Suchergebnisse

Digitised version produced by the EUI Library and made available online in 2020.

This paper analyses the European Quality of Life Survey 2003, to explore urban-rural differences in income, deprivation, and other life domains. The main conclusion is that the richest countries in the EU show little evidence of significant urban-rural differences, whereas, in the poorer countries of the east and south, rural areas have a much lower level of perceived welfare and quality of life, particularly in the candidate countries. Despite this, subjective well-being is not significantly different, and this paradox is explored through multi-level modelling. The paper concludes by considering the policy implications for rural policy, urban policy and cohesion policy.

A major characteristic of the European Union is its transitional or evolving nature, in particular with regard to the assignment of powers between the two main levels of government. More precisely, under current constitutional arrangements, this evolving nature takes the form of an integration process which tends to be monotonous, that is, which can only with great difficulty be reversed. The paper is mainly devoted to the explanation of how this comes about and what effects this has on other features of the process. As a concluding remark, however, it suggests that an additional criterion for judging -- or an additional indicator for reading -- proposed constitutional reforms can be derived from the analysis. This criterion or indicator should be of some value independently of the position adopted with regard to European integration.

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