Suchergebnisse

European Cohesion Policy has traditionally been considered as a useful tool to advance in the economic integration of the European Union by helping less developed regions in their convergence process with more developed ones. Nowadays European Cohesion Policy and Structural Funds are one of the main instruments of intervention of EU authorities, so it is being used more and more in relation with other european policies and not only for its original purpose of balancing economic differences among regions. The aim of this paper is to analyze, through the particular case of Andalusia, the impact of the strategy Europe 2020 and its translation to the new Regulations of Cohesion Policy proposed by the European Commission on October 6, 2011, in regions traditionally beneficiaries of European Cohesion Policy. This analysis should be understood in the context of one of the most serious economic crisis in recent years, which has particularly affected some of priority regions for Cohesion Policy, as it is the case of Andalusia.

This article focuses on the historic rerequisites and forms of international cooperation in the Baltic region ('Baltic cooperation'). According to the author, Baltic Europe is being formed as a single administrative, economic, cultural and infrastructural area, which could become a new economic and cultural center of Europe. Special emphasis is given to policies and strategies of the EU in the Baltic Sea region.

This paper develops policy recommendations on the use of cluster-based economic policies and the adoption of a new concept of competitiveness in the context of the new growth path that WWWforEurope aims to outline. A first section discusses summarizes key findings from the previous research papers on the role of clusters in the New Growth Path (MS47) and on a new concept of competitiveness that embeds beyond-GDP objectives (MS46). It then extends this work by deriving an initial set of policy implications from this research. For clusters, these implications address both general practices of cluster-based economic development and specific issues related to the use of cluster-based concepts in a transition to a New Growth path. For competitiveness, it specifically discusses the new concept of competitiveness proposed in MS46 and the notion of trade-offs among different dimensions of performance in this new concept. The second section of the paper explores the ways in which beyond-GDP objectives have been integrated into the current practice of cluster-based economic development efforts across Europe. It is based on interviews with policy makers and cluster initiatives as well as the review of relevant policy documents. For cluster programmes, i.e. the policy actions implemented by government, the paper organizes the existing efforts into three categories, differentiated by the extent to which beyond-GDP categories drive the activities supported. For cluster initiatives, i.e. the collaborative efforts by private-public groups focused on enhancing the competitiveness of a specific regional cluster, the existence of a market and the need for systemic changes are identified as key factors that drive the adoptation of beyond-GDP objectives. There is also a discussion of the relevant scope of the activities in beyond-GDP related efforts relative to existing cluster categories. The third section analysis the Europe 2020 Strategy, including its objectives, quantiative performance indicators, and the European Semester as a policy review process, from the perspective of the new definition of competitiveness proposed in MS46. After exploring whether the objectives of the strategy and the new definition of competitiveness are compatible it looks at their ability to drive an effective and transparent policy process towards policies consistend with a New Growth Path. The final section then develops five policy conclusions from the prior analysis. Three are focused on the use of cluster-based economic development tools as instruments to achieve beyond-GDP objectives. The recommendations deal both with the way cluster-based tools can be used and with how they should be structured. Two of the conclusions are focused on the Europe 2020 strategy process. They deal with the need for a shared, explicit definition of competitiveness, proposing the definition developed in MS46 as a candidate. And they deal with creating a more transparent policy process that more clearly separates political decisions from analytical evaluations.

The article examines Norway's Arctic strategy and the country's policy in the field of defence and security. It is noted that Oslo, among the countries of the Arctic Council, is the leader in the development and further improvement of strategies in the Arctic, taking into account the peculiarities of the country and its northern territories. The country is implementing one of the most innovative economic strategies in the region, developing high-tech sectors of the economy, reducing its dependence on the export of hydrocarbon raw materials, improving the administrative-territorial division of the country in the interests of developing the northern provinces. Attention is paid to the development of the industrial sector of the economy, transport (primarily port) infrastructure, scientific and educational complexes, Arctic tourism and recreational business, migration policy and support of the indigenous population. The author pays special attention to Norway's place in NATO, noting that the North of Norway is becoming one of Scandinavia's most militarised regions. It is emphasised that this greatly hinders international cooperation with the closest neighbours, primarily with Russia. It is necessary to seek to improve relations between our countries, even in the face of the current friction at the interstate level in matters of security and severe contradictions in the area of the Spitsbergen archipelago.