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.

Regional Spatial Approach to Differences in Rural Economic Development: Insights from Serbia

Rural regions with a larger share of the primary sector in the overall economy are limited in their ability to achieve a sufficient level of competitiveness. In countries such as Serbia, where rural areas play an important role, addressing the problems affecting these areas is important for overall development. The purpose of this study is to determine the socioeconomic performance of the rural regions of Serbia and the EU in order to indicate the position of Serbia’s rural areas in the process of European integration. NUTS 3 (NUTS 2 for Germany) was used for analysis, and from this an Index of Socioeconomic Performance was created. This Index was created using Factor Analysis. The results point to Serbia lagging behind other EU regions in terms of development, with most of Serbia’s rural regions receiving the lowest ratings. These results are cause for alarm and indicate a need to create strategies that will direct resources towards key issues in these areas, whose potential would be adequately used through the implementation of rural policy measures, with the aim of overall socioeconomic development.

Improving the school-to-work transition for young people by closing the digital divide: evidence from the EU regions

PurposeThe paper aims to provide comparative empirical evidence on young people neither in employment nor in education and training (NEET-youth) under the influence of the digital divide, education and sectoral growth across the EU regions, with a focus on the transition patterns followed over time by EU regions in bridging the digital divide and their specific implications on school-to-work transition (STWT).Design/methodology/approachFirstly, five variables on Internet usage activities are aggregated into an index of E-skills. Secondly, linear dynamic panel data regression models are used to explain the influence of various factors on regional rates of NEET-youth, with or without grouping regions upon the digital divide in relative terms.FindingsAdvanced digital literary skills are found to have a stronger effect on the STWT than the basic ones. The growth of employment in specific economic activities like “Information and Communication” enhances STWT, but only when considering regional differences in the digital divide and E-skills as well. However, the negative effect of deprivation and low educational attainments on STWT is offset by a low level of the regional digital divide. In addition, more R&D expenditure in higher education is necessary to compensate for the effect of the digital divide on the STWT.Practical implicationsOn brief, the policy implications are twofold. Firstly, regions will need to focus more on reducing the digital divide, because it will not only generate positive effects for STWT but will also enhance the positive impact of education and sectoral growth on STWT and even compensate for their low progress. Secondly, in the context of the EU single market, to better address the situation of young people, regions should monitor the relative progress in bridging the digital divide and improving E-skills, with respect to the other EU regions. Improving the relative position on the EU map of E-skills increases the effectiveness of regional policies targeting the STWT.Originality/valueThe originality of the paper lies in the regional approach to the relationship between STWT and the digital divide, which allows us to derive new policy measures for the EU regions. Other innovative contributions rely on the identification of (1) transition patterns that region follow over time in improving STWT while bridging the digital divide and (2) policy measures addressing the NEETs in the context of the regional digital divide.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT INNOVATION IN SMEs IN EUROPEAN UNION REGIONS’ SMART SPECIALIZATION

The intentions of the Ukrainian authorities to increase the competitiveness of regional economies based on smart specialization caused the study of the characteristics of financing projects of smart specialization of regions of the European Union. The introduction of innovations in the activities of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to increase their competitiveness is one of the key areas of financial support for smart specialization. The aim of the study is to identify the effectiveness of financial support for smart specialization projects in the EU regions in terms of funding research, development and innovation aimed at improving the competitiveness of small and medium-sized businesses. In the course of the study, we analyzed the databases of the European Structural and Investment Funds on the amount of funding for research, development and innovation aimed at increasing the competitiveness of small and medium-sized busi nesses, by areas of funding and EU countries. We also compared the level of use of funds and the level of achievement of the goals planned in the projects. EU countries and regions used the funds planned by the European Structural and Investment Funds to finance the implementation of innovations in SMEs only by a third due to weak interaction of SMEs with research centers, as well as due to insufficient projects to improve the efficiency of SMEs through implementation results of research, development and innovation. The main emphasis in supporting small and medium-sized businesses through the implementation of research advances has been placed in the smart specialization strategies of the Netherlands, Slovakia, Poland, the United Kingdom and Germany. However, the largest amount of funding for research, development and innovation in SMEs in 2014-2020 among EU member states was planned, in addition to Poland and Germany, for Italy and Spain. The analysis showed that by 2020 the level of implementation of only certain goals of smart specialization reached 50 % or more of the planned indicators. However, in the context of the EU countries, there was no homogeneity in achieving all the goals related to the development and functioning of small and medium-sized businesses through the implementation of research, development and innovation. The efficiency of using the financial resources of the European Structural and Investment Funds for the implementation of smart specialization strategies in the EU regions was not high. It is likely that by 2023 when the projects launched in 2014-2020 will be completed, the level of achievement by the EU regions of smart specialization goals in terms of implementing research, development and innovation in SMEs will increase. Nevertheless, in our opinion, it will not be possible to achieve their full implementation.

The capitalisation of decoupled payments in farmland rents among EU regions

We study the capitalisation of subsidies in the European Union (EU) regions in the years 2006-2008, the first years after the introduction of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2003 reform that decoupled subsidies from production and attached them to land. For this purpose, we use regional aggregated data and estimate the capitalisation rate upon the entire sample and, in a second stage, splitting the sample according to the implementation regime applied by the different EU Member States (MSs), following the three options introduced by the CAP regulations (historical, regional and hybrid model). We find that between 28 and 52 cents per Euro of additional subsidy capitalise into land prices in MSs that adopted the hybrid and the regional model, respectively. We find as well that subsidies do not capitalise in farmland prices in MSs that adopted the historical model.

Assessment of the Quality of Governance and Competitiveness at the Local Level: The Case of Slovenian Municipalities

The article draws on research on the quality of governance and its impact on Slovenian municipalities’ competitiveness. It presents the research results guided by two hypotheses: “Municipalities with a higher quality of governance are more competitive” and “The assessments of the quality of governance in Slovenian municipalities vary more than the assessments of the quality of governance in EU regions”. Starting from the general idea of governance as an undirected network of vertical and horizontal relations supports the importance of the research on the quality of governance and public administration in the EU environment on the local, regional, and national levels. As the low quality of governance impacts divergence in cohesion, mainly less developed and catching-up EU countries should focus on the development of the quality of governance and competitiveness at the regional and local levels. According to the research results, the Slovenian municipalities form several groups according to the behavior measured by the correlation between the quality of governance and the level of competitiveness. Additionally, the international comparison indicates that the quality of governance measured in Slovenian municipalities varies at least as much as in the EU regions. The evidence supports the quest for further research on the quality of governance and competitiveness to understand the dynamics of the development at the local and regional levels and develop proposals for improvement and measures adapted to the needs and capacities of groups of municipalities with similar behavior.