EU Cohesion policy Panacea or palliative?
The EU’s regional policy has mutated from a
redistributive mechanism to a multi-faceted developmental policy which will be
the main investment tool in the
EU’s
quest for smart, inclusive and sustainable growth. Commissioner Johannes Hahn,
frequently refers to cohesion policy as being a catalyst policy, not a charity
policy. Is this a true assessment? This paper examines how EU regional policy has
been influenced by changing socio-political discourse, evolving theories of
regional development and unstable economic contexts. It examines the challenges
of elaborating and implementing a regional/territorial cohesion policy aimed at
delivering the economic, social and territorial ambitions assigned by the EU
treaties and institutions. Then, using Ireland as a case-study, the paper explores
the extent to which cohesion policy has
triggered development that is smart,
sustainable and inclusive. It is argued that because cohesion policy has served as compensation, catalyst and
coping mechanism its transformative potential risks being sporadic rather than
sustainable.