Speciális régiótípusok az Európai Unió regionális egyenlőtlenségeiben

n the regional policy of the European Union, the importance of regional typologies linked to specific geographical elements has varied over the past decades. This article shows that since the 1990s the role of these specific regional typologies, and thus of regional characteristics, in European regional policy has been declining. However, the analysis of a wide range of socio-economic data reveals that some types of regions (sparsely populated regions, outermost regions, external border regions) are in a particularly unfavourable socio-economic situation, while others may need specific support not at European but at macro-regional level (for example, the coastal regions of the Mediterranean). The article concludes that, although the value of GDP per capita is indeed only marginally explained by the different regional typologies, broadening the concept of underdevelopment and recognising macro-regional challenges could be a priority for the European Union.

European Сultural Policy of Organization of the 21st Century Socio-Cultural Sphere

Introduction. The last two decades are signed with culture meaning increase as one of the strategic priorities of the social and economic development of the EU related to the consolidation of common cultural space, management of socio-cultural activities, and development of “European citizens” identity under cross-cultural dialogue. Currently, the critical enabler of this cultural policy is special programmes. The application of the main principles of these programmes in real has been the key instrument of the European regional policy for last years. Purpose and methods. The purpose of the article is to cover the main tendencies and areas of concern of the European cultural policy based on comparative analysis of the cultural programme of the second generation. In the course of the research, the author has used the comparative, sociological, structural and functional, activity and situational-critical methods, with the help of which the features of the functioning of the above programmes were characterised. Results. Today the EU cultural policy implementation is via the prolonged “Creative Europe Programme 2021-2027” which, in comparison with other cultural programmes, is more structured and differs in an integrated approach to the organisation of the socio-cultural sphere, has incorporated all the implemented cultural and media programmes over the previous 20 years. Conclusions. In the article, there is the first analysis of the difference between the selected programmes in the context of verifying the thesis about the continuity of the programme's principles of the EU cultural policy at the present stage, as well as the objective trend of turning cultural policy into one of the main directions of European domestic policy for the development of the socio-cultural sphere.

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.