Forschungsabteilung 1
ESPON 2.2.2
Territorial Effects of
Applying the EU 'Acquis' and Community Policies as well as Pre-Accession
Aid and PHARE
An international research project funded by the European Commission under the framework of the ESPON 2006 Programme within the Policy Impact Studies under strand 2
Duration: March 2003 to March 2005
The Issue
Due to the variety of different sector developments and policies in place, the overall analysis needs to be divided into several sub-issues of policy analysis. In this context, ESPON project 2.2.2 was concerned with the investigation of the development of spatial trends in the candidate countries and the effects respective EU policies had in these countries in terms of spatial objectives.
The Project
This project aimed at a comparative territorial analysis of the national instruments of structural policy in the central and eastern European candidate countries and the spatial influences of the structural measures of EU accession aid, in order to develop policy recommendations for the EU and the candidate countries. For such a spatially comprehensive approach, not only the candidate countries were to be included in the analysis but the EU 15 as well as Norway and Switzerland.
Achieved policy recommendations had to refer to the instruments of structural measures as well as their institutional framework and the methodology for the evaluation of spatial effects of structural policy. The recommendations for future arrangements of structural policy were to be given in the context of territorial cohesion in an enlarged EU. In order to achieve these far-reaching recommendations, the trans-national project group conducted not only a conceptual analysis but a thorough empirical analysis, including a number of case studies in the regions under consideration.
Besides a policy oriented impact assessment of pre-accession aid measures, the project considered issues such as the rational for EU interventions under accession conditions, analysed pre-accession aid spending with regard to its thematic orientation and effects and had a thorough look at the territorial effects of applying the EU ‘Acquis’. With regard to policy recommendations the project opted e.g. for region specific policy options taking strongly account of regional potentials.
The final report with all main results is available at http://www.espon.eu/main/Menu_Projects/Menu_ESPON2006Projects/
Menu_PolicyImpactProjects/preaccessionaid.html
Kick-off meeting in Erkner, March 20th-21st 2003
The Partnership
The project brought together partners from different areas of research, such as spatial planning, economics, geography, sociology, political science and regional policy. The trans-national project group consisted of the following institutions:
- Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning (IRS) - Germany (Coordinator)
- European Policies Research Centre, University of Strathclyde (EPRC) - UK
- Centre for Regional and Tourism Research (CRT) - Denmark
- Regional Development Institute, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences of Athens (RDI) - Greece
- European Institute for Regional and Local Development, Warsaw University (EUROREG) - Poland
- Centre for Regional Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (CRS HAS) - Hungary
- Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (BBR) - Germany (ESPON Contact Point)
Contact at the IRS
Prof. Dr. Hans Joachim Kujath (Coordinator)
Phone +49-3362/793-159
e-mail: kujathh_at_irs-net.de
Dr. Sabine Zillmer
Phone +49-3362-793-186
e-mail: zillmers_at_irs-net.de
