooperation. The Urban Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74887-0_9
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