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While a Eurosceptic attitude challenges the European integration project with increasing disbelief, the EU allocates a large portion of its budget to Cohesion and regional policy (CRP) for counter balancing economic pressures and equilibrating the economic disparities among European regions. In this context, PERCEIVE project (Perception and Evaluation of Regional and Cohesion Policies by Europeans and Identification with the Values of Europe)1 , a three-year EU-funded research project, investigated how European Union communicates CRP and how European citizens perceive the role of CRP and of the EU

In a world where more than half of the population already lives in cities and more than 90 percent of urban growth is occurring in the developing world (Licciardi and Amirtahmasebi, 2012), cities have the potential to serve as incubators of innovation and technology. However, there are also many challenges for cities that can be classified into economic, environmental, and social threats. Cities, for instance, consume 75 per cent of worldwide energy production and generate 80 per cent of CO2 emissions (Lazaroiua and Rosciab, 2012). The 'smart city' paradigm, which has been adopted by many cities worldwide, represents an environment where innovation and technology supplement activities and services of a city in order to provide benefits to the residents and visitors. In Europe, initiatives for sustainable development of cities have been characterised and defined by a number of factors including environmental sustainability, economic development and a high quality of life.

Due to its ageing population and low birth rates, the European Union (EU) will need to import foreign labour in the next decades. In this context, the EU neighbouring countries (ENC) are the main countries of origin and transit of legal and irregular migration towards Europe. Their economic, cultural, and historical links also make them an important potential source of labour. The objective of this paper is to analyse past and future trends in ENC-EU bilateral migration relationships. With this aim, we specify and estimate a gravity model for nearly 200 countries between 1960 and 2010. Next, we use the model to obtain medium-run migration forecasts. Our results show a clear increase in migratory pressures from ENC to the EU in the near future, but probably lower than initially expected.

Due to ageing population and low birth rates, the European Union (EU) will need to import foreign labour in the next decades. In this context, the EU neighbouring countries (ENC) are the main countries of origin and transit of legal and illegal migration towards Europe. Their economic, cultural and historical links also make them an important potential source of labour force. The objective of this paper is to analyse past and future trends in ENC-EU bilateral migration relationships. With this aim, two different empirical analyses are carried out. First, we specify and estimate a gravity model for nearly 200 countries between 1960 and 2010; and, second, we focus on within EU-27 migration flows before and after the enlargement of the EU. Our results show a clear increase in migratory pressures from ENC to the EU in the near future, but South-South migration will also become more relevant.

In this paper we assume inflation rates in European Union countries may in fact be fractionally integrated. Given this assumption, we obtain estimations of the order of integration by means a method based on wavelets coefficients. Finally, results obtained allow reject the unit root hypothesis on inflation rates. It means that a random shock on the rate of inflation in these countries has transitory effects that gradually diminish with the passage of time, that this, said shock hasn¿t a permanent effect on future values of inflation rates ; En este artículo asumimos que las tasas de inflación en países de Unión europeos de hecho levemente pueden ser integradas. Considerando esta suposición, obtenemos las valoraciones de la orden de integración por el medio un método basado en coeficientes de olas pequeñas. Finalmente, los resultados obtenidos permiten al desecho la hipótesis de raíz de unidad sobre tasas de inflación. Esto quiere decir que un choque arbitrario sobre la tarifa de inflación en estos países tiene efectos transitorios que gradualmente disminuyen con el paso del tiempo, que esto, dijo que el choque no tiene un permanente efecto sobre los futuros valores de tasas de inflación

Fiscal rules are necessary to protect monetary policy from the consequences of unsustainable or active fiscal policy for inflation. Monetary unions, such as the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), require even stronger fiscal rules to avoid free riding by regional fiscal authorities on the common monetary policy. By contrast, in a fiscal federation, the federal government internalises the effect of active regional policies on the overall price level. Federal fiscal policy contributes to price stability either by enforcing fiscal rules or by adjusting its own stance. Following Canzoneri, Cumby and Diba (2001), we test whether federal and regional governments in Germany behave in an active or passive way. We find evidence of a spillover effect of unsustainable policies on other regions. The German federal government offsets the effect on the price level by running passive policies. The Bundesbank's prime objective of price stability is therefore endorsed by fiscal policy. The results have implications for the regulation of fiscal policies in the EMU.

The European Union (EU) and its European neighbourhood are mutually dependent. In the next decades, the EU will need to import foreign labour in response to different challenges. The geographical proximity, economic, cultural and historical links with EU Neighbouring countries make them an important potential source of labour force and, moreover, they are the main countries of origin and transit of legal and illegal migration towards Europe. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of different EU policies on future migration flows, and to evaluate the current effect of immigration from neighbouring countries on EU labour markets

It is commonly believed that a fiscal expansion raises interest rates. However, these crowding out effects of deficits have been found to be small or non-existent. One explanation is that financial integration offsets interest rate differentials on globalised bond markets. This paper measures the degree of integration of government bond markets, using spatial modelling techniques to take this spillover on financial markets into account. Our main finding is that the crowding out effect on domestic interest rates is significant, but is reduced by spillover across borders. This spillover is important in major crises or in periods of coordinated policy actions. This result is generally robust to various measures of cross-country linkages. We find spillover to be much stronger among EU countries.

Control on regional government budgets is important in a monetary union as lower tiers of government have fewer incentives to consolidate debt. According to the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level; unsustainable non-Ricardian fiscal policies eventually force monetary policy to adjust. Hence, uncoordinated and non-regulated regional fiscal policies would therefore threaten price stability for the monetary union as a whole. However, the union central bank is not without defense. A federal government that internalises the spillover effect of non-Ricardian fiscal policies on the price level can offset non-Ricardian regional fiscal policies. A federal government, which taxes and transfers resources between regions, may compensate for unsustainable regional fiscal policies so as to keep fiscal policy Ricardian on aggregate. Following Canzoneri et al. (2001), we test the validity of the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level for both federal and regional governments in Germany. We find evidence of a spillover effect of unsustainable policies on the price level for other Länder. However, the German federal government offsets this effect on the price level by running Ricardian policies. These results have implications for the regulation of fiscal policies in the EMU.

This paper analyses how fiscal adjustment comes about when both central and sub-national governments are involved in consolidation. We test sustainability of public debt with a fiscal rule for both the federal and regional government. Results for the German Länder show that lower tier governments bear a relatively smaller part of the burden of debt consolidation, if they consolidate at all. Most of the fiscal adjustment occurs via central government debt. In contrast, both the US federal and state levels contribute to consolidation of public finances.

This paper analyses how fiscal adjustment comes about when both central and sub-national governments are involved in consolidation. We test sustainability of public debt with a fiscal rule for both the federal and regional government. Results for the German Länder show that lower tier governments bear a relatively smaller part of the burden of adjustment, if they consolidate at all. Most of the fiscal adjustment occurs via central government debt. In contrast, both the US federal and state levels contribute to consolidation of public finances.

The objective of this article is to analyse the recent evolution of European Neighbouring countries (ENC) in different dimensions related to economic performance (measured in a broader sense), social progress and institutional reforms. With this aim, we design and build a composite indicator to measure these different dimensions. Next, the index is used to characterise the relative evolution of neighbouring countries compared to a wide sample of developed and developing economies. We also test whether a convergence process has taken place in these different dimensions controlling for the potential effect of the European Neighbourhood Policy. The obtained results show different trends according to the considered dimensions and heterogeneous effects at the country level. From a policy perspective, these results reinforce the validity of the bilateral action plans that have characterized ENP recognising the different starting point and particular characteristics of each neighbouring country.

In the past, the European Union (EU) has established partnership agreements to strengthen co-operation with its neighbouring countries. In 2004, the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) was put in place with the objectives of avoiding the emergence of new frontier divisions between the enlarged EU and its immediate neighbours, and at the same time creating the conditions to strengthen peace, prosperity and stability to all countries involved. The ENP has turned into a unified policy framework for the EU's neighbours, offering preferential economic and political relations in exchange for the recipient countries' adherence to the Union's principles. The ultimate aim of the ENP is to strengthen the prosperity, stability and security of the EU by creating a 'ring of friends' around the EU's political border.

Th objective of this paper is to analyze convergence in institutional, social, and macroeconomic conditions between EU member states. Our analysis covers the period 1995-2013 and considers the potential impact of the Great Recession. With this aim, we use a composite indicator that combines information from 51 hard and soft indicators, and we estimate convergence equations for the composite indicator and its seven dimensions considering diffrent country groups. The obtained results show evidence of conditional convergence among EU member states but limited evidence of unconditional convergence over the considered period.

In this paper we design and build a composite indicator to measure the macroeconomic, social and institutional dimensions of countries, ISEPI. The index allows not only comparing the relative situation of countries, but also its time evolution. In order to illustrate the usefulness of the index, we analyse the effects of the European Neighbourhood Policy in EU-Neighbouring Countries during the last decade. The obtained results show that ENP has had different effects according to the considered dimensions and that the evolution of neighbouring countries is quite heterogeneous taking into account their recent institutional and economic performance. From a policy perspective, these results reinforce the validity of the bilateral action plans that have characterized ENP recognising the different starting point and particular characteristics of each neighbouring country.