EVOLUTION OF COHESION POLICY. MISSION AND GOVERNANCE

Cohesion policy is the major investment vehicle and the most reforming EU budgetary chapter. Its landmark reforms mark key integration processes in the European Union. The present policy paper provides reflections of the dynamics of the main development trends in cohesion policy as determined by global phenomena, namely the economic and financial crisis and the current COVID-19 pandemic. They severely hit the entire EU, inevitably also affecting cohesion policy. The article shows that governance and the mission of cohesion policy has been adjusted to their aftermaths. Reforms introduced new measures and reinforced policy’s centralized European profile. Thus, evolution of cohesion policy is an illustration of its transformation from the merely redistributive tool with limited budgetary resources into the full-fledged development policy aimed at safeguarding that EU’s visions and goals will be pursued. The paper concludes that a new architecture poses the major challenge for cohesion policy after 2020 as its responsibilities and ever tightening governance continues while its budgets shrinks.

Competitiveness of EU Member States Regarding the Implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy Assumptions

The Europe 2020 Strategy occupies a prominent place in the European Union's (EU) cohesion policy as a long-term programme for social and economic advancement. The main objective of the strategy is to implement the idea of smart, sustainable and inclusive development. An important priority implemented by EU countries in the context of implementing the assumptions of the Europe 2020 strategy is smart growth, i.e., the development of an economy based on knowledge and innovation. This requires significant spending on research and development and the use of mechanisms that enable the rapid transfer of theoretical knowledge into economic practice. The Europe 2020 strategy has set new targets for increasing competitiveness and accelerating the development of EU regions and countries. For all regions, including the economically weakest ones, the implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy goals has been an important stimulus for the development and increase in competitiveness of EU regions. The decade just ending justifies carrying out assessments that must be intricately linked to the analysis of indicators set by the European Commission within the framework of the strategy's three priorities, i.e., smart, sustainable and inclusive development. The aim of the article is to assess the degree of implementation of the assumptions of the Europe 2020 Strategy in EU Member States. With the use of a synthetic indicator calculated using a multidimensional comparative analysis based on the Hellwig method, a ranking of EU countries, in terms of implementing the Europe 2020 Strategy assumptions, was established. The main indicators proposed by Eurostat for monitoring the Europe 2020 Strategy were applied for the assessment. As a result of the conducted research, conclusions were formulated regarding the importance of the Europe 2020 Strategy in the implementation of the cohesion policy principles in EU Member States. The research results show that the countries that have achieved the best results in the implementation of the assumptions of the Europe 2020 Strategy are also leaders in the ranking of competitiveness taking GDP per capita into account published by the European Commission.

CLUSTER ANALYSIS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION GENDER EQUALITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Purpose – The article aims at discovering classes and clusters of EU member-states considering their levels of economic development and gender equality to foster the enhancement of EU cohesion policy. Research methodology – The methodology includes the grouping by two parameters, economic development and gender equality, and the cluster analysis, the “far neighbor principle”, agglomerative hierarchical classification algorithm and the usual Euclidean distance as the distance between objects. Findings – There are no gender equality laggards among EU member-states. More developed countries belong to gender equality leaders, while there are two gender equality leaders and one gender equality adopter among transition countries. The group of less developed countries consists of six gender equality leaders and seven gender equality adopters. Research limitations – The results of cluster analysis may be impacted by off-shore activity of Ireland and Luxembourg. Practical implications – The EU supranational bodies can use our results to develop more efficient cohesion policy tools to ensure the adherence to the principle of gender equality. Originality/Value – The study is a pioneer one in determining nine classes and five clusters of EU member-states considering their levels of economic development and gender equality, as well as in introducing three types of countries depending on their level of gender equality, namely gender equality leaders, adopters, and laggards.

The importance of cohesion policy for the development of the railway system of the Republic of Croatia

Cohesion policy is one of the European Union’s policies, which provides Member States with the possibility of financial support under the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Funds) as well as with the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), to reduce disparities and encourage the development of less developed Member States. By funding through Cohesion policy funds, the European Union seeks to accomplish a prosperous economy by achieving appropriate European standards in the individual Member States. Cohesion policy emphasizes the development of transport and mobility, and in particular, the investment in key transport links and sections of international importance through the revitalization of railway infrastructure in line with European Union standards. The railway system of the Republic of Croatia has been under-invested for many years, which is why it has not followed the requirements and needs of the development of the transport market. Membership in the European Union has provided the Republic of Croatia with co-financing for the development of the railway system. This paper will analyse the current investments in the railway system and the development potentials that are planned to be achieved in the next programming period. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the importance of the Cohesion Policy of the European Union for the development of the railway system of the Republic of Croatia in the Programming period 2021-2027. The analysis aims to identify opportunities for further development of the railway system as the ‘cleanest’ transport industry, guided by the need to reduce harmful emissions following the European Green Deal by using funds from the European Structural and Investment Funds.

Connecting Europe Facility in the system of joint financing of the EU critical infrastructure

The study shows components of financial support for the formation and development of critical infrastructure entities in the European Union. The sustainable functioning of critical infrastructure is aimed at the observance of common Union interests, given the existence of differences in the economic policy in different EU Member States. It was found that the development of Trans-European infrastructure programs is carried out within the framework of the EU Cohesion Policy. The Connecting Europe Facility is a key special tool for funding critical infrastructure in the EU transport, energy and digital services sectors. The Fund is mainly used to finance entities aimed at achieving the goals of the European Green Deal. Recommendations for Ukraine to take into account the experience of financial support regulation for the development of the EU critical infrastructure are substantiated. Based on the experience of the EU, the criteria for determining the priority of the project for financing critical infrastructure are highlighted. Based on the analysis of the formation and use of the Connecting Europe Facility as the main common instrument for financing the EU critical infrastructure, a conclusion was made on the feasibility of establishing a critical infrastructure development fund of Ukraine to support financing of key projects in transport, digital and energy infrastructure. Special rules for determining the eligible costs incurred for financing infrastructure projects at the expense of the critical infrastructure development fund of Ukraine are disclosed.

WHAT IS NEW IN THE EU COHESION POLICY?

Based on the review of regulations and press releases of EU institutions, the content of changes in the cohesion policy in 2021–2027 was revealed in comparison with the period 2014– 2020. The conclusion is made about the preservation of a significant role of the cohesion policy in the EU’s activities and high volume of its allocations from the EU Budget. The author sees an element of novelty in the synthesis of well-known methods and principles of supranational regulation of the socio-economic development of the EU territories – the budget method, the principle of financial conditionality and the open method of coordination. Particular attention is paid to the decision to reorient a third of the allocations of European regional policy funds for programs of transition to a circular and climate-neutral economy in 2021–2027. The explanation of such strong link between the goals of regional policy and the ecological and climatic goals of the EU is proposed. Namely, the success of the «Europe 2020» Strategy only in terms of climate benchmarks, according to the author, gives to the official Brussels a reason to see the potential to increase the effectiveness of regional policy.