Suchergebnisse

This report is concerned with analysing, for eight EU Member States with lagging regions, the main structural reforms carried out over the past five to ten years, essentially those which are relevant for the European Structural and Investment Funds. Furthermore it provides an overview of the remaining structural reforms needed, including to the system and operation of governance, and their relevance for lagging regions. The identification of the remaining reforms needed is based on a detailed analysis of the main indicators that can be identified to assess the situation in each of the eight countries concerned and, so far as possible, in the lagging regions in them. An additional concern is to gauge the effects of the reforms carried out with a particular focus on the lagging regions. The first subsection of the report briefly sets out the structural reforms covered by the analysis and the rationale for choosing these from among all those subject to the European Council's Country-Specific Recommendations. It then presents for each of the eight countries and the lagging regions the main structural imbalances in the form of a concise summary bringing out the main points emerging from the detailed analysis for each country. The second sub-section assesses the effects of labour market reforms on investment, productivity and competitiveness. A third sub-section examines the business environment in each of the countries and the lagging regions within these as well as the structure of enterprises and business demography, and attempts to relate this to the business environment. It also considers the reforms which have been carried out over recent years which have been aimed at improving the situation in which businesses operate.

This report presents the findings of three case studies of lagging regions in the EU to deepen the findings of wiiw Research Reports 421 to 423. The three (NUTS 2) case study regions are the Italian Campania, the Portuguese Norte and the Romanian Nord-Est region. While each of these regions faces specific challenges due to their economic, social and geographic characteristics, they are at the same time to some extent representative of other EU regions that share similar characteristics and/or challenges. Each case study covers the economic development in the respective region, highlighting the main strengths and weaknesses in the region's performance. Furthermore, each case study identifies the major, region-specific, causes of the observed developments. By focusing on those causes, each analysis develops a region-specific storyline on the success and failures in the regions' economic development. Finally, each case study derives conclusions based on the above analysis. These conclusions should be indicative of potential development opportunities for each region and the necessary policy measures to overcome existing challenges in order to exploit these opportunities.